CA3023695A1 - Asset information collation support system - Google Patents

Abstract

An asset information collation support system, supporting management and implementation of collation tasks, includes: a report input unit that receives input of data from periodic operation reports of an asset management company and trust reports of an asset custodian company; a collation method management unit that receives input of settings information of items subject to collation; a collation processing unit that performs collation based on the settings information, and a collation status management unit that outputs a collated periodic operation report. The settings information include at least one of: information pertaining to items subject to primary collation and correspondence relationships thereof, information indicating whether to perform collation using the collation processing unit, information pertaining to criteria for accepting a result when values of target items diverge; and information for specifying accounts subject to secondary collation, which is a check of whether the primary collation has been performed.

Description

Asset Information Collation Support System Technical Field [0001]
The present invention relates to technology for managing financial assets, and more particularly to a technology that is effective when applied to an asset information collation support system that supports collation of information pertaining to customers' financial assets between an asset management company and an asset custodian company.
Background Art

[0002]
Private corporate pension funds and the like with large investment assets may, for example, entrust management operations to an asset management company that performs asset management work. On the other hand, financial products and other assets owned by such customers of asset management companies are held in by asset custodian company such as a trust bank. At monthly intervals or some other regular interval, the asset management company submits a periodic operations report to its customers, and the asset custodian company submits a trust report.

[0003]
One technique relating to establishing consistency in the information submitted to customers pertaining to details of asset management is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-216228 (Patent Document 1), which describes a technique whereby an asset custodian company, such as a trust bank, checks, based on matching conditions, the consistency of transaction data relating to management of assets to be disclosed to the asset management company, and, if the results indicate inconsistency, issues a warning. With this arrangement, it is indicated that asset custodian companies can disclose appropriate transaction data that meets predetermined matching conditions to customers and asset management companies. It is also indicated that, by issuing a warning in the event of transaction data being inconsistent, it will be possible to easily identify any transaction data that is inconsistent.
Prior Art Documents Patent Documents

[0004]
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-216228 Summary of the Invention Problem to be Solved by the Invention

[0005]
According to the prior art, it is possible for the asset custodian company to ensure consistency in transaction data relating to asset management submitted to a customer or an asset management company. In addition, as part of the duties pertaining to asset management, an asset management company is also generally required to respond to inspections by the authorities by collating information pertaining to the customer assets which the asset management company itself recognizes and information pertaining to the assets recognized by the asset custodian company.

[0006]
However, for items among the collated item whose values are determined based on a fixed evaluation or processing, such as items whose values change as time elapses, a discrepancy can arise between the value recognized by the asset management company and the value recognized by the asset custodian company due to differences in the timing and conditions of the valuation. Therefore, in collation work, it is necessary to properly detect and gain an understanding of such discrepancies and assess whether or not each discrepancy is acceptable. However, in large-scale asset management companies, the number of customers is large and the number of items needing to be collated can be enormous.

[0007]
Conventionally, such collation work would consist of little more than the implementation of a system-based collation of accounts containing simple assets. For accounts containing complicated assets for which system-based collation was not possible, for example, primary collation (a first check) may be made by an employee in charge of checking trust reports submitted by the asset custodian company, and a secondary check of the collation results may be conducted by a more senior employee (second check).

[0008]
In this case, since time and effort are required to understand and manage the accounts to be inspected and the combination of items to be checked tends to differ depending on the inspection, it is difficult to gain an understanding of the checking situation overall. In addition, since the secondary check does not involve actual collation of each item, but merely confirmation of whether the primary checker has actually collated the items subject to collation, there was, depending on the inspection, a tendency for the content of the secondary check (in other words, the confirmation of which items were collated in the primary check) to be human-dependent. The present inventors believed that the content of the secondary check could be system based, to some extent.

[0009]
The object of the present invention to support management and implementation of collation tasks by an asset management company, including gaining an understanding of accounts subject to the collation tasks by the asset management company, management of collation items, and, where possible, automatic collation of items, as well as management etc.
of collation results that incorporate manual collation.

