The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced it will launch a new, on demand, real time, centralized communications service for the mutual fund industry by the end of 2018, the first service of its kind from DTCC’s Wealth Management Services (WMS) division.

MF Info Xchange will facilitate and centralize the delivery and receipt of time-critical mutual fund notifications including corporate actions, service disruptions and other critical alerts that typically require communications from funds to their intermediary partners. The service features an intuitive and dynamic web interface and provides real-time notifications, with a complete audit trail. MF Info Xchange will automate existing manual processes, reducing risk throughout the communication process. It also includes an event calendar for intermediaries to view date-critical events, upcoming informational events and historical details.

The development of this service is the product of collaboration with an industry working group, including DTCC clients and the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the leading association representing regulated funds globally.

“DTCC’s mission has always been to provide a robust infrastructure to the industry, and that is certainly true for the exchange of information,” said Ann Bergin, DTCC Managing Director and General Manager, Wealth Management Services. “The MF Info Xchange service provides a unique ability to facilitate information-sharing and deliver efficiencies while reducing operational risk and cost in the market.”

“We are very encouraged and excited to see DTCC step in to help lead the industry toward streamlining the communications between funds and firms. It is hard to believe in today’s   technology age, ‘Blast Faxing’ is still a common communication methodology,” said Chris Robinson, Vice President of Operations, National Financial Services, LLC. “By standardizing the messaging (types and formats), we expect to more effectively organize, prioritize and manage fund events and data changes. Centralizing the distribution to ‘the street’ and warehousing all communications on a single platform should also increase fund confidence that every firm has been notified of their important changes. This is a win-win for everyone. We are optimistic that this will be a huge leap forward.”