Strate is pleased to announce the creation of the Equities Corporate Action Subscription Services (ECASS). The product / service is aimed at assisting users to obtain standardised corporate action information that significantly enhances the processing of corporate actions.
Corporate Action Information
Corporate actions announcements are a critical and a high risk part of the securities processing business. The intricacy associated with such events continues to make the corporate actions arena one of the most complex post-trade activities to manage.
Currently in the South African market, corporate action information is disseminated via various sources, including Stock Exchange News Service, circulars, annual reports, newspapers, etc. This information is subsequently interpreted by the various market players and distributed accordingly, thereby appearing in various formats, containing duplicated, and in some instances, inconsistent information that is open to interpretation.
Equities Corporate Action Subscription Services
ECASS provides a single sourced, sacrosanct, standardised format of information that exists for a corporate action announcement. It allows market players and investors to make quick and accurate decisions from the simultaneous dissemination and processing of information across the market, without interference from downstream parties and systems.
The service provides a consistent message compliant with the International Standards Organisation (ISO) Standards that increases confidence and shareholder activism as the single source of validated information increases the quality of data. The reduction of data scrubbing and capturing of the corporate action information by intermediaries and investors decreases the operational risks and the potential costs incurred from such activities, while overcoming many complexities associated with the processing of corporate actions.
Furthermore, a structured, easy-to-understand and comprehensive English commentary on the corporate action, which includes relevant tax-related information, is beneficial to users and meets clients’ evolving requirements and needs in line with global best practice. ISO SWIFT MT564 (Corporate Action Notification Message) users receive same-day information, while PDF and CSV users receive it the following day. Strate has also included a centralised service desk support for corporate actions within the South African market, offering a single point of contact across all financial instruments. The concept enables straight-through-processing to market players, intermediaries and investors in the quickest possible time.
For further information on the Equities Corporate Action Subscription Services concept, please contact Gregory Naicker on 011 759 5371 or ecass@strate.co.za
