Auckland-headquartered fund administration firm, MMC, is expanding into the KiwiSaver registry market with a new system officially approved for operation.
According to the November quarter MMC newsletter, the group’s KiwiSaver registry software has been “granted certification” by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD)
“Our IT team have gone through a systems integration and compatibility testing process with Inland Revenue to ensure that the data exchange necessary for KiwiSaver functions correctly,” the MMC newsletter says.
The move marks a significant step for the NZ firm, which has grabbed a large part of the local investment admin business since it launched in 2005 to the broader market.
MMC, which began life as the outsourced admin provider for BT/Westpac NZ in 2002, now boasts more than $23 billion in funds under administration on behalf of 27 clients.
“We’re calculating 210 unit prices each day and have 34 staff members,” the latest newsletter says.
“… Our attention’s now on obtaining our first KiwiSaver registry client as we continue to grow our business.”
The KiwiSaver admin market has been in flux this year with Aon selling its back-office business to ASX-listed firm Link Group in August. Stan Malcolm, Link NZ head of operations, told Investment News NZ (IN NZ) in November the transition of Aon KiwiSaver and super fund admin clients should be complete by next October.
However, he said not all the current Aon-administered schemes would switch to Link. As well as a handful of KiwiSaver scheme closures and mergers this year, several Aon-administered traditional super schemes may not continue under new Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) rules, due to come into force next December, Malcolm said.
As at March 31 this year, Aon provided admin to 10 KiwiSaver schemes, collectively managing just over $970 million, of which about $700 million was contributed by the Medical Assurance scheme (almost $390 million) and Aon’s own KiwiSaver product.
With the announced closure of Smartshares and Staples Rodway expected to merge with the SBS-owned Lifestages KiwiSaver, the Aon-administered list would shrink to eight.
Last week, IN NZ reported another major shake-up in the registry market with Trustees Executors picking up the full Fisher Funds business it once shared with Mercer.
Meanwhile, all but two of MMC clients have now shifted onto the firm’s new Nexus technology platform, the newsletter says. The admin provider was also tweaking it system to help licensed managed investment scheme (MIS) clients comply with new ongoing reporting requirements.
MIS compliance would become increasing important for the industry, Robert Moss, MMC managing director, told IN NZ in May, with the licensing deadline looming in December 2016.
To date, 12 managers have been granted MIS status by the Financial Markets Authority with the latest, Devon Funds Management, joining the list last week.