Mutual funds network Calastone goes live with real-time blockchain-based platform

Global funds transaction network Calastone has announced that its blockchain-enabled Distributed Market Infrastructure (DMI) is now live.

The company switched to a blockchain-based system within two years of completing the first phase to test the feasibility of the technology to develop a common global marketplace for the trading and settlement of funds.

In its press release dated May 20, Calastone said that its entire global network of more than 1,800 customers across 41 countries and territories have been migrated onto the blockchain-based network. This marks the largest community of global financial services organisations connecting and transacting via distributed ledger technology.

Calastone said that it engaged with a community of early adopters, including RBC Investor & Treasury Services, Bravura Solutions, Seven Investment Management, Multrees and Tilney Investment Management, who have had access to the technology.

Through the DMI, financial services organisations around the world would be able to access a fully mutualised global funds marketplace whereby the trading, settlement and servicing of funds is conducted in real-time. It will help strip out the ever-increasing costs, operational burdens and risks inherent within the existing model.

“Information now ripples instantly across the market, a step change from the previous, fragmented model,” Campbell Brierley, Calastone's Chief Innovation Officer, said. “Financial services firms worldwide can, via the DMI, utilise new services, enhanced capabilities and new investment opportunities, allowing them to evolve their proposition to one that will be more competitive and valuable long-term."

At launch, the DMI addresses several key friction points which are fully automated and visible as all participants are connected into a common infrastructure. It will also bring a new service, the Sub-Register, which creates a shared, real-time view and history of the registers between trading partners at any point in the distribution chain.

"The launch of the DMI today marks an important step for the entire funds industry, creating a friction-free global marketplace for funds. By leveraging the latest technology we are able to provide the investment management community with the tools they need to control risk and cost, while meeting the evolving needs of investors,” Julien Hammerson, Calastone's Chief Executive Officer, said.