A majority of transfer agency professionals do not believe that their fund distributors care whether services are outsourced or not, according to a survey at the International Transfer Agency Summit in Luxembourg.
In an on-the-spot survey, conference attendees were asked to vote on what best describes how fund distributors perceive transfer agency services.
Of the respondents, 57 percent said that distributors do not care whether a fund is insourced or outsourced, while 14 percent said they believe distributors cannot tell the difference.
While nobody thought distributors preferred transfer agency services to be provided by the manager, 10 percent said they view a manager's direct service as superior, and 19 percent said distributors prefer service from an outsourced provider.
The results highlight a disconnect between transfer agents and their clients and a lack of communication. One audience member suggested that the perceived indifference of distributors could be down to a lack of transparency, as many outsourced solutions are marketed as in-house.
While one panellist expressed doubts about a full alignment of transfer agency and distributors because, “ultimately, the end investor ends up paying the price for it”, another suggested that having an entirely in-house transfer agency system could create an alignment between agents and distributors, but would require many different operations.
He suggested that the transfer agency and distribution industries should take steps to work more harmoniously, saying: “There won’t be a big slab of single regulation to zoop everyone up.”
“We may think that it is very fragmented but actually it does fit together.”
