The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, has launched a new tool that supports the exchange of more reliable fund security issue data provided by fund companies for use by the fund distribution community. The data is leveraged in trade execution and also supports regulatory compliance.
The new Scorecard Report, which represents a significant enhancement to DTCC's Mutual Fund Profile Service (Profile), was developed in response to requests from the Fund distribution community, including broker/dealers, distributors and other intermediaries, for DTCC's National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) subsidiary to develop a mechanism that would encourage the maintenance of accurate and reliable fund data.
The Report delivers upon this identified need by generating a personalized score, based on a weighted algorithm, which indicates whether funds have taken action to clear system edits and address variances derived from a comparison of data contained in public filings and the Profile database. The scores are recalculated nightly and made available to DTCC fund and firm clients when they access the Profile application, helping them to determine the reliability of the data and aiding in mitigating the risk of data inaccuracies and misinterpretation. Fund and firm clients are also provided with an industry average score to support benchmarking analysis.
"By adding the Scorecard Report to the Comparison Tool, funds can quickly validate the quality of their Profile data and how they compare to all other funds populating data in Profile," said Marty Burns, Senior Director, Operations & Distribution, at the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
Building Data Assurance
The Scorecard Report builds on previous enhancements to Profile, including the Comparison Tool, which is an automated web application that enables fund companies to monitor their securities information and to compare Profile data points with data points contained in the fund company's publicly filed source documents. The Scorecard Report provides a numerical rating based on the discrepancy findings of the Comparison Tool, and any actions taken based on those discrepancies.
"The ability for firm clients to have access to centralized information, especcially when it's been compared and validated against prospectuses and Statements of Additional Information, provides these clients with a greater level of comfort that they are using reliable data for processing," said Josephine Torelli, Vice President, DTCC Wealth Management Services. She added that that the new Scorecard Report is especially valuable for firms' compliance departments because it helps boost assurance in the accuracy of fund data.
The Scorecard was developed by DTCC's Wealth Management Services group with industry support from the Investment Company Institute's Broker/Dealer Advisory Committee, Bank, Trust and Retirement Advisory Committee, and Profile Steering Committee.