DTCC AIP:

Personally, I am very familiar with the DTCC/NSCC AIP initiative, as I used to head this product line at DTCC during ’08 and ‘09.  A few years back I presented to the IPA board to get their support for the initiative.  My company, Great Lakes Fund Solutions has been a member of NSCC AIP service since 2012 and I am an advocate.

Most of the broker/dealers, administrators, and fund sponsors are at an early stage in their implementation.  A big group of the brokers will become AIP-enabled through Thomson Financial’s Beta product.  I hear LPL will shortly be following Ameriprise’s lead in implementing the AIP-enabled version of Beta.  Where the brokers go, so go the fund sponsors and administrators.

I would love to see some AIP message volume statistics by fund type. REITs involving Ameriprise comprise the lion’s share of the volume, I suppose.  How much is managed futures? Hedge funds broken out by FOFs and hedge funds would be very interesting.

DTCC has been having some testing and volume constraints that could impede quick progress being made toward the goal of going live with a particular counterparty by a particular date.  Even if both parties, fund and broker, have completed their programming and are ready to go test, they may find that they will be delayed to some extent by DTCC.  Membership and testing are a big mess at DTCC.  Simple trouble shooting can drag on for months.

 What’s your experience?