Transfer agent is an entity providing services to investment fund companies, general pension societies and insurance companies.
The fact of contracting transfer agent's services usually depends on the size of a given company, the number of transactions it conducts, as well as whether it has appropriate resources within the company.
Services offered by transfer agents include: management of settlements related to contributions to and payments form a fund, in particular conversion of financial means paid by Customers into units, calculation of repurchased and sold units as well as acceptance and performance of other dispositions of unitholders. The basic role of a transfer agent consists, however, in keeping a register of investment funds’ unitholders, members of pension funds and persons insured in capital funds. Such a register constitutes accounting records of all events related to the possession of units by unitholders, their personal data and contact details, as well as information regarding all transactions, such as: purchase date, number and purchase price of units, charges, repurchase date, collected taxes, etc. Pursuant to the provisions of law, a register constitutes an element of books of the fund containing analytical data concerning the contributed capital.
Moreover, a transfer agent assists in the performance of key activities related to company's customer service, e.g.:
- complaint handling,
- making information systems available to unitholders and distributors,
- handling incoming and outgoing correspondence,
- archiving documentation.