The service caters for both domestic and cross-border fund distribution flows in Europe and Asia-Pacific and is based on a set of new UNIFI (ISO 20022) standards covering account openings and maintenance, orders, status and confirmations, transfers, holdings and transactions statements, price reporting and cash flow.

The original pilot participants have already been joined by a number of fund management companies. These include: APO Asset Management, Bank of New York, Brown Brothers Harriman, Cathay United Bank (Taiwan), Citigroup, Clearstream (Vestima+), Crédit Agricole Investor Services, Crédit Suisse Asset Management Fund Services, Dexia Trust Services (Singapore), etb european transaction bank, Euroclear (FundSettle), Far Eastern International Bank (Taiwan), Fidelity Investments in the Asia Pacific region, HSBC Securities Services (London, Hong Kong, Singapore), Invesco Asia, JF Asset Management, OKO Bank, Merrill Lynch Investment Management, Pictet Funds, Schroder Investment Management (Luxemburg and Asia), State Street Bank, Taishin International Bank (Taiwan).

The pilot participants were Attrax, BNP Paribas Securities Services, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Banca Intesa, Bank of Ireland Securities Services, Barclays Global Investors, Citco Bank, Citigroup, Consorzio Operativo Gruppo Monte Dei Paschi di Sienna, DWS, FETA, Fidelity Investments, JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management and Unicredito Italiano.

Kathy Shackle, director of operations - Luxembourg at Fidelity Investments says: "We have fully supported the set up of a single scalable messaging solution catering for both cross-border and domestic fund distribution since SWIFT first started this initiative. The benefits are sizeable: not only does STP minimize operational cost and risk, it also allows us to offer best of breed service level to our distributors and end-investors."

Frédéric Pérard, head of global fund services at BNP Paribas Securities Services adds: "SwiftNet Funds is not only about automating the order processing flows; it also allows STP for NAV and cash flow reporting, making our pan-European operations more efficient and more competitive."

Commenting on the value SwiftNet Funds brings to his company, Sanjiv Sawhney, head of Luxembourg funds processing for Citigroup says: "Not only do fund investors require transparency, they also require the highest possible level of service from fund companies and distributors. As a major global fund player, we value and actively support Swift's initiative to help standardise and automate funds distribution processing, in order to build the trust of end investors."