Corporate Actions 2009 Edition

Rather than detracting attention away from corporate actions automation projects, the financial crisis appears to have accentuated the importance of the vital nature of this data. Financial institutions are more aware than ever before of the impact that inaccurate corporate actions data has on their bottom lines as a result of the increased focus on risk management in the market as a whole.

This renewed focus on the basics of data management has, in turn, spurred on vendors in the space to significantly up their game. The focus of this innovation has been on bringing prices down, making the implementation of these solutions easier and designing more intuitive user interfaces. This has manifested itself in a range of enhancements, not least of which are the deployment of web-based front ends and software as a service (SaaS) models.

Financial institutions and (surprisingly) issuers have also been doing their bit to improve the often complex muddle of corporate actions data via various working groups and standards initiatives. Earlier in 2009, the European issuer community agreed that a framework for shareholder communication and cross border voting is needed in the market. This was then followed by the release of the results of the Corporate Actions Joint Working Group’s standardisation initiative, which is aimed at defining each category of corporate action in the market.

Corporate actions are most certainly back in the spotlight…