While automated systems are famous for being frustrating, this latest development in automation may actually be pleasing to many, and quite convenient to boot.

The DTCC's Wealth Management Services (WMS) division has buffed up its Mutual Fund Profile Service II, the organization's repository of databases to make it more user-friendly.

Brokers, dealers, and other distribution firms can now automate and streamline information pertaining to securities, participants and distributions.

DTCC also updated the repository with a profile security data comparison tool—a web-based extraction feature that collects mutual funds data from the SEC’s EDGAR database so that users can compare information for accuracy It also pulls necessary data points to support new regulatory requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act

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Company Press Release

DTCC ENHANCEMENT INCREASES ACCURACY OF MUTUAL FUND DATA

New functionalities of Mutual Fund Profile Service II will improve user experience and reduce manual errors

NEW YORK, June 13, 2013 – The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) Wealth Management Services (WMS) division has introduced a major enhancement to Mutual Fund Profile Service II (Profile), DTCC’s multi-dimensional repository of databases allowing funds, broker/dealers and other distribution firms to automate and streamline the exchange of timely information regarding securities, participants and distributions.

The new Profile Security Data Comparison Tool is a web-based extraction feature that pulls data points associated with mutual funds from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR database. It is available within the Security Issue database, one of the three repositories that make up Profile. The Security Issue database automates and centralizes fund prospectus information and rule-based processing.

The new tool compares mutual fund data points from the EDGAR database to existing Profile information for added accuracy. Additionally, the tool offers new fields designed to capture necessary data points to support new regulatory requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.  

“Previously, industry participants relied on manually-entered data which was labor-intensive and prone to delays when there were changes to the data. To provide for better data accuracy, we created the Comparison Tool which will give distributor firms quicker access to a fuller and more precise profile of information,” said Josephine Torelli, Vice President of Wealth Management Services.

Additionally, WMS has incorporated a new annotations feature that allows funds to communicate with firms regarding variations and exceptions in data, further improving the integrity and transparency of processing. The enhancements will not change how users input and output data in Profile.

Marty Burns, Senior Director, Operations and Distribution, for the Investment Company Institute, explained the organization’s support for DTCC’s new comparison tool. “It will provide the industry with a comprehensive level of assurances that the information in the database matches the information that’s been provided to the fund company’s primary regulator. In addition, the annotations feature gives distributors’ operations staff a level of detail they did not have before when executing trades.”

For fund companies, the addition of this new automated tool in Profile’s Security database means a streamlined process. “I believe it’s going to be the ultimate indicator of data quality that intermediaries have sought for a long time,” said Laura Stanley, Vice President, Invesco Investment Services, Inc. “The Comparison Tool will eliminate the need for separate requests for fund data, which pose the risk of multiple interpretations, and it gives us consistent third-party assessments of our information.”

 

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