The Hindu Business Line : SBI Mutual plans to streamline investor service operations

CLOSE on the heels of signing a tie-up with Societe Generale, SBI Mutual Fund is overhauling its systems, beginning with streamlining its investor service operations. The latter, currently outsourced to several different registrars, will soon be handled by a single entity.

While the identity of the registrar is not being disclosed at this stage, the fund house expects to hand over the mandate to a leading player. The move would be seen as an important step towards correcting an aberration, it is felt. Having a single registrar is the norm in the asset management industry, and SBI MF stands out as an exception.

The entities that presently operate as registrars to various SBI MF schemes include Computronics Financial, MCS and Datamatics Financial. Many of India's fund houses, however, are serviced by one of the two major players - CAMS and Karvy.

Streamlining investor servicing operations would bring SBI MF, which has lately added to its client base, partly because of the introduction of new products, on an equal footing.

According to sources aware of the development, the proposed changeover to a single registrar has already been discussed at length by the SBI MF management. The plan, in fact, has not been prompted by the arrangement with SocGen per se. "We have been trying to get our internal systems right. With SocGen's arrival, the process may well be hastened," a senior SBI MF functionary told Business Line.

It may be mentioned here that SBI MF's new partner has offered to take up 37 per cent in the asset management company's equity. The deal was signed in mid-July. SBI would continue to hold the remaining 63 per cent stake.

Multiplicity of registrars, it is felt, is a concern for investors, especially so in the present context, marked by the need to provide speedy and efficient service. Outfits such as CAMS, for instance, are known for the many systems that they have introduced over the years, ranging from responding to queries through toll-free numbers to handling of grievances such as non-receipt of account statements.

"With the number of unit holders going up, the need to provide them with a single service platform will be more acutely felt," the source maintained. SBI MF has around 8,00,000 investors, a number that is expected to rise further after the MF's newest scheme, Emerging Business Fund, is closed for subscription. This would be a diversified equity product, which would add to the MF's Magnum Sector Funds Umbrella.