Syn~Settlements was chosen following a rigorous competitive evaluation and the new system is expected to go live at the end of 2005.

MSI aims to achieve similar high levels of straight through processing at around 95 per cent - that have been attained since migrating settlement its equities business to Syn~ and implementing Syn~ReferenceData for counterparty static data, three years ago.

Consistency of systems technology, which enables business analysts (rather than IT) to use the software themselves to quickly and easily model or change business processes, take advantage of new opportunities and deliver the highest levels of customer service, will deliver greater business efficiency and synergy.

"We had an urgent need to replace our existing ADP Gloss system for
fixed income settlements, said Don Simpson, managing director of operations & technology at MSI. Syn was selected because it was the most cost effective solution. Having the same settlements system for bonds and equities will also allow us to achieve higher STP and greater efficiency improvements."

Syn~Settlements is a flexible, rules- and lifecycle-driven back-office processing engine handling all transactions from trade capture through to ledger postings. Process automation is key in minimising the human involvement needed in processing a given transaction. Syn~ goes a step further in reducing operational costs and improving STP through its automated approach to exception handling for the correction and rapid repair of transactions.

Sunil Shah, chief executive officer of Coexis, said: "This was a tough, competitive bid which we are delighted to have won. Syn~ is unrivalled in delivering very high STP rates using automated interfaces and integrated real-time workflow and monitoring."