Joining the TFM Concentrator Club
October 10, 2000
SunGard's TFM efforts are being spearheaded through middleware company Mint, now known as SunGard Business Integration, which would provide reformatting capabilities and order management through two of its key products Knowledge Broker and Knowledge Manager.
SunGard has more than 50 units with hundreds of applications which could connect to the TFM using Knowledge Broker and Knowledge Manager, said Ralph Severini, vp of SunGard Business Integration, who added that SunGard had an advantage over the other vendors because of its diverse products.
Fund manager and custodian bank clients could tap the TFM through SunGard's Omni IC or Global Plus product lines while broker-dealers could do so via Brass.
Severini was the only one brave enough to venture any opinion as to how his firm might make any money from the TFM concentrator role: sign up fees; monthly connectivity fees; and transaction fees. However, he would not say how much volume he expected to go through the TFM.
Perhaps just as interesting a question as to why the concentrators would want to support the TFM is how and whether it will affect their relationship with the industry's post-trade communication leaders Thomson Financial ESG and Depository Trust Co. The two firms are now trying to develop a competing STP model that may or may not connect to the TFM. "We have no exclusive arrangement with the GSTPA," said Severini.
BNY's head of securities services Tom Perna has called the interoperability of the TFM and the Thomson-DTC model "a redundancy" but fell short of specifying which model he preferred.
"It is a natural extension of both our global custody business and our significant outsourcing initiatives," said Richard Genin, head of BNY's Worldwide Securities Operations division, when asked about the BNY's role with the TFM.
