Global funds transaction network giant, Calastone, has announced the launch of its blockchain Distributed Market Infrastructure (DMI).
Calastone’s migration of more than 1,800 customers around the world represents a huge community of global financial services firms connecting and transacting via distributed ledger technology. Asset servicer RBC Investor & Treasury Services and fund manager Seven Investment Management are among what is described as “the world’s largest financial services community” to start operating on a blockchain-powered fund distribution system.
The two firms were among early adopters of a blockchain-enabled ‘distributed market infrastructure’ (DMI) created by fund network, Calastone, and which went live on Monday May 20, 2019.
The London-based global fund transaction network hailed the DMI’s launch as “a major step in enabling digitalisation and friction-free trading at a significant global scale”. The tangible benefits the DMI could offer include savings of £3.4 billion ($4.3 billion) annually for the global mutual funds market, according to Calastone.
“Fund managers and banks in Asia are seeing more disruptions than ever before amid rapid developments, including the arrival of virtual banks in Hong Kong,” said Leo Chen, managing director and head of Asia at Calastone.
“Financial institutions need to continuously invest in technological improvement to gain a competitive advantage and to seize opportunities as they arise. Only those who can keep up with digital transformation, including advances in blockchain technology, will stay on top of the highly competitive Asian funds industry," added Chen.
Bravura Solutions, Multrees and Tilney Investment Management were also among the early adopters.
With release of the DMI, Calastone will move a range of existing services onto the blockchain, including order routing, registry management, settlement and real-time fund transfers. It will also support electronic-owned share classes and tokenised settlement.
Using the DMI, participants will view transaction information on a shared ledger, thereby facilitating reconciliation and providing automated communication of payment instructions to settlement banks.
©2019 funds global asia 
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