DBT Bureau
Pune, 12 Nov 2024
Computer Age Management Services Limited (CAMS), India’s registrar and transfer agent for mutual funds, and KFin Technologies Limited (KFintech), a global provider of investor and issuer solutions, have formed a joint venture for MF Central. The venture will focus on the development of MF Central, including technology, sales, and marketing, to improve the mutual fund investment process for investors and expand services for intermediaries.
CAMS and KFintech, as part of SEBI’s initiative in April 2021, conceptualised a unified platform – MF Central, for improving the ease of doing business for retail investors. MF Central is a centralized platform that provides investors with a single access point to transact in mutual funds across multiple fund houses for investor convenience and to significantly augment the suite of services available to investors online.
In Phase 1, MF Central launched Non-Financial Transactions in September 2021 and subsequently launched the mobile app and the full range of financial transactions for investors in 2023. Having witnessed a phenomenal response and success with over 2.5 million users, MF Central is now being formalized into a stand-alone entity with equal ownership by both RTAs.
APIs for Consolidated Accounts Statement (CAS) commercially offered to Mutual Fund Distributors / RIA have seen significant interest and uptake by the fast-growing digital intermediaries. By delivering over 50 million personalised statements, which give a unified view of the investors’ holdings, intermediaries have been enabled to offer customized products on the fly. MFCentral has developed various APIs to support Mutual Fund Distributors and Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). These include Non-Financial Transaction APIs, Financial Transaction APIs and Information-Only APIs, such as for Capital Gains and Distributor-level CAS. The transactional APIs offered by MF Central will be the first in the market to enable transaction acceptance with full validation, catering to the fast-evolving needs of mutual fund-related services like Loan Against Mutual Funds. Additionally, MF Central has introduced a seamless API journey for banks, NBFCs and loan service providers, marking the first industry-wide API to enable a standardized pledging process across all AMCs.
Anuj Kumar, Managing Director, CAMS, said, “Today marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Indian mutual fund industry. Since its inception, MF Central has garnered an exceptional response from the industry, establishing itself as the market-leading platform for investors. It is regarded as a robust digital ecosystem based on open architecture, allowing distributors and advisors the exclusive freedom to create their own applications that seamlessly integrate with RTA systems. The setting up of a stand-alone entity will help operationalize and fulfil the objective of investor convenience and staying fully aligned to the regulatory intent of SEBI, while exploring monetization opportunities to further enhance the platform’s unique offerings for the future.”
“This stand-alone entity will significantly accelerate the industry’s digital transformation, by leveraging cutting-edge technology and API integration to drive innovation, efficiency, inclusivity and accessibility. With our deep industry expertise, we will empower investors and revolutionize the way investors interact with mutual fund platforms. By streamlining processes and reducing friction, we aim to foster greater financial inclusion, enabling a wider range of investors – across economic and social strata – to participate in the growth story of India’s thriving mutual fund ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders. The platform is a commitment to nurturing a robust and investor-centric financial landscape” Anuj added further.
Sreekanth Nadella, MD and CEO, KFintech, said, “MFCentral is the first and only of its kind digital transformational initiative across the globe in bringing together the entire mutual fund industry for the singular purpose of enhancing ease of doing business for all the stakeholders. Since the advent of the platform in 2021, MF Central has spawned an entire ecosystem of fintech companies creating stacked solutions on the core platform. The MF Central infrastructure today powers a significant number of fintechs via API infrastructure, conceptualization of buyer/seller applications, loans against mutual funds, and taxation solutions through unified capital gains statements amongst several others.
The creation of a separate entity marks an important milestone in the evolution of the platform to further drive the broader goals of the mutual fund’s industry of financial inclusion, ease of doing business, and financial intermediary expansion amongst others. The new entity, led by an independent board and management will aim to create the country’s best super app ecosystem for the mutual fund industry with tech-first hyper-scale and highly secure solutions. By combining our technological expertise and deep market understanding, we aim to empower manufacturers, investors and intermediaries with seamless, integrated solutions that are future-ready. This initiative will enable more personalized investment experiences and reinforce our commitment to advancing India’s financial services ecosystem.”
The ownership of all the Intellectual Property rights will also remain with this entity jointly formed by the 2 RTAs (CAMS & KFintech) and will hold 50% each of the share capital. The new entity will be handling the business development and commercial arrangements with distributors or AMCs.
