A significant proportion of accountants servicing the SMSF sector are intending to use the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) mFund Settlement Service for their clients in the immediate future, according to the latest Investment Trends research.
Thirteen per cent of those surveyed for the OneVue/Investment Trends “2014 SMSF Accountants Report” revealed they intended to start using the ASX service for their clients.
OneVue head of client and product services Alex Wise said the finding was significant given the relatively short period of time the mFund Settlement Service had been operational, having been officially launched in May last year.
“We expect this trend will continue as more accountants become familiar with the service,” Wise said.
He emphasised how important being an mFund founding member was to his organisation.
“MFund represents a significant service offering for OneVue and reinforces our strategic positioning to evolve the way Australians manage their investments in a digital environment. We have a fully integrated service offering with connectivity to the ASX’s Clearing House Electronic Sub-register System,” he said.
“There is a growing demand from SMSF investors who want to buy both managed funds and listed securities in a simple and convenient way. We expect our involvement with mFund to continue to experience substantial growth this year.”
ASX head of customer and business relations Ian Irvine agreed the report’s result was positive for mFund as well as its members.
“It’s pleasing to see a substantial number of accountants are attracted to mFund. We believe there are significant opportunities for their practices to benefit from mFund’s electronic nature via providers such as OneVue,” Irvine said.
The number of fund managers becoming members of mFund has steadily grown since its launch, with AMP Capital being one of the latest recognised investment houses to join its ranks.
The report was compiled from a survey of 1289 accountants in public practice.
