Australia now has more than 40 per cent of its managed funds available electronically, as the Calastone network expands its services.
The global fund transaction network announced it now has the critical mass of Australia's fund managers available on its network, increasing efficiency across the entire industry.
"This is an incredible advancement for the Australian industry, which just 12 months ago was completing these transactions exclusively by fax," Calastone managing director, Australia Shannon Sweeney said.
"Calastone has overseen the automation of markets all around the world, and Australia has shown remarkable enthusiasm to adapt to this new way of doing business."
Calastone said that while fax and manual data entry processing could take up to three days to confirm a fund transaction, using its electronic network takes just five minutes.
The boost in the Calastone network share is a result of NAB Asset Services (NAS) connecting to the service, as reported in InvestorWeekly last week.
The first funds to go live through NAS were Ausbil Dexia Limited and UBS.
"We anticipate a significant client transition to this instruction format in the very near future and look forward to them receiving almost contemporaneous confirmation of their transaction having been accepted and processed by our custodian," said Ausbil Dexia Limited's chief operating officer Mark Reilly.
"In our opinion, this development will provide greater certainty for every participant in, as well as stripping operational risk out of, the trade process."