[0010]
The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the descriptions in this specification and the accompanying drawings.
Means to Solve the Problem

[0011]
The following are brief descriptions of representative concepts of the inventions disclosed in the present application.

[0012]
The asset information collation support system according to the representative embodiment of the present invention is a system that supports the work of collating between a periodical operation report prepared about financial assets in customer accounts and a trust report prepared by an asset custodian company, and has the following features.

[0013]
Specifically, the asset information collation support system includes a report input unit that receives input of data of the periodic operation report and data of the trust report and records the received data in a report storage unit; a collation method management unit that receives input of settings information pertaining to target items and collation methods for the collation between the data of the periodic operation report and the data of the trust report, and records the received settings information in a collation method storage unit; a collation processing unit that collates the data of the periodic operation report with the data of the trust report based on the setting information recorded in the collation method storage unit and records the collation results in a collation results storage unit; and a collation status management unit that outputs, based on the collation results recorded in the collation results storage unit a periodic operation report in which the collation results are reflected as necessary.

[0014]
The settings information includes at least one of: information pertaining to items subject to primary collation in the data of the periodic operation report and the data of the trust report and correspondence relationships thereof; information indicating whether to perform collation using the collation processing unit or to accept input of results of externally performed collation; information pertaining to criteria for accepting a result when values of target items diverge; and information for specifying accounts subject to secondary collation, which is a check of whether the primary collation has been performed, performed by the collation processing unit.

[0015]
The following are brief descriptions of the effects obtained according to a representative embodiment of the invention disclosed in the present application.

[0016]
Specifically, according to the representative embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to support management and implementation of collation work by an asset management company, including gaining an understanding of accounts subject to the collation work by the asset management company, management of collation items, and, where possible, automatic collation of items, as well as management etc. of collation results that incorporated manual collation.
Brief Description of the Drawings

[0017]
FIG. I is a schematic view of a configuration example of an asset information collation support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart outlining an example of a flow of collation processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a table showing an example of correspondences between items to be collated in a primary check of a periodic operation report and a trust report according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an example of a deviant value detection method according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a checklist for managing collation results according to the embodiment of the present invention.
Embodiment of the Invention

[0018]
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the figures. In all the figures for explaining the embodiments, the same reference numerals are, as a rule, assigned to the same parts, and repetitious descriptions of such parts have been omitted from the specification. Moreover, the parts described using reference numerals in any given drawing may be referred to using the same reference numerals in descriptions of other figures without being depicted therein.

[0019]
<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a configuration example of an asset information collation support system according to the embodiment of the present invention. An asset information collation support system 1 is a server system that provides services to support the work of a management company 2, which is the asset management company, in collating a periodic operation report 19 (actually, periodic operation report data 21) and a trust report 31 submitted by the trust bank 3, which is the asset custodian company.

[0020]
The asset information collation support system 1 is built using, for example, server devices, virtual servers configured on a cloud computing service, or the like. A CPU
(Central Processing Unit) (not shown) runs middleware such as an OS (Operating System), DBMS

(DataBase Management System), Web server program, etc. deployed in memory from a storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or executes software that runs on the middleware to implement the various later-described functions pertaining to the collation task.

[0021]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the asset information collation support system 1 is configured as an independent server system, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the invention may be constituted by an information processing device such as a PC (Personal Computer) or may be configured as a part of a back-office system used by the management company 2.

[0022]
The asset information collation support system 1 includes, for example, a report input unit 11, a collation processing unit 12, a collation method management unit 13, a collation status management unit 14, and the like, which are implemented as software. The system further = includes data stores for report data 15, collation method data 16, and collation results data 17, which are implemented as databases and file tables.

[0023]
The report input unit II has a function for accepting input of reports to be subject to the collation task and recording them in the report data 15. In other words, the report unit 11 receives the periodic operation report data 21 that is the basis of the periodic operation report 19 prepared by the management company 2 and the data of the trust report 31 prepared by the trust bank 3 and submitted to the management company 2 and stores them in the report data 15.

[0024]
There are no particular limits on the input methods for the report. For example, a person in charge may access the report input unit 11 using an information processing terminal (not shown) and upload a report file. Alternatively, report files may be received from the management company 2 and trust bank 3 via a network not shown in the drawings.

