Fund Data Exchange: pan-industry cooperation

Achieving open data and standards for the Luxembourg fund services sector is the goal of the Funds Data Exchange (FDX), who is engaging with industry associations including ILA as well as the likes of ABBL, LPEA, ALCO, ALRiM, The FINDEL Group and The Association of North American Bankers Luxembourg, in order to achieve this. Mark Philips, an independent director, explained and sought to encourage engagement.

The FDX is a not-for-profit initiative, which will feature smart data exchange file formats, with data and developer tools to ease the exchange and treatment of core fund data. Users would be everyone from IFMs and service providers, to governance and regulatory actors (boards, investors, auditors, regulators), to “input engines” (such as corp sec, risk engines, and control functions). 

“There is little to no data standardisation within the industry,” Mark said. He highlighted the latest SAQ manual filing procedures as a case study, with this “adding pressure and cost” and “giving rise to increased levels of operational risk and misallocation of high-skill resources to low-level form filling.”

The work has started on fund accounting and transfer agency data challenges, with proof of value pilots set to be rolled out. Mark said there is still room for others to participate in this testing phase. Mark called on the audience to help raise awareness within IFMs and boards, as well as encouraging engagement and sharing input.

For more information, see funds-data-exchange.com/