This white paper addresses the following openfunds fields:
Subscription related fields
OFST410060 Cut-off Date Offset for Subscription
OFST410070 Calculation Date Offset for Subscription
OFST410100 Cut-off Time for Subscription
OFST410600 Pre-payment Days for Subscription
OFST410700 Settlement Period for Subscription
Redemption related fields
OFST410065 Cut-off Date Offset for Redemption
OFST410075 Calculation Date Offset for Redemption
OFST430100 Cut-off Time for Redemption
OFST430150 Settlement Period for Redemption
Subscription and Redemption
Normally the subscription (or redemption) of a fund is an easy task. You or your financial advisor will transfer your order to the execution desk of your bank. If it arrives there before OFST410100 “Cut-off Time for Subscription” (OFST430100 “Cut-off Time for Redemption”) the order will be executed the same day and the fund will be entered into (taken off) your custody account with a value date of OFST410700 “Settlement Period for Subscription” (OFST430150 “Settlement Period for Redemption”).
The price you must pay (or receive) will be defined some hours after the order is executed. This so called forward pricing was introduced to hinder speculation against the fund and is common for mutual funds.
Sometimes the redeeming of a fund must be announced OFST410065 “Cut-off Date Offset for Redemption” days in advance. The same is true for subscribing to a fund, when signing documents must be presented OFST410060 “Cut-off Date Offset for Subscription” days before the Trade Date and an advance payment must be made OFST410600 “Pre-payment Days for Subscription”. While mutual funds generally have a daily liquidity, private market instruments and hedge funds usually do not. Quite often they can be subscribed once a month, quarterly or even less frequent. Additionally, redemptions might be restricted to only some specific days throughout the year.
Additionally, there can be a difference in days between the closing/valuation date for the trade and the date on which the valuation is calculated. openfunds refers to this as a “calculation date offset” and the fields “OFST410070 Calculation Date Offset for Subscription” and “OFST410075 Calculation Date Offset for Redemption” can be used to indicate if a share class has such a difference.
Difference between Dealing Date and Valuation Date
There can be a difference in days between the dealing date of the trade and the date on which the valuation is calculated. For traditional mutual funds and similar products which are daily or weekly pricing, openfunds refers to this as a “calculation date offset”. The fields OFST410070 “Calculation Date Offset for Subscription” and OFST410075 “Calculation Date Offset for Redemption” can be used to indicate if a share class has such a difference.
In private markets and for alternative funds, the concept of the calculation offset is considered to be less relevant, as the underlying assets are valued infrequently (monthly, quarterly or even less frequent). Therefore, offering documents or prospectuses of such funds refer to “dealing date” as the reference point for subscription and redemption, as there is no fix number of days until the valuation of the fund happens. To capture this constellation, openfunds has introduced the fields OFST410030 “Subscription Reference Basis” and OFST410040 “Redemption Reference Basis”.
The Reference Basis indicates whether all subscription/redemption related fields refer to the Valuation Date or the Trade Date of the fund. Note: In some contexts – particularly in private markets – the term “Dealing Date” may be used interchangeably with “Trade Date”. As “Trade Date” is the more commonly used and generalized term across fund types, openfunds has chosen to use this terminology.
Process of subscriptions and redemptions
The following charts show the subscription and the redemption process as well as the appropriate openfunds fields.
Subscription process
Redemption process
Document Information
| Title: | Notification and Settlement |
| Language: | English |
| Confidentiality: | Public |
| Authors: | openfunds |
Revision History
| Version | Date | Status | Notice |
| 1.5 | 2026-08-24 | Final | Updated illustration and text (minor changes) |
| 1.4 | 2026-03-06 | Final | Introduction of Subscription/Redemption Reference Basis as part of the openfunds working group ‘Private Market Data’ as well as v.2.13.0 |
| 1.3 | 2022-09-16 | Final | Changed settlement cycle fields as part of v1.29 |
| 1.2 | 2022-03-08 | Final | Added versioning details and updated text to match online version |
| 1.1 | 2017-10-04 | Final | Updated charts. Added templates. |
| 1.0 | 2017-09-14 | Draft | First version. |
Implementation
If you have any questions about the new data type or difficulties with implementation, please contact us at businessoffice@openfunds.org.
Joining openfunds
If your firm has a need to reliably send or receive fund data, you are more than welcome to use the openfunds fields and definitions free-of-charge. Interested parties can contact the openfunds association by sending an email to: businessoffice@openfunds.org
openfunds.org
c/o Balmer-Etienne AG
Bederstrasse 66
CH-8002 Zurich
Email: businessoffice@openfunds.org
If you wish to read or download this white paper as PDF, please click here.