Moreover, there are no particular limits on the format of the data. Suitable data formats include spreadsheet software formats and formats such as Comma-Separated Values (CSV).

[0025]
The collation processing unit 12 collates the periodic operation report data 21 recorded in the report data 15 and the data of the trust report 31 based on as collation method set in the collation method data 16, and outputs the collation results as collation results data 17. Details of the collation processing will be described later. However, for items which can be collated automatically, the primary check includes automatic collation and recording of the collation results in the collation results data 17. Registration of collation results 18 from primary checks that were performed manually may be received before recording them in the collation results data 17. Then, based on the result of the primary checks recorded in the collation results data 17, a secondary check for confirming whether or not predetermined items have been collated or not is automatically performed, and the result is recorded in the collation results data 17.

[0026]
The collation method management unit 13 functions to receive settings information relating to the collation targets and method and stores the settings in in the verification method data 16. There are no particular limits on the registration method for the settings information.
For example, a person in charge may access the collation method management unit 13 by using a web browser running on an information processing terminal not shown in drawings and enter the settings via the screen for registration, or a file in which settings information is recorded may be uploaded and, based on this content, the collation method management unit 13 may register the file in the collation method data 16.

[0027]
The settings information includes, for example, information on conditions for specifying accounts to be collated, information for specifying collation items in the primary check of the periodic operation report data 21 and the trust report 31, information pertaining to a collation method for each collation item, information specifying items to be subject to the secondary check (in other words, the confirmation of items collated in the primary check), and the like.
The information pertaining to the collation method includes, for example, information indicating whether, as a condition for the collation to be satisfactory, the values for each item must match perfectly, or whether the collation can be judged as satisfactory when there are discrepancies provided that the discrepancies fall within a predetermined range. In addition, values for specifying the predetermined range over which divergence is to be permitted and information pertaining to statistical methods, which are described in a later section, may also be included.

[0028]
The collation status management unit 14 has a function of managing collation/check status of each account based on the collation results stored in the collation results data 17. Further, it has a function of reflecting the collation results as necessary in the periodic operation report data 21, performing predetermined editing and processing, etc., and outputting the resulting data in the periodical operation report 19 in a predetermined format. To manage the collation status, a later-described collation/check status list (checklist) for each account can be outputted as a spreadsheet file or a screen to be displayed by a web browser, with the contents of the checklist being checked by the person in charge.

[0029]
<Flow of processing>
FIG. 2 is a flowchart outlining an example of a flow of collation processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. First, the person in charge at the management company 2 sets or updates the verification method as necessary (S01). If the currently set collation method is not to be changed, no special processing is required.
Thereafter, the periodic operation report data 21 and the data of the trust report 31 prepared monthly, or at some other predetermined interval, by the management company 2 and the trust bank 3 respectively are inputted (S02).

[0030]
With the input of both the data from the periodic operation report data 21 and trust report

31 as a trigger, or on condition of both data being inputted, the predetermined items set in the collation method data 16 (in other words, the items that can be automatically collated) are collated using the primary check performed automatically according to the collation method (S303). The collation results are stored in the collation results data 17.
Furthermore, if there is an item that cannot be automatically collated, the person in charge performs manual collation as the primary check. The processing receives input of the result and records it in the collation results data 17 (SO4).
[0031]
Thereafter, for each of the items subject to collation, the processing determines whether or not the collation of the primary check has all been completed (SOS). In the case where not all collation has been completed ¨in other words, when there is an item for which collation has not been performed, or there is an item for which the result of collation is inconsistent (S05:
NO)¨, the processing takes measures to check and correct the value of each item as necessary (S06), then returns to step SO4 and continues the collation by performing the primary check again.

[0032]
= In the case where collation with the primary check has been completed (S05: YES), the collation processing unit 12 automatically performs the secondary check based on the collation results of the primary check of each account stored in the collation results data 17 (S07). More specifically, the object of the secondary check which has been recorded in the collation method data 16 is to confirm whether or not the primary check has been performed successfully, and, in cases where it is confirmed that the primary check has been performed = successfully, the secondary check is deemed to have been performed. The collation results are stored in the collation results data 17. Furthermore, in the event that manual collation is performed as the secondary check by a senior manager or the like on items other than the items normally subject to the secondary check, the resulting input is received and stored in the collation results data 17 (S08).

