Southwest Securities Selects XSP for Corporate Actions Processing

Texas-based broker-dealer Southwest Securities has selected XSP to automate its corporate actions processing. As a result of the deal, the firm will roll out the XSP data management module and XSP’s Electronic Tracking Response and Notifications (eTRAN) module for automated notification, response capture and elections processing.

Brendan Farrell, CEO at XSP, explains that the vendor has been in discussions with Southwest Securities for the past 18 months. “They needed a corporate actions solution to streamline their processing whilst reducing operational risks and costs. By automating their operations with the XSP v5 platform, Southwest can better manage the growing volumes and complexities of corporate actions processing,” he claims. Other vendors were considered, continues Farrell, but he believes XSP was chosen because of its product’s “robust functionality, innovative technology and reputation in the industry”. Anthony Mauro, vice president of operations at Southwest Securities, confirms these factors were a consideration: “We selected XSP based on the product’s extensive functional coverage, reputation in the industry and continuous investments in technology. The XSP software will automate our corporate actions process, reduce risk, streamline workflow and enhance communications to our clients. In addition, the XSP product interfacing to Comprehensive Software Systems’ solution will promote further STP.” The XSP professional services team is currently working closely with Southwest to determine their specific requirements and prepare a well planned timeline for their implementation, says Farrell. He doesn’t foresee any challenges in the process of rolling out the XSP v5 platform, which is built around a service oriented architecture (SOA), using Microsoft .Net components and web services for global enterprise-wide processing. “Over the next few months, the XSP solution will be implemented in logical phases so that the application can be rolled out as quickly as possible, maximising immediate ROI for our client,” he contends. According to Farrell, by automating their corporate actions processing, Southwest will benefit from operational efficiency gains as well as mitigated risks and costs for this manually intensive and high risk area of operations. “The implementation of the web-based eTRAN module for automated notifications, response capture and elections processing will help to enhance service levels to their clients. Furthermore, XSP will collaborate with Comprehensive Software Systems to integrate our respective solutions to provide Southwest with automated downstream processing and promote greater STP,” he explains. Farrell is confident that despite the economic downturn, institutions will continue to invest in corporate actions solutions due to the risks they pose to firms’ bottom lines. For 2009, XSP continues to see a growing demand globally for our products and services. With the tremendous pressure to cut back headcount and the ever-increasing volume of corporate actions events – further exacerbated by these very market conditions – there is a critical need to automate this process to manage the growing volume and complexities of corporate actions activity in the marketplace,” he concludes.