Bonaire Software Solutions, a leading provider of revenue and expense management technology, and Boston Financial Data Services, Inc. (Boston Financial), the foremost provider of transfer agency and financial services solutions in the U.S., have solidified their strategic relationship to deliver significant benefits to the mutual fund industry.
The two firms have worked together since early 2012 to address intermediary reconciliation issues and develop new servicing capabilities.
The alliance between Bonaire Software and Boston Financial enables fund companies to automate invoice validation and management. Bonaire's REVPORT software is the technology driving the Payment Administration component of Boston Financial's complete Financial Intermediary Administration (FIATM) Solutions business. REVPORT simplifies fee calculations and validates payments made to financial intermediaries. REVPORT also automates the calculation of distribution fee billing and the invoice reconciliation process for mutual funds and their distributors or financial intermediaries. Boston Financial contributes significant experience with mutual fund shareholder processing, deep familiarity with intermediary relationships, reconciliation expertise and staffing.
"The industry is challenged in finding more efficient ways to mitigate risk and identify automated solutions," states Michael McNeill, Managing Director at Boston Financial. "Continuing our firm-wide objective of helping to solve the industry's most pressing needs, Boston Financial's full-service offering addresses both of these critical areas. By utilizing REVPORT to streamline manually intensive and higher risk processes, and with Boston Financial's industry experience and intermediary knowledge, we have jointly created a very unique and dynamic opportunity for the industry."
"Transparency and accuracy are at the top of the agenda for mutual fund companies in 2013. Our alliance with Boston Financial offers necessary disclosure information on intermediary payments by bringing together technology and servicing," comments Chris John, Bonaire's CEO. "REVPORT provides much-needed accuracy and efficiency. Our full service solution with Boston Financial continues to bring confidence back to the industry."
Bonaire's clients currently use REVPORT to enenable straight-through-processing, with a sophisticated workflow that allows clients to set up tolerances to facilitate the automatic approval of reconciliation variances should they fall within an acceptable range. Upon processing the fund group and intermediary data, REVPORT immediately calculates the distribution fees and creates management reports for additional trending and analysis. Among the reports generated by Bonaire are: distributor statements; fund expense statements; reconciliation reports of the funds' assets under management; fee reconciliation reports to compare fees calculated by mutual fund company and workflow dashboards.
Boston Financial's clients have access to these and other capabilities through their full-service FIA Solutions offering. In addition to the Intermediary Payment Administration component, Boston Financial's broader FIA Solutions offering includes capabilities that help fund companies better manage their intermediary relationships and enhance their due diligence process. FIRMportTM, a dynamic online portal, allows fund companies to gain a comprehensive view of their intermediary relationships, with business intelligence and management reports that incorporate alerts and trending. Intermediary Operational Reviews enhance a fund company's due diligence and oversight practices through a documented, in-depth review of an intermediary's processes and procedures.