A 4851 -
November 6, 1998
P&S 4415
TO: ALL PARTICIPANTS
ATTENTION: MANAGER MUTUAL FUNDS OPERATIONS, MANAGER DATA PROCESSING, MANAGER CASHIERS, MANAGER P&S DEPARTMENT, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, MANAGER CUSTOMER ACCOUNT TRANSFER DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: REMINDER NOTICE FOR FUND-FIRM TESTING OF THE CHANGES TO THE AUTOMATED CUSTOMER ACCOUNT TRANSFER SERVICE (ACATS) – FUND/SERV INTERFACE.
National Securities Clearing Corporation’s (NSCC) Fund/SERV system provides the mutual fund industry with an automated and centralized method for processing mutual fund orders, account registrations and centralized net settlement. The Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS) expedites the transfer of customer accounts from firm to firm. The ACATS-Fund/SERV interface facilitates the automated re-registration of mutual fund assets that are transferred through the ACATS system.
This Important Notice is to serve as a reminder for the testing schedule of the ACATS-Fund/SERV link, focusing primarily on the fund/firm testing occurring from November 16, 1998 through January 21, 1999.
Background:
Format testing by funds only for new ACATS-Fund/SERV has begun and is scheduled to continue from October 19 - November 13, 1998. The following ACATS-Fund/SERV Records for fund participants will be changed on November 16, 1998:
Transfer Re-Registration (Record Type 018)
Transfer Acknowledgment/Rejection (Record Type 019)
Transfer Reminder (Record Type 080)
See Important Notice A4818, dated August 25, 1998 for details on the format testing.
Partnering of Funds and Firms for ACATS/Fund/SERV Testing
The second phase of testing, to correspond with firm participants’ implementation of the ACATS redesign on January 25, 1999, will allow fund and firm partnering for the new ACATS data. This testing is scheduled to begin on November 16, 1998 and continue through January 21, 1999. NSCC’s Participant Test (PT) region will be used by the mutual fund industry to test these changes to the ACATS-Fund/SERV link. Partnering is expected to be achieved by Firms and Funds contacting each other and coordinating testing within the PT region.
In order to facilitate the communications between the funds and the firms, NSCC will make available a list of funds and contacts for each fund, on the NSCC web site. If you need assistance identifying a fund test partner, please refer to the fund test list found at acats.nscc.com and fundserv.nscc.com, or contact your NSCC account manager. This list includes those funds that have indicated a willingness to partner with firms for participant testing. If you need assistance identifying a firm test partner, please review the ACATS coordinator list found at acats.nscc.com and fundserv.nscc.com, or contact your NSCC account manager.
See Important Notice A4818, dated August 25, 1998 for details on the participant testing.
Schedule of Events
This schedule remains unchanged from Important Notice A4818, dated August 25, 1998.
| Date | Event | Participant Affected |
| August 03, 1998 | First day for canned output for funds. (See Appendix C) |
Funds only |
| August 03, 1998 | First day for funds to contact the Participant Test Group for test setup. (See Appendix B) | Funds only |
| October 19, 1998 – November 13, 1998 | Fund testing of ACATS-Fund/SERV format changes (See Appendix A) | Funds only |
| November 16, 1998 | First day of mandatory format changes for ACATS-Fund/SERV link | Funds only |
| November 16, 1998 | First day for firm participant testing of ACATS redesign. | Firms only |
| November 16, 1998 – January 21, 1999 |
Fund/firm testing of mutual fund re-registrations. | Funds and Firms |
| January 25, 1999 | First day for ACATS redesign. | First day of system changes for firms. First time for firm-inputted data in fund layouts. |
Related Important Notices
Details of the redesigned ACATS and ACATS Fund/SERV interface have been outlined in the following Important Notices:
Important Notice A4649 dated September 12, 1997: Details of the redesigned ACATS and ACATS Fund/SERV Interface.
Important Notice A4699 dated December 29, 1997: Further details regarding the ACATS-Fund/SERV interface.
Important Notice A4726 dated February 27, 1998: Updates to the ACATS-Fund/SERV link.
Important Notice A4736 dated March 17th, 1998: Updates to the ACATS layouts.
Important Notice A4773 dated May 26, 1998: Detailed information on firm testing of the ACATS redesign.
Important Notice A4792 dated June 30, 1998: Notification of the schedule change to the ACATS redesign.
Important Notice A4796 dated July 15, 1998: Notification of the testing and implementation schedule for ACATS-Fund/SERV.
Important Notice A4818 dated August 25, 1998: Updated Testing Schedule of the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS) – Fund/SERV Interface.
Important Notice A4830 dated September 21, 1998: ACATS Redesign – Conversion Tests and Participant System Test Information
Any questions pertaining to this Important Notice can be directed to NSCC’s Participant Services at (212) 412-8432, the Mutual Fund Hotline at (212) 412-8893, your account manager, or the undersigned at (212) 412-8675.
Thomas R. Cosgrove
Director, Marketing