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AJ Bell appoints Clearstream for third-party fund processing

Release date:
16 Jun 2020
| Clearstream

AJ Bell appoints Clearstream for third-party fund processing

AJ Bell has appointed Clearstream as its primary custodian for its fund processing activities.

Going forward, Clearstream will be AJ Bell’s primary custodian for funds custody, settlement and order routing for its Youinvest, Investcentre and Custody Solutions products in respect of open-ended investment companies (OEICs), unit trusts and hedge funds via its fully automated global fund processing platform Vestima.

Investment funds have become an increasingly popular investment option. As of May 2020, Clearstream held €2.5 trillion in investment funds under custody on behalf of its clients (2015: €1.8 trillion; 39 per cent increase within five years). 

AJ Bell will benefit from the ability to process its post-trading activities for funds alongside existing, more traditional products, such as equities, corporate and government bonds, with both a domestic and global reach. 

Michael Summersgill, CFO at AJ Bell, said: “After thorough consideration, we have selected Clearstream as our primary custodian to manage our funds custody and dealing. This builds on our existing relationship in respect of equity and debt products that has developed over the last couple of years. This step will simplify our operation, helping us to better serve the advisers and customers that use our platform propositions.”

Philippe Seyll, Head of Investment Fund Services at Clearstream, added: “We are thrilled that AJ Bell has put their trust in our services. With our DvP settlement with a best-in-class straight-through processing rate of 98 per cent, we look forward to supporting stability and efficiency for our customers and the UK funds industry in general. We are extremely proud to be working with AJ Bell and look forward to doing so for many years to come.”

About Clearstream

As an international central securities depository (ICSD), headquartered in Luxembourg, Clearstream, which is part of Deutsche Börse Group, provides the post-trade infrastructure for the Eurobond market and services for securities from 58 domestic markets worldwide. With around 14 trillion Euros in assets under custody, Clearstream is one of the world’s largest settlement and custody firms for domestic and international securities. Clearstream delivers investment fund solutions built on asset safety and distribution efficiency. The Vestima one-stop shop for funds acts as single point of entry for orders, streamlined cash management and consolidated position reporting in a secure environment. Clearstream offers customers direct access to local domiciled funds in 48 fund jurisdictions worldwide.

About AJ Bell

Established in 1995, AJ Bell is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK.
AJ Bell operates in both the advised and direct to consumer segments of the platform market and their flagship platform propositions are AJ Bell Investcentre (adviser) and AJ Bell Youinvest (direct-to-consumer).

AJ Bell offers SIPPs, ISAs and General Investment / Dealing Accounts. They aim to make it easy for our customers to invest by providing them with additional support in the form of various investment solutions and information. They offer a broad investment range including shares and other instruments traded on the major stock exchanges around the world, as well as all mainstream collective investments available in the UK and their own range of AJ Bell funds.
AJ Bell is headquartered in Manchester, UK.

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