Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s leading bank and investment fund distributor, has chosen Vestima+, Clearstream’s automated order routing service for the investment funds industry. This has allowed Vestima+ to break into the Korean market, one of the biggest domestic markets in Asia for mutual funds.
With a customer base that includes approximately half of South Korea’s adult population, Kookmin Bank (KB) has a dominant position in the country’s banking sector, the third largest in Asia. Kookmin Bank is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is Korea s largest custodian.
Vestima+ is designed to reduce the costs and inefficiencies in order processing within the investment funds industry by using electronic communication media such as an internet-based workstation or SWIFT messages, either in ISO 15002 or in SWIFT’s new format ISO 20022.
Fund distributors and funds promoters worldwide can access Europe’s main domestic markets via Vestima+ as a single entry point, allowing straight through processing (STP) from trade initiation to final settlement.
“Clearstream’s Vestima+ service is the only available solution that meets our STP needs with high flexibility,” says M Sang Bum Lee, head of foreign custody, Kookmin Bank. “It will enable us to speed up our time to market by using an easy-to-implement hub for our international fund distribution business.”
Philippe Seyll, head of investment fund services at Clearstream adds, “We are particularly pleased that Kookmin Bank, the number one bank in Korea, has selected Vestima+ to grant Korean customers easy access to European funds. Vestima+ flexibility will help Kookmin Bank to reach that goal and maximise the benefits.”