In-House Stock Transfer Going Away? Not So Fast.
SunGard, the largest recordkeeping software provider for companies still performing their own stock transfer work, has not stood idle while commercial transfer agents moved away from legacy mainframes to web-based systems in recent years. SunGard has introduced its “Stream Transfer Agency” solution, to replace the CSSII platform, and plans to achieve the conversion for most CSSII clients by the end of this year.
This will keep many companies “in-house” who might otherwise consider outsourcing, because…
- Stream will provide issuers and shareholders with robust online connectivity to their stock records that the largest commercial transfer agents now offer clients.
- It will capture all “cost basis” data that modern systems now must, per IRS regulations.
- It will provide the highest level of data security, and as a corollary support the latest in business recovery protocols.
- It will make more tasks automated, error-free and thus less costly to perform.
- It will enable transaction initiation by shareholders, well beyond simple address changes.
- It will have real-time report-writing functionality.
- It will be more readily upgradable, as well as scalable.
- It will support “straight-through processing” of stock transfers, as that becomes more sophisticated in the months and years ahead.
We understand that while there are upfront costs in switching to this new platform, issuers will see a prompt return on their investment due to Stream’s numerous efficiencies that should lower staff and risk-related expense. And it is definitely the answer for those companies who want to continue providing the best possible service to their registered shareholders, even if at a somewhat higher cost than through a commercial agent – but where they had to show functional justification for the decision.
So in-house agents have a new lease on life, keeping in place an important component of the stock transfer industry.