The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), a global fund management company that manages the foreign reserves of Singapore by investing internationally, has established connectivity to five international broker-houses via Swift's IP-based messaging service, SwiftNet FIX.
GIC began testing trade order messages using SwiftNet FIX in March 2004 and plans to expand connectivity and trading access through SwiftNetFIX to more counterparties in a second phase.
For GIC, a Swift member since 1990 and a user of securities settlement messaging, a number of key factors played a role in its decision to use SwiftNet FIX. The SwiftNet single window supports messaging across the whole securities trade lifecycle. It also allows linkages with front office connectivity to bring about potential economies of scale in technical implementation and operation. Furthermore, the hub and spoke nature of SwiftNet FIX provides straightforward FIX session management and supports post-trade messaging for allocations and confirmation in FIX.
"We look forward to taking full advantage of the benefits related to Swift's FIX hub, especially the security and reliability features," says Johnny Heng, head of equities trading, GIC. "Swift's plans for automated certification will also substantially reduce GIC's burden of testing with each new trading partner."
"Swift is honoured that such a well-known and respected institution as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation is giving us the opportunity to enhance its business with SwiftNet FIX. GIC has been a Swift client for over 14 years and this is an excellent opportunity for Swift to further prove the SwiftNet FIX business model in Asia," says Francis Remacle, head of securities, Swift.