The report highlights the progress made in the increased automation of fund orders and the use of ISO standards.  

Twenty-nine TAs from across Ireland and Luxembourg participated in the survey covering 80% of the Irish market and 75% of the Luxembourg market.

Key findings from  the report include:

• The total volume of orders processed by the 29 survey participants reached 48.7 million last year, compared to 42.2 million in 2019.

• The total automation rate of orders of cross-border funds increased to 93.2% in Q4 2020, from 91.8% in Q4 2019, due to an increase in the use of Proprietary File Transfer Protocols by TAs in Ireland.  During the same period, the use of ISO messaging standards decreased from 62.3% to 59.4% and the use of manual processes dropped from 8.2% to 6.8%.

• The total automation rate of orders processed by Luxembourg TAs reached 91.2% in Q4 2020, compared to 90.2% in Q4 2019. The ISO automation rate increased from 76.6% in Q4 2019 to 78.4% in Q4 2020, while the use of manual orders dropped from 9.8% to 8.8% during the same period.

• The total automation rate of orders processed by Irish TAs increased to 95.9% in Q4 2020, from 94.6% in Q4 2019. The ISO automation rate decreased from 36.6% to 33.6%, whereas the use of manual processes dropped from 5.4% to 4.1% during the same period.

Tanguy van de Werve, Director General of EFAMA, commented: “It is good to note that only 6.8% of fund orders were processed manually in Q4 2020.  I want to commend Europe’s cross-border fund industry for reaching a very high degree of automation of its processes, which has allowed to reduce operational costs and risks and improve the quality of the services to  customers”.  

Karin de Ridder, Head of Standards Development Team, SWIFT, adds:

“Whilst order volumes have increased overall, the fund volumes of ISO 20022 messages on SWIFT show a slight decrease and this is, perhaps, a reflection of the unusual circumstances facing the world in 2020”.