[0033]
Thereafter, for each of the items subject to the secondary check, the processing determines whether or not all the secondary checks have been completed (S09). In the case where not all the secondary checks have been completed ¨in other words, when there is an item for which the secondary check has not been performed, or there is an item for which the result of the secondary check is unsatisfactory (S09: NO)¨, the processing takes measures to check and correct the value of each item as necessary (S10), then returns to step S07 and continues with the secondary check.

[0034]
In the case that secondary checks of each item subject to the secondary check have all been completed (S09: YES), the processing outputs the periodic operation report 19 in a predetermined format, based on the post-check periodic operation report data 21 (S11), and ends therewith.

[0035]
<Collation method>
Collation of the regular operation report data 21 and the data of the trust report 31 is performed based on the setting information registered in the collation method data 16. The setting information includes, for example, information for specifying collation items in the respective data sets. For example, the collation items can be set by identifying items of high importance for which it can be said, "if this item is matched, there will be no problem [with other data]".

[0036]
FIG. 3 is a table showing an example of correspondences of items to be collated in the primary cross-check of the periodic operation report (periodic operation report data 21) and the trust report 31. It is to be noted that the management company 2 and the trust bank 3 frequently have different names for items which are the same and are subject to the collation in the periodic operation report (periodic operation report data 21) and the trust report 31. In the present embodiment, however, the correspondences of the items to be collated are stored in the collation method data 16, and so suitable collation between the corresponding items can be performed automatically irrespective of the different names.

[0037]
As described above, criteria for judging whether the collation of the items is satisfactory/unsatisfactory can be individually set. For example, the criterion may be that values of the respective items must match exactly. Alternatively, a discrepancy may be permitted as long as it is within a predetermined range. In the case where a certain discrepancy is permitted, a statistical method (deviation value detection method) used in quality control may be used as the satisfactory/unsatisfactory judgment method.

[0038]
In the present embodiment, a method called Range Edit (a method of setting an allowable range) is used to calculate an index (deviation level) indicating the degree of deviation between the respective data. Here, if data for sample unit i is xi, a measure of position (value representing a frequency distribution, such as an average) is m, and a measure of scattering is the standard deviation a, the deviation level di of the data of sample unit i is given by the formula:
di = (xi -

[0039]
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an example of a deviant value detection method according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, which takes as an example dividends receivable, the deviation level di for the difference xi between the periodic operation report data 21 and the trust report 31 were calculated for each of the 12 items of monthly data from one year. Then, if the upper and lower limits of the deviation level are set as 5% of the upper and lower positions respectively, the upper and lower limits on the deviation level are 2.444 and -0.118. In this case, the deviation levels (-0.199 and 2.449) of the data of bottom two rows in the table in the figure exceed the lower and upper limit respectively and are therefore indicated as deviating values.
In this case, since the differences between the two sets of data include deviation values, the = collation result is deemed unsatisfactory.

[0040]
Thus, by using statistical methods for collation between items, it is possible to realize rapid and automatic collation while also improving the accuracy and eliminating the human-dependence of the collation. For the judgment methods and judgment models, criteria values such as the upper and lower limits and other settings information, accuracy may be gradually = improved using machine learning. Moreover, for certain items subject to collation, a special and specific method based on know-how accumulated through experience can be used as the collation method.

[0041]
For example, when collating the periodic operation report data 21 with the trust report 31, it is common, under the book value principle, to collate the book value understood by the management company 2 with the book value understood by the trust bank 3.
However, the amounts of the book value and losses are calculated in a manner that includes appraisal and processing based on predetermined rules and standards, and may differ between companies for the same asset. Therefore, for such items, collation in which the appropriateness of divergence is evaluated in accounts numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands is a difficult process requiring enormous effort.

