XcitekSolutionsPlus has announced two deals this month involving its corporate actions automation platform. UMB Bank, based in Kansas, has licensed the software company’s web-based eTran module, while Oppenheimer & Co. has agreed to license its XSP software. The deals follow hot on the heels of a win at Credit Lyonnais Securities (USA) in late October.
UMB is implementing eTran – Electronic Tracking Response and Notifications – in tandem with an upgrade to the latest version of Xcitek’s XSP corporate actions automation software. Etran allows users to receive, review and submit responses and voting instructions for corporate actions over the Internet.
UMB, which was the first beta test site for XSP when it was launched in 1996, will use XSP to capture and process all elections on voluntary and optional mandatory corporate events. The bank expects the upgraded system to eliminate manual aspects of distributing, collecting and tracking corporate actions events, in the hopes of reducing operational risk. XSP is an ISO 15022-compliant solution that features workflow distribution and management tools designed to reduce risks associated with corporate actions processing.
Oppenheimer also plans to use both eTran and XSP to manage its corporate actions processing. The broker/dealer opted for Xcitek after conducting a feasibility study to assess the relative merits of developing a corporate actions system in-house versus using a third-party provider. The study found in favour of buying a packaged system, and opted for XSP.
“After reviewing our options, XSP presented a solution that we believe will satisfy our requirements,” says Robert Lowenthal, technology officer at Oppenheimer. The firm, based in New York, employs more than 1,600 financial advisors.
This month’s deals follow the announcement at the end of October that Credit Lyonnais Securities would use Xcitek to facilitate an interface with the Fidelity ActionsXchange data service. The interface will allow Credit Lyonnais to automate capture of corporate actions data and process ActionsXchange’s cleansed data through the XSP application.
Credit Lyonnais has used XSP for two years. ActionsXchange will provide the firm with a single feed of scrubbed and cleansed corporate actions data, sourced from several independent suppliers. According to Todd Wiltshire, director at Credit Lyonnais, the implementation “allows us to leverage our existing resources to provide our clients with a better product.”
As well as securing these three deals, Xcitek was identified as a market leader in several corporate actions segments at Securities Operations Forum’s Sixth Annual Corporate Actions Processing Conference in New York this month. Peter Patch of the Summit Group cited Xcitek as a market leader in handling bulk data for North American bonds and equities (along with Bloomberg), online capabilities for North American bonds and equities (also along with Bloomberg), bulk data and online capabilities for international bonds (again, along with Bloomberg), and bulk data and online capabilities for international equities (along with Telekurs/Standard & Poor’s). Bloomberg and FT Interactive data were identified as market leaders for dividend and interest capabilities in all sectors.
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