Path Unclear to STP Til Matching Utilities Unveil Details

Arthur Anderson and ISITC-IOA surveyed more than 100 industry professionals on various areas of straight-through processing at the December 2000 Industry Standardization for Institutional Trade Communication-International Operations Association conference. The firms used real-time interactive balloting to ask investment managers, custodians, broker/dealers and vendors a range of questions on their plans for STP implementation, their preparedness and the drivers and barriers they faced. According to Andrew Clark, senior manager with Arthur Andersen's straight-through processing practice, certain barriers may prevent companies from realizing STP in the timeframes they envision. "Firms are looking for greater clarity on industry solutions for central matching solutions. In addition, the high cost of implementation and the fragmented nature of the industry solutions give them pause in implementation," he notes in his report, which can be viewed at<"https://www.wallstreetandtech.com/story/stp/WST20010117S0002">. He notes that most surprising, was that while most firms indicate a desire to implement central matching utility engines, they did not indicate plans to migrate to STP within the next one-to-two years.

The study unveiled a high degree of uncertainty and a low degree of preparedness from participants. "They see implementing central matching utility engines and other systematic changes as strategic while they have no concrete plans to implement these solutions," Clark notes in his report.

When asked specifically about their plans to implement either the GSTPA-TFM or the Thomson/DTCC ESG Global Joint Venture, 49% are unsure on the GSTPA and 63% are unsure on the DTCC/Thomson ESG Global Joint Venture. Clark suggests that that this reveals that the vendors have not yet provided enough information to allow management to determine how they will implement.