MfundEC and SuperEC projects to merge

TheInvestment and Financial Services Association(IFSA), theFinancial Planning Association(FPA) and theAssociation of Superannuation Funds of Australia(ASFA) will join forces on a merger of the MFundEC and SuperEC projects as the two initiatives move into an implementation phase.

The managed fund and superannuation fund e-commerce projects, designed to facilitate straight-through processing of the funds management industry, are to be merged under the new management structure of an overarching council, to comprise representatives from IFSA, ASFA and the FPA, as well as other regulatory representatives.

The council will be responsible for finalising the current standards that have been developed through the two projects and moving them towards usability, as well as the strategic oversight for their implementation.

Another hands-on management body will be enlisted to sit underneath the council, and will be charged with the administration and promotion of standards through the implementation and adoption phase of the projects.

The MFundEC and SuperEC projects began in early 2001 and mid-2000 respectively. To date, they have operated separately, until now, on the development of standards for the managed fund industry to automate the flow of information, but have virtually stalled.

It’s understood IFSA wants to put an end to the protracted exploratory period by concluding the development of standards and beginning the adoption of the system across the industry.

It is expected that the adoption of standards-based electronic commerce will provide cost reductions in excess of 20 per cent for specific transactions, translating to industry wide savings in excess of $700 million per annum.

IFSA has begun a review of its policy on electronic commerce, in an attempt to internalise and establish its own approach outside these industry-wide moves.

The internal report will be released at the association’s conference in August this year.