Having previously written about the impending announcement that EMXCo were signing up clients for their settlement messages, today's press release informs us that the first company to spearhead this new offering is Brewin Dolphin who are leading the way to genuine STP territory for funds.

It's a real landmark for the funds industry and Brewin's adoption should have started the ball rolling for many other EMXCo users to follow suit. If this turns out to be the case the market can move into a new age of reduced costs and increased efficiency. The statement from Stuart Marwick, Group Settlement Director at Brewin put an emphasis on the cost saving and appeared to suggest that their future business will include a Pan European focus. If this is true, it could indicate that Brewin Dolphin will be just the start of a new drive by UK financial firms to open up their business to Pan European portfolios.

The combination of Euroclear harmonisation and the use of EMX messages now looks like a commercially viable business with a cost effective operational capability to support it.

There have always been many critics of the EMXCo approach and there will no doubt be many more, still short-sighted, looking at the comparison between SWIFT and EMXCo but even the harshest critic must hold their hands up to this great news, that settlement messages are now in operation with the front office orders providing STP for the first time for funds.

At a time when any news related to financial services appears to be all bad its great to hear that the financial services industry is carrying on regardless, producing solutions to age old problems at a reduced cost and generating real business development  opportunities. This is fantastic news!