Source: Brown Brothers Harriman
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH), a leading U.S. and Global Custodian for European banks and asset managers, and NewRiver, Inc., the industry leader for electronic compliance and intelligent document services for the financial brokerage and retirement industries, have announced a licensing arrangement for BBH to act as NewRiver's first distributor of the FundPOINT Desktop solution outside of the United States. FundPOINT Desktop is a web-based solution that delivers compliance-oriented mutual fund data and share-class suitability tools for professionals who sell, service, and distribute U.S. mutual funds.
In March 2006, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a new rule under the Investment Company Act of 1940, referred to as "Rule 22c-2,"
that will change the landscape for U.S. mutual fund companies and those entities that sell and service U.S. mutual funds - including brokers, dealers, and banks. The goal of the new rule is to prevent harm to long-term fund shareholders from the widely publicized practices of excessive frequent trading and market timing. While the new rule is directed at mutual fund companies and will have a high impact on U.S. Broker/Dealers, there are ramifications for all institutions around the world who deal in U.S. mutual funds.
BBH through its Funds Solutions practice is a market leader in servicing fund investors, distributors, and manufacturers. BBH's Funds Solutions offering, which will include FundPOINT Desktop, brings together fund execution, custody, compliance, retrocession administration, and fund messaging (ISO15022 and ISO20022) in a single center of excellence. Together, these services provide for a high quality, STP environment in a fragmented market known for its lack of automation.
"U.S. Mutual fund compliance is a growing challenge for our global clients, particularly European banks," said Andrew Tucker, BBH Partner. "We are pleased to be working with NewRiver to help our clients design more robust operational processes around U.S. funds, including the use of FundPOINT Desktop."
"NewRiver is proud to be working with Brown Brothers Harriman for the distribution of FundPOINT Desktop outside the United States. With the success of FundPOINT Desktop in the U.S., with 20% of the financial advisors and registered representatives as well as five of the top ten brokerages now using FundPOINT Desktop, we are confident that BBH will achieve the same success," said Russell Planitzer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, NewRiver, Inc.
FundPOINT Desktop is available through BBH's proprietary client portat portal, BBH WorldView®, with an initial focus on the Switzerland and Luxembourg markets.