An overwhelming majority of respondents asserted their use of FIX for the confirmation/affirmation process.

The purpose of the survey was to see where work needs to be done by the Global Post-Trade Working Group (GPTWG), in terms of both geographical and asset class perspective. The survey was distributed to the broker/dealer community in January 2015, and invited them to complete a series of questions regarding their post-trade workflow and their use of FIX. The majority of the 20 top global investment banks contributed to the survey and both members and non-members of FIX were invited to respond.

The evolution of the FIX Protocol to the post trade space has been in progress for a number of years now. As with all initiatives, the aim is to increase transparency, reduce costs and achieve greater efficiencies. By not being reliant on any one vendor for the confirmation/allocation process, that single point of failure is all but eliminated.

Positive responses confirm that FIX is making real significant headway into post-trade workflow whilst also acknowledging there is still further work to be done.
Key results of the survey include:

• 75% of respondents use FIX for their post-trade confirmation/affirmation workflow
• 95% of respondents believe FIX has the potential to have the same impact in post trade as it has in the front office
• 70% of respondents see client satisfaction as an immediate benefit with a majority also confirming cost savings as a tangible advantage

Laura Craft, Co-Chair Global Post-Trade Working Group, FIX Trading Community, Director, Equities and Fixed Income, Traiana, commented, “These survey results clearly demonstrate the success of the Global Post Trade Working Group and its members’ drive on both the buy-side and sell-side to adopt FIX standards in the post-trade allocation and confirmation process. The GPTWG fully expects more firms to adopt FIX to take advantage of both improved efficiency and cost savings in equities as well as additional asset classes.”

Scott Atwell, Manager of FIX Trading and Connectivity, American Century Investments, commented, “The survey results simply reinforce the message I have tried to convey; that if you are a buy-side firm thinking about trying to implement this flow, you can be successful, because all the major sell-side firms support this. And because they have already implemented this, they are eager to use and provide that for other buy-side firms.” Atwell continued, “American Century is receiving FIX 4.4 Confirms for approximately 90% of all our non-US confirmations, and the benefits include efficiency gains, improved straight-through processing, and quicker identification of issues, all of which provide significant risk reduction and cost savings.”