Method and apparatus for automated trade transactions processing

A method for automatically processing participant mutual fund transactions, comprising the steps of:

• receiving participant mutual fund trade data at a record keeping system;
• aggregating said participant mutual fund trade data into a plurality of omnibus plan trade files by mutual fund;
• transmitting said omnibus plan trade files from the record keeping system to a host processor;
• transmitting price feed data regarding mutual funds from at least one transfer agent system to the host processor;
• processing omnibus plan trades from said omnibus plan trade files and said price feed data at the host processor;
• transmitting said omnibus plan trade files to an appropriate transfer agent system for execution;
• trade-acknowledgment confirming the processing of said omnibus plan trade files and said price feed data to the record keeping system prior to execution of said omnibus plan trade files at the transfer agent systems;
• executing trades contained in said omnibus plan trade files at the at least one transfer agent system;
• trade-execution confirming the execution of said omnibus plan trades to the host processor;
• transmitting said trade-execution confirming to the record keeping system;
• generating a mismatch file representing differences between said trade-execution confirming and said trade-acknowledgment confirming;
• and
• transmitting said mismatch file to said record keeping system.

A network for facilitating automatic processing of multiple participant mutual fund accounts and transactions relating thereto, comprising:

• at least one record keeping system for storing information regarding a plurality of participants having a mutual fund account, receiving mutual fund transactions regarding said participant mutual fund accounts, aggregating said mutual fund transactions by fund and type into omnibus plan trades, and transmitting said omnibus plan trades;
• a host processor interconnected with each of said record keeping systems for receiving and processing said omnibus plan trades;
• at least one transfer agent system for sending trade information to said host processor, wherein said host processor uses said trade information to evaluate said omnibus plan trades and create and transmit a trade-acknowledgment confirmation file to said at least one record keeping system representing the evaluation of said omnibus plan trades prior to execution of the omnibus plan trades by the transfer agent systems;
• means for trade-execution confirming the execution of said omnibus plan trades to the host processor;
• means for transmitting said trade-execution confirming to the record keeping system;
• means for generating a mismatch file representing differences between said trade-execution confirming and the trade-acknowledgment confirmation;
• and
• transmitting said mismatch file to said record keeping system.