Tisa backs ISO standard to push forward platform re-registration

The Tax Incentivised Saving Association (Tisa) has backed the ISO messaging standard and called for fund managers and platforms to adopt a common process to enable automated re-registration.

Tisa said adopting the Swift messaging network would allow platforms and fund groups to pass messages based on the ISO 20022 standard which would eliminate the manual element of fund transfers and platform-to-platform re-registration.

The Swift network was already widely used and was a low cost solution to the problem of re-registration, said Tisa.

‘This is a significant step forward that clearly demonstrates our commitment to delivering a solution to re-registration in a timely manner,’ said David Dalton-Brown (pictured), chair of Tisa’s re-registration committee.

‘Today’s announcement of Swift as the messaging network for connecting the firms involved allows us to focus on the processing, contractual and technical changes needed to deliver automated re-registration across the industry by 2012,’ said Dalton-Brown, who is also head of Barclays Wealth Funds.

The UK Platform Group, which represents several of the largest platforms, threw its weight behind the ISO 20022 messaging standard in July last year. The backing of the group helped end a long running argument over which messaging standard should be used to communicate between fund managers, platforms and life companies.

Advisers currently can have problems moving clients' assets in-specie onto and off of platforms because this can rely on manual processing and paper-based messages.