Skandia has hired 40 staff for its platform to work solely on manual re-registration of assets to and from platforms which do not currently have the ability to transfer funds electronically.
The platform said it had “no choice” but to boost its manual processes because other platforms, fund managers and administrators had not yet embraced electronic re-registration, which significantly cuts down the amount of time it takes to switch assets between platforms.
Michael Barrett, platform marketing manager at Skandia, said: “With a lack of automation still prevailing across the industry, we have taken interim steps to speed up the onerous manual process. This includes a plan to improve turnaround times.
“We are working on ways to improve interaction with other providers. For instance, we are writing to other platforms who are failing to provide ISIN numbers on their valuation responses, which can significantly elongate the process; and we are requesting that investors attach a recent valuation with their re-registration application to save us having to wait for it from the other provider.
“The re-registration process is only ever as strong as the weakest link in the chain and as a consequence anyone who cannot support electronic re-registration is letting advisers and their customers down. We continue to lobby hard for other providers, fund managers and administrators to adopt the new technology for the benefit of all investors.”
As well as the 40 new staff, Skandia is simplifying its application forms and developing a new online re-registration process.
The FCA has previously raised concerns that it takes too long for product providers and platforms to process fund and platform switches.
