New clients include JPMorgan Chase, Brown Brothers Harriman, BNP Paribas Securities Services, Société Générale Global Securities Services, ABN Amro Asset Management, CLSA Emerging Markets and Lloyd George Management in Hong Kong.

In addition to subscribing for settlement notification JPMorgan Chase will expand its interface to the platform in order to offer outsourcing services for the investment management community, as will early adopter Investors Bank & Trust.

Adam Bryan, president and CEO, Omgeo, says: "Clearly, firms within the securities industry recognise that STP is a critical business initiative that provides a distinct and measurable edge in a difficult competitive environment."

The new additions bring Omgeo's CTM client base to over 50, including 14 custodian banks.

The system, which went live in July, is a central matching solution for domestic and cross-border trades that runs on a XML-based, 15022 compliant TCP/IP platform and provides settlement notifications as soon as trade details are matched.

At a corporate presentation to delegates at the Swift international banking and operations seminar (Sibos) in Geneva, Omgeo paraded Royal London Asset Management as a fund management success story. Julian Baines, investment servicing manager at RLAM, says the introduction of the CTM at his firm had reduced processing times of instructions to custodians from 20 hours to three hours.

RLAM says it is currently processing 60% of its broker volume through the CTM since adding ten brokers two weeks ago, and has set its sights on 100% connectivity by the end of the year. "We will bring the custodians on in early 2003 and complete the STP loop," he says.

Omgeo rival GSTPA meanwhile has spent much of the week on the back foot, fending off concerns over volumes passed through the VMU and its continued funding requirements. Industry participants have also been expressing disquiet over the exact nature of the utility's relationship with facilities manager SunGard and the implications for profiteering and trade processing costs.

On this issue, Art Barton, chief administative oficer at fund manager Clay Finlay offered more positive news. He put the total cost per trade through the GSTPA's Transaction Flow Manager at 30 cents, yielding cost savings of $1.79 per trade against the combined equivalent of $2.09 using Omgeo CTM precursor Oasys Global and Alert and Swift messaging.

While not disputing the figures, Richard Huges, Omgeo managing director for Europe rejected the analysis, describing comparisons between GSTPA's VMU and Oasys Global as an "apples for oranges comparison".