Confirmation Matching
Confirmation matching is the comparison and matching of a previously agreed deal. Each confirmation includes the details of the deal and is sent to the counterparty for verification. The confirmation matching systems compare the confirmation received from the counterparty to the confirmation produced by the bank’s own system. The two sets of confirmations should match; only those deals that have differences between the two confirmations, or maybe have no counterparty confirmation at all, are inspected manually.
To aid the matching process, standard format messages are used. The formats vary according to the type of deal, examples of the standard formats include SWIFT's FX and money market deals, and the FIX protocol for securities deals.
Confirmation matching is carried out in some of the online trading platforms and also by the specialist confirmation matching service providers. Over the last 2-3 years the confirmation matching services have expanded the number of financial instruments covered, developed their systems to comply with the new process and accounting regulations, and moved to web-based solutions and enhanced ease of use.
The main differences between the confirmation matching services include: the number and types of instruments covered, range of message formats accepted, how they cater for standard and nonstandard messages and trades, the ease of integration with the internal corporate treasury department processes and systems.