State Street Corporation has announced the expansion of its online portal Fund Connect ETF, now offering coverage to all clients globally including the Asia-Pacific region.
Fund Connect ETF, which has now seen upgrades to its application programming interfaces (API), is designed as a single point of contact for issuers and facilitates the creation and redemption of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Providing access to ETFs in multiple currencies, it supplies a direct link between authorised participants (APs), order takers, sub-advisers, and sponsors.
According to the asset manager, the portal’s APIs have been available in the US and Canada for some time, and account for nearly half of North American order volumes.
State Street’s global head of Fund Connect ETF, Lori Coakley, said the expansion is in response to growing demand from its APs, particularly those based in APAC and Europe.
“Not only does this cater to that increasing demand for streamlined and automated ETF creation and redemption processes, but it also further solidifies our position as a leader in the ETF industry,” Ms Coakley said.
As such, State Street has upgraded an “integral” part of its GlobalLink product suite, with clients globally now able to place orders directly with funds via their own order management systems.
“The global API connectivity is the next logical step in the continued digitisation of our ETF servicing business,” added Frank Koudelka, global head of ETF product at State Street.
“Close to 100 authorised participants are communicating their create/redeem orders globally on behalf of our ETF clients to State Street via Fund Connect.”
The continued theme that the firm has heard from clients, Mr Koudelka said, was a desire to communicate “system-to-system” as opposed to communication via web portals.
“Fund Connect is now the first create/redeem portal with fully enabled via APIs across Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, and the United States. This further demonstrates the innovations that State Street has brought to the marketplace as the largest global ETF service provider.”
In June, State Street also expanded the capabilities of its Alpha platform to support the entire ETF “life cycle” with the introduction of front, middle, and back-office capabilities.
Specifically, ETF issuers have since been able to employ the platform’s portfolio management, trading, and compliance functions to “enable growth across a variety of ETF strategies and increase speed to market”, according to the firm.
