What you should do if your MF platform shuts shop

Many fintech players have come up with mutual fund investing platforms for the growing tribe of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) investors. While investors get such services virtually at zero cost, such fintechs don't quite seem to have struck a sustainable business model, leading to an apprehension that they may shut operations if the going gets tough. Should you panic about your investments if an online platform or third-party app shuts shop? Will you lose your investments? Should you redeem or let MF investments stay? These are some of the questions that come to investors' minds. Here are the answers.

Investments remain safe

Many newbies have a wrong understanding that online MF platforms or apps have the investment money with them. They don't. If the online MF platforms or apps run by fintechs down their operations, it's not like when a bank goes kaput and there is a risk of losing money. In fact, irrespective of the intermediary, all your MF transactions are documented with confirmation e-mails, SMSes specifying the nature of transaction, units involved, etc. These are sent to your registered e-mail address and mobile number. Periodically, the fund company also sends a statement of your investments. These do not change even if the initial intermediary platform or app no longer exists.

Think of online MF platforms as the neighbourhood shop. Just because one shop is closed, doesn't mean your groceries can't be bought today. The role of online MF platforms or mobile apps is good-old facilitation. So, in the event that your favourite MF platform or app goes turtle, you can still access and transact through other routes since the ultimate investments are safe and intact. Since you have completed KYC, all the details about your existing investments are mapped to your PAN and the scheme's folio numbers are accessible 24x7.

Options galore

Online MF platforms and mobile apps do a good job of consolidating your investment information into one single dashboard. But there are good alternatives if you can ignore the initial discomfort of the comfortable interface that you were used to. One can easily track and transact in a particular fund-house through their website and or mobile app. The only downside is that you will have to maintain separate credentials for each fund-house. Get all fund-house website details at a single point here https://tinyurl.com/allmfweb

Next are the Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTA) utilities floated by CAMS (https://www.camsonline.com and myCAMS Mutual Fund App) and KFintech (https://mfs.kfintech.com/investor and KFinKart Investor Mutual Funds app). Note RTAs will only provide information and allow transactions of fund-houses under their coverage only.

Third are applications such as MF Utilities (MFU), which provide an easy and convenient system using which investors may make use of MFU system to submit mutual fund transactions both in online mode or in physical mode. It also allows tracking. To get started with MFU, one has to get an eCAN (Common Account Number) here https://tinyurl.com/mfuecan When you onboard the MFU platform, it will fetch all your existing investments having a similar mode of holding into your account and lets you transact in them. MFCentral (https://www.mfcentral.com/) is yet another investor services hub conceived by KFintech and CAMS. It is an initiative to minimise the need to visit multiple industry players to access your portfolio, statements, service requests and investments. It covers all your MF folios having the same PAN and registered mobile number. Sign up here using PAN and mobile number/e-mail at https://tinyurl.com/mfcentralsignup

If you simply want to view your consolidated mutual fund holdings across all platforms, it is better to ask for Consolidated Account Statement (CAS). This is a single account statement that displays all transactions of a unit-holder across all MF schemes. You can request a mail-back of your CAS (CAMS + KFintech) from here. Enter the e-mail ID registered in your folio across Funds serviced by CAMS and KFintech. The statement will be encrypted using the password provided by you while putting the request and e-mailed only to the address registered in your folio.

COMMENT NOW