Calastone Successfully Completes First Phase of Blockchain Distributed Market Infrastructure Proof-of-Concept for the Global Funds Industry

PR68885

LONDON, June 12, 2017 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

     Global funds transaction network and Future50 FinTech pioneer seeks to

further reduce frictional cost of trading mutual funds, from fund manufacturer

to end investor, by placing marketplace on a blockchain.  Phase one proved it

can be done. Phase Two engages market participant 'design partners'.

     (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/521731/Calastone_Logo.jpg )

     Calastone, the global funds transaction network, today announced the

successful completion of the first phase of its distributed market

infrastructure proof-of-concept (PoC) to test the feasibility of using

blockchain to develop a common global marketplace for the trading and

settlement of mutual funds.

     The tested distributed infrastructure model proved capable of processing

transactions equivalent to a full day's trading sourced from across Calastone's

global transaction network, which spans over 1,200 fund distribution and fund

manager clients across 34 markets.

     Campbell Brierley, Chief Information Officer of Calastone said,

"Successful initial testing, involving a large volume of trades across a fully

representative global market universe, has given us a powerful understanding of

how to optimise the distributed ledger technology to reduce the frictional cost

of trading across the industry on a global scale.  Placing the market on a

blockchain effectively opens the door for potential efficiencies across the

whole transaction lifecycle in excess of those that could be achieved via the

optimisation of transaction processing alone."

     He continued, "The encouraging results of the initial blockchain PoC allow

us to look confidently to a future where participants currently connected to

the Calastone Transaction Network could seamlessly migrate to this distributed

market infrastructure."

     Ken Tregidgo, Calastone Deputy CEO explained, "The positive results of our

PoC has shown that by using distributed ledger technology across the entire

lifecycle of mutual fund transactions, from order placement through to the

settlement and payment, industry participants could significantly benefit from

simpler processing."

     Julien Hammerson, Calastone CEO commented, "Our vision is to enable

friction-free trading for funds industry participants.  Since launching in

2008, Calastone has pioneered ways to introduce operational and functional

efficiencies for the industry from order routing, through to settlement,

reconciliations, market data distribution and analytics. The scale and

connectivity we have built in major markets around the globe makes us the

natural partner to explore operational and infrastructural efficiencies across

the global funds industry."  

     Calastone has announced a second phase to its PoC, and is now engaged with

a number of design partners drawn from its global client base. "The design

partners will help us test the model and understand the business challenges and

requirements from a market participant perspective.  It's through technological

innovation such as this that we aim to address the business and technical

trading challenges faced by our customers across international markets,"

Tregidgo concluded.

     About Calastone

     Calastone is a financial technology company. Our mission is to make

markets friction-free by connecting trading partners through our global fund

transaction network. With connectivity across 34 countries and territories,

more than 1,200 customers are now processing domestic and cross border

transactions via Calastone, benefiting from the cost and risk reduction

opportunities transaction automation can offer.

     Our purpose is to use smart technology solutions and industry

collaboration to enable global distribution, reduce operational risk and

enhance client profitability. Calastone has offices in London, Luxembourg, Hong

Kong and Sydney.

     In order to represent the best interests of the industry, Calastone is

actively involved with the following organisations; TISA (Tax Incentives

Savings Association), TEX (TISA Exchange), WMA, NICSA, ALFI, SMPG, FPG, FSC,

AMPS, HKIFA, IMAS, IFA and ACSA.

SOURCE: Calastone