Re-registration
The changing face of re-registration
Simon Farrant highlights how the client re-registration process has improved, but stresses that further effort is required to ensure a good experience in all cases
It’s safe to say that Frederick Douglass, the 19th Century US social reformer, wasn’t referring to re-registration when he famously said: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Nevertheless, this remark certainly applies.
It’s been over two years since the requirement for fund managers and platforms to offer in specie transfer was introduced, and while much progress has been made towards seamless transfers of assets, there remains much to do. In this article I will look at the current state of play, what FundsNetwork is doing to drive progress, and the issues you need to be aware of in making recommendations to your clients.
Poor client experience
At the time the current rules for re- registration were introduced, the industry was still mobilising its efforts to deliver an effective automated service. The first few months were challenging for fund managers and platforms alike, as most faced a significant number of requests to move assets between nominees and shareholder registers. The result, in many cases, was a poor client experience, with long waits for assets to be transferred.
Thanks to concerted efforts across the industry to revamp processes and systems, the situation has now improved. However, it is fair to say that some key issues still remain.
Firstly, there are still substantial differences between those fund providers who have introduced automated processes and those who have not, with faxes being required to action re-registration in cases where automation doesn’t exist. Legacy ‘paper- based’ counterparties normally take more than five times longer to deal with.
Re-registration has also exposed other issues with some systems. For example, last year, several fund managers routinely rejected all re-registration requests received because of issues with anti-money laundering information. This has now been
resolved, however, other similar issues exist and significant work remains to ensure that data held on some fund manager systems can stand up to the demands of re- registration.
Along with other major platforms, both individually and collectively through the Tax Incentivised Savings Association (TISA), we are actively seeking to encourage those firms who have not automated (mainly smaller asset managers, smaller ISA providers and those not focused on the adviser market) to do so.
Data requirements
The remaining issue that stands in the way of the ideal re-registration customer experience is the data supplied. Essentially, the industry infrastructure at the heart of the re-registration process is incredibly sensitive to minor variations in policy details and client details - it rejects transactions if there is not an exact match.
In summary, the client re-registration process continues to improve, but further efforts will be required by all industry participants to achieve a good experience in all re-registration cases.
Simon Farrant is Head of Proposition at FundsNetwork
For example, missing a zero from an account number - ‘0001234’ instead of ‘00001234’ - will often cause a transaction to fail, as will a single character error in a postcode.
The key message here is to take extra care, particularly in relation to policy numbers, postcodes and how client names and addresses are written - we have seen rejected transactions based on the use of ‘St.’ as opposed to ‘Street’ - as we have limited ability to exercise human judgement in the automated industry processes.
Wraps and Platforms
Investment Life & Pensions Moneyfacts
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