Fundsquare News 1 - July 2013 - Welcome from the CEO

From the CEO

Welcome to the first edition of Fundsquare News

The launch of Fundsquare was the result of more than one year’s hard work and, thanks to the dedication of many, it was accomplished on time and on budget. It was also thanks to the cooperation and commitment of our partners, SWIFT and Altus. Throughout the set-up process they shared our goal and ambition to produce a solid yet ground-breaking fund market infrastructure.

New teams and existing expertise

The transfer of Finesti technology and knowledge to the new entity was accomplished smoothly, which I am convinced is a gauge of success for the future. The efficiency of the transition was due, in no small part, to the constructive and consensual approach of the teams involved. 

In addition to new team members for the transactional and order routing side, we also welcomed a number of hires in business development, business analysis and client relationship management. Recruitment will increase as the client base grows.

This combination of new and existing expertise mirrors the fundamental outlook of Fundsquare.

To ensure that Fundsquare continues to respond to market needs, we work with a Super-User Group representing around 70% of the cross-border distributed fund orders processed in Luxembourg. Its initial objectives were to validate the value proposition and the proposed service scope. It continues to identify the trends and will prepare Fundsquare for the future transition towards a user-owned and user-governed facility. 

The members of this group have provided us with insights and have given us much of their time, for which I sincerely thank them.

First orders

We have now passed the testing phase for our infrastructure and as Fundsquare is now a reality, it is gaining wider interest from potential members. 

We expect very shortly to announce the on-boarding of a major fund distributor and two important transfer agents. These will be passing the first orders through the platform.

We firmly believe that Fundsquare will help change the fund industry landscape and the way it is organised. 

We will continue to promote and work towards more automation, standardisation and cost efficiency to the benefit of the fund industry as a whole.

Dominique Valschaerts
CEO Fundsquare

_{Published on: 30 July 2013}