“Why have stock transfer agent (TA) sales efforts dwindled in recent years? First, because TAs have not been having much success getting issuers to switch to them. Last year had, by far, the lowest number of TA searches – and actual moves – we have seen in our 50+ years as TA watchers. And why is that? In part, it is because most TAs do not have a ‘better mousetrap’ to induce new clients to switch. But in larger part, it is because TAs do not want to trigger a fee war – especially when they can cut sales and marketing expense while quietly milking their existing customers for the ‘high 20th century fees’ they’re collecting for ‘low touch, low tech and low volume’ 21st century services.” ~ Carl Hagberg, Editor, The Shareholder Service Optimizer.