DTCC, Symphony Partner to Offer Faster Exception Resolution

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) has partnered with financial messaging system Symphony to expand the reach of its exception manager service.

The DTCC Exception Manager (DXM) is a platform where users can publish, manage, and communicate exceptions from custodians, broker-dealers, prime brokers and others. It standardizes processing of exceptions along the trade settlement lifecycle so these are identified faster and resolved earlier.

Through the partnership with Symphony, clients who need to resolve exceptions can use a plug-in either through their Symphony platforms or through DXM to send a chat message to counterparties or within a firm around a trade allowing for the exception to be resolved.

The functionality is expected to be available by 2019.

Marisol Collazo, managing director, business development and global head of strategic partnerships at DTCC, says the firm understands its clients use a variety of ways to communicate, so it wants to enable DXM through these different platforms.

“There is a need to accelerate resolution of exceptions so we created a platform that people can view and contribute data. It aggregates information so they can see if their trade has settled and if not, know why and take action,” Collazo says. “The next step is resolving that exception and that involves communications, we want our clients to choose the best form of communication for them, so if they want to use a phone, email or chat, we want to give them that option.”

She adds the partnership with Symphony offers a chance for a new set of customers, who may be more comfortable using chat, to discover and use DXM.

“DTCC wanted to partner with secure communication companies who have expertise rather than build its own. We recognize that the industry has evolved and is demanding to use more chat systems, so we’re excited to partner with Symphony to marry data exceptions and chat,” says Collazo.

DXM was launched earlier this year and supports all global securities transactions.

DXM, as a project, is part of DTCC’s initiative to reduce settlement time it announced earlier this year. The initiative aims to cut settlement by more than a day through settlement optimization. Trades waiting to settle will be processed in batches overnight so settlement rates go up in the morning. It will also use an algorithm to evaluate transaction obligations, available positions, and transaction priority instructions to determine processing order.

Collazo notes reducing instances of exception—and resolving those that do occur—is part of the move to optimize settlement.

“This is definitely part of DTCC’s initiative to reduce settlement time and resolve exceptions before they become fails. As a result, our clients will be able to have more trade flow that is eligible for settlement optimization,” she says.