The Asian Same Day Settlement service, which is provided by J.P. Morgan's transfer agency business, will provide BlackRock's institutional clients based in Asia with the opportunity to process trades during Asian business hours and to receive the same day use of the funds. The service will initially be available for BlackRock's two key USD cash funds, the ICS Institutional US Dollar Liquidity Fund and the ICS Institutional US Treasury Fund.

Mark Stockley, Head of International Cash at BlackRock, said: "The Asian Same Day Settlement service is intended to provide our institutional clients with greater flexibility. It represents a significant improvement over the previous settlement times, and will allow our clients to fully realize the benefits of investing in BlackRock's Liquidity Funds."

Euan McLeod, Senior Product Manager, Transfer Agency, Asia Pacific, J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services, added: "We're pleased to have launched our Asian Same Day Settlement service in conjunction with BlackRock. This is a landmark platform that will provide BlackRock's clients with a real competitive advantage in the market."

Some key features of the Asian Same Day Settlement service include: · Trades placed before the 14:00 Hong Kong ("HK") cut off time receive the benefit of earlier settlement;
· Using two pricing runs a day, J.P. Morgan Hong Kong will release payments to a client's correspondent bank via SWIFT during the Hong Kong working day;
· J.P. Morgan Hong Kong will send a SWIFT MT 103 pre-advice message to the bank of the underlying investor, notifying them of the incoming payment;
· J.P. Morgan Hong Kong will release payments to the bank of the underlying investor on a best effort basis to ensure receipt of funds on the same day (ie. T 0 settlement).

The launch of the Asian Same Day Settlement service follows the recent announcement that BlackRock has partnered with J.P. Morgan to outsource the investment management firm's fund 's fund fax deent firm's fund 's fund fax dealing desk, a move which has provided BlackRock's clients with greater processing efficiencies and faster execution of trades. The deal saw J.P. Morgan's transfer agency team grow to approximately 20 dedicated specialists handling up to 3,000 manual trades per day.

J.P. Morgan Treasury & Securities Services ("TSS"), which comprises the Worldwide Securities Services and Treasury Services businesses, provides solutions to institutional and corporate clients across the region. In line with the firm's aggressive regional growth plans, J.P. Morgan last year hired an additional 600 financial professionals across the Asia Pacific region, expanding its local on-ground presence, enhancing its range of market leading products and elevating its client servicing capabilities.