The transfer, using TISA-endorsed open re-registration standards, was carried out using the Altus Transfer Gateway (ATG) and involved Ascentric, Fidelity, Schroders and IFDS - all participants in the first phase of Altus re-registration pilots.

The transfer was the first live test of the UKFMPG market practice and proved that end-to-end portfolio transfer is feasible within TISA's recently announced 24-hour benchmark - the whole process was completed in just 38 minutes. Whilst the test conditions in a pilot may be slightly flattering, there is no doubt that the smooth flow of messages between all parties in the very first live test was a great achievement and testament to both the rigour of the ISO20022/SWIFT standard and the software engineering behind ATG.

Edward Glyn, Director - Funds, EMEA at SWIFT commented: "This industry initiative will play a key part in the long term health of the UK retail investment services marketplace. The Altus ISO20022 pilot has brought key members of the SWIFT community together in time for the 2012 RDR deadline and the industry now has a viable solution in line with TISA recommendations for automated re-registration."

Altus expects other suppliers to begin sending re-registration messages over SWIFT in the next few months and is planning to test interoperability with these solutions as part of its pilot activity. Beyond testing the new message standards, the pilot is also designed to prove ATG support for the broader portfolio transfer process which is why even this first test incorporated steps for instruction approval and reconciliation. At this stage of the pilots ATG is only loosely coupled to participants' own administration systems but Altus has designed the system to support multiple levels of integration via a flexible web services architecture.

Products Director at Altus, Ben Cocks is understandably pleased with progress: "We have spent many months working on both the UKFMPG standards and understanding the broaader business requirements for the whole portfolio transfer process and it's fantastic to see this effort now paying off.

ATG already provides full support for SWIFT, ISO 20022 and the SMPG portfolio transfer market practice, but our roadmap goes much further than this. Our next development phase will deliver the automated transfer of SIPPs and equities but longer term we plan to cover the widest possible range of wrappers and asset classes. Like all our products, ATG comes with rich support for process control, service level monitoring, and comprehensive audit. We've even included the ability to handle manual exchanges with fund managers who are yet to adopt the new standards so that our clients can enjoy all these benefits from day one.

I think we have shown today that ATG is well ahead of the competition and with our clear vision of the future, we aim to make sure it stays there for a long time."