ISO 20022 The Convergence of Compression: whitepaper

Navigating the convergence of compression and fragmentation in corporate actions.

In Partnership with

Part two of the series examines how rising volumes, tighter timelines and fragmented processing models are increasing risk across corporate actions. It explores where operational pressure is concentrated, what fragmentation is costing investors and how ISO 20022 supports a more resilient, status-driven approach.

ISO 20022 adoption gap

Technology

Indirect pass-through costs run several times higher — making the true burden materially larger than the headline figure.

At current adoption rates, the benefits of ISO 20022 standardisation will remain theoretical for most of the market.

Annual inefficiency cost

Cost

Fragmentation continues to drive operational burden — and the problem compounds as volumes rise and timelines compress.

Standardisation through ISO 20022 could address a meaningful share of this cost without requiring firms to rebuild from scratch.

Standardisation reduces errors

Efficiency

Adoption remains extremely low in election processing — reinforcing the case for more structured and interoperable workflows.

The gains are available now — the barrier is adoption pace, not technology readiness.

Corporate actions risk is becoming harder to contain as higher volumes and tighter timelines collide with fragmented operating models. The challenge is no longer just processing complexity. It is the growing inability to maintain control, consistency and resilience across the event lifecycle.

Where is risk now most concentrated across corporate actions? How much cost and operational strain are firms absorbing as manual processing persists under more compressed timelines?

Part two of the series examines how market compression and infrastructural fragmentation are converging across asset servicing operations. It shows where risk is building, how manual processes multiply hidden costs and why status-driven processing is becoming more important to future control.

The research, produced in partnership with SmartStream Technologies, highlights:

Investors are bearing US dollar (USD) 14 million in direct yearly costs linked to current corporate actions inefficiencies

75% of investors in high-growth markets are still validating data manually, showing how fragmentation continues to drive operational burden

Below 40% straight-through processing (STP) in voluntary events: STP remains limited in the areas where operational complexity is often highest

2% of elections processed via ISO 20022: adoption remains extremely low in election processing, reinforcing the case for more structured and interoperable workflows

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