[0042]
On the other hand, the amount received when an asset with a certain book value is sold is no longer a valuation but an established amount, and as a rule, will not differ between the management company 2 and the trust bank 3. After the sale, the differences in the book value between the management company 2 and the trust bank 3 will appear in the realized loss/gain, which is the difference between the selling price and the book value. For example, if in the interests of simplicity one considers an asset for which the investment company 2 has the book value of 100 yen and the trust bank 3 has a book value of 98 yen (difference of +2 yen) and which is sold for 200 yen, the realized gain/loss at the investment company 2 will be +100 yen, the difference from the book value of 100 yen, while the realized gain/loss in trust bank 3 will be +102 yen, the difference from the book value of 98 yen (divergence is -2 yen).
In other words, the divergence in respective book values and realized gains/losses between the investment management company 2 and the trust bank 3 can be evaluated relative to the sale price.

[0043]
Therefore, when collating the book value, if one evaluates the divergence in the realized gains/losses relative to the book values, one can effectively use the established amount of the selling price as a reference point for performing automatic collation. This kind of method is applicable not only to the collation of book values but also to the collation of other items which take values in a trade-off relationship with respect to an established value. It is to be noted that the realized gains/losses will be incorporated into the principal following settlement and are then difficult to handle on an individual basis. Thus, in the management company 2, it is desirable that realized gains/losses be stored using, for example, a "realized gains/losses in the current period" database or the like.

[0044]
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a checklist for managing the collation results according to the embodiment. The checklist is outputted based on the information recorded in the collation result data 17. As shown in the figure, for all accounts being managed, in addition to attribute information and management information, information pertaining to collation status is outputted for each customer account.

[0045]
As shown in the figure, the attribute information and management information may include items such as a "Contracts/acceptance", "Customer name", "Trust number" etc.
The "Contract/acceptance" item indicates the number of contracts or order acceptance states of the assets in the target account. The "Customer name" item indicates information such as a name or the like for identifying the customer relating to the target account.
The "trust number"
item indicates information such as a management number assigned by the trust bank 3 that stores assets relating to the target account.

[0046]
The information pertaining to collation status, indicates the overall collation status (state of progress) as a whole for each account, and indicates the collation status of each collation item of the periodic operation report data 21 and the trust report 31. In the example of FIG.
5, for the sake of convenience of explanation, "Principal balance", "Book value/realized losses and gains difference" and "Market capitalization amount" are described as collating items, but in reality other collation items will also be included. Then, for each collation item, reference values of divergence (upper limit/lower limit) for judging whether the collation is satisfactory/unsatisfactory, information pertaining to the collation results 18 of collation conducted by person in charge as the primary check, information pertaining to results of collation performed automatically by the collation processing unit 12 as the primary check, and information pertaining to a percent divergence as a collation result, will be specified.

[0047]
For each collation item, when the percent divergence is equal to or less than the reference value, the collation result is automatically determined as being satisfactory (indicated by =

in the figure). On the other hand, when the percent divergence exceeds the reference value, the collation result is automatically determined as being unsatisfactory (NG) (in the figure, this applies to the "Market capitalization" item of the account with the "Account number"
"00XXX4").

[0048]
The checklist also includes "Sampling" and "Secondary check" items. The "Secondary check" item is information indicating whether or not the target account is an account subject to secondary checking, and as the result of the secondary check, the result of an automatic check on whether or not all primary checks on predetermined items have been performed successfully.

[0049]
On the other hand, the "Sampling" item is information indicating whether or not the target account is an account that is subject to inspections performed as quality control for the collation result. In the present embodiment, the secondary check is, as a rule, also performed systematically, and it is therefore possible to avoid the double-checking through paper-based inspection seen in the prior art. However, a paper-based check can be performed in the interests of quality control. In this case, since it is inefficient to implement such a check on all the accounts, is desirable to extract sample accounts based on predetermined criteria and conditions, and to implement the inspection on the extracted accounts. In the present embodiment, a person in charge sets appropriate criteria and conditions for specifying the accounts to be sampled and stores them in the verification method data 16.
Based on these criteria etc., the collation processing unit 12 may automatically specify the accounts to be extracted as samples.

[0050]
The criteria etc. for specifying the accounts to be extracted as samples can be set appropriately based on the characteristics and attributes of the account, the structure of the collation processing, and the like. For example, it may be the case that accounts for which customers desire double checking are always subject to sampling, while other accounts may be grouped using certain conditions, such as being an account of a particular trust or holding a particular asset, and sample accounts may be extracted from each group using a predetermined method.

[0051]
For example, accounts may be sampled from each group using a random number weighted by market capitalization or the like. For instance, "total market capitalization of the account total market capitalization of the group" may be calculated for each account, and sampling may be performed on a predetermined number of accounts for which the product of the calculated ratio and a random number is large. With such a method, it is possible to extract, in a rational way, accounts that are highly important for asset management both qualitatively and quantitatively while making the most of the field characteristics.

[0052]
As described above, according to the asset information collation support system 1 which is one embodiment of the present invention, for each account of the large number of accounts managed by the investment management company 2, items to be collated and information pertaining to collation details and methods and results can be easily understood and monitored in a unified manner. In addition, flexibility and extensibility is improved because of the ease of making settings and modifications to the collation. Also, by using systematic automatic collation including statistical collation techniques etc. in an appropriate manner, human-dependency of the collation can be avoided, and accuracy can be improved.

[0053]
Although the invention by the present inventors has been described in detail based on the embodiment above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. While the above embodiment has been described in detail to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, the invention is not necessarily provided with all of the configurations described. Moreover, it is possible to add to, remove from, or replace one part of the configuration of the above-described embodiment with another configuration.
Industrial Applicability

[0054]
The present invention relates to an asset information collation support system that supports collation of information pertaining to customers' financial assets between an asset management company and an asset custodian company.
Description of the Reference Numerals

[0055]
1 Asset information collation support system; 2 management company; 3 trust bank;
11 report input unit; 12 collation processing unit; 13 collation method management unit; 14 collation status management unit; 15 report data; 16 collation method data; 17 collation result data; 18 collation result; 19 periodic operation report; 21 periodic operation report data; 31 trust report.

Claims (6)

Claims

1. Asset information collation support system that supports task of collating between a periodical operation report prepared about financial assets in customer accounts and a trust report prepared by an asset custodian company, the system comprising:
a report input unit that receives input of data of the periodic operation report and data of the trust report and records the received data in a report storage unit;
a collation method management unit that receives input of settings information pertaining to target items and collation methods for the collation between the data of the periodic operation report and the data of the trust report, and records the received settings information in a collation method storage unit;
a collation processing unit that collates the data of the periodic operation report with the data of the trust report based on the settings information recorded in the collation method storage unit and records the collation results in a collation results storage unit; and a collation status management unit that outputs, based on the collation results recorded in the collation results storage unit a periodic operation report in which the collation results are reflected as necessary, wherein the settings information includes at least one of: information pertaining to items subject to primary collation in the data of the periodic operation report and the data of the trust report and correspondence relationships thereof; information indicating whether to perform collation using the collation processing unit or to accept input of results of externally performed collation; information pertaining to criteria for accepting a result when values of target items diverge; and information for specifying accounts to be subject to secondary collation, which is a check of whether the primary collation has been performed, performed by the collation processing unit.

2. The asset information collation support system according to claim 1, wherein the collation status management unit outputs a checklist that displays a list of information pertaining to a collation status of each item to be collated in each customer account, based on the collation results recorded in the collation results storage unit.

3. The asset information collation support system according to claim 1, wherein the collation processing unit performs collation using a predetermined statistical method for evaluation of divergence between predetermined items set in the settings information.

4. The asset information collation support system according to claim 1, wherein to evaluate the divergence between predetermined first items set in the settings information, the collation processing unit performs evaluation in combination with a second item which has a trade-off relationship with the divergence, using another item that does not diverge between the asset management company and the asset custodian company.

5. The asset information collation support system according to claim 4, wherein the first item is a book value and the second item is a realized gain/loss.

6. The asset information collation support system according to claim 1, wherein the collation processing unit extracts sample accounts to be subject to secondary collation that is performed externally, based on a predetermined condition set in the settings information.