What is the Need, Responsibility and Benefits of Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTAs)?

A registrar and share transfer agent (RTA) maintains the detailed records of investor transactions for convenience of the mutual fund houses. Mutual fund companies, as well as different share trading companies, hire the RTAs on a contractual or permanent basis depending upon their needs.

In simple terms,

An R&T agent works as an intermediary between the investors and fund houses. It handles the back-end processes of a mutual fund, including all financial and non-financial transactions.

Who is a Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA Agent)?

A transfer agent can be a trust, bank or any other similar financial institution, who is assigned by a particular corporation to manage their client or investors data professionally.

So, the RTAs perform the duty of recording transactions, processing investor mailings, cancelling & issuing certificates, and deal with other problems (e.g. stolen or lost documents) on behalf of the investors.

A transfer agent also works in close coordination with the registrars to validate that the interest payments and dividends are received by the investors on time as well as monthly interest statements are sent to the mutual fund shareholders.

What do Mutual Fund/Investment Companies Need RTA Agents?

From the mutual fund’s perspective, RTAs are highly valuable to them as they provide greater access to the mutual fund houses and are also cost-effective. You must be wondering how?

Here is the answer

Each day thousands of transactions are done by the mutual fund investors, which include buying, selling, switching units and so on. Besides this, a vast number of non-financial transactions also happens each day like change in bank details, contact details, etc.

Such transactions are required to be recorded and appropriately maintained each day whereas mutual fund or other companies do not want to invest their time in