Target Group, which operates a fintech platform that supports business process outsourcing, says it has the “scale and expertise” to disrupt the market in UK transfer agency (TA) services, which is dominated by a small number of long-term incumbent firms.
Target announced on Thursday (24th) that it has made a deal with Bravura Solutions, an established fund administration tech provider, to bring an “enhanced digital service solution” to the TA market for investment firms.
As a record-keeping function, TA is an activity that has become associated with projects focusing on blockchain’s disruptive capabilities in recent months. In January a fund manager said it had completed fund subscription and redemptions using blockchain and with no need of a TA.
However, Mike O’Connor, investment client director at Target Group, does not mention blockchain in a statement, but did say: “With the backing of our parent company, Tech Mahindra, we also have the scale and technical expertise to be able to disrupt a market that has been predominantly dominated by a limited number of providers.”
Tech Mahindra is a tech firm based in India but with a presence in 90 countries, according to its website.
Target said it had chosen to enter the TA market at a time when there is an increasing expectation of digital solutions.
The partnership will see Target utilise Bravura’s Rufus fund administration software used for third-party administration services in the UK retail TA market.
Additional software built by Target will provide “a full end-to-end TA processing platform”, the firm said.
Target is not a fintech start-up but has been established for 38 years and has clients such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Its fintech platform manages assets in excess of £25 billion (€28.5 billion) and supports activities such as loan administration.
O’Connor said the business has already had a number of discussions with potential clients as firms look for unbundled or more flexible services.
“Recent times have been challenging for transfer agency providers as they respond to much regulatory change,” O’connor added, and he claimed that as a result, firms were reviewing their current outsourced relationships, with the focus shifting to service improvements and development.
Andy Chesterton, chief operating officer at Bravura, said Bravura had been partnering with Target on the deployment of the “Rufus suite of modern, proven solutions for TA admin, STP [straight-through processing] and digital for the last two years”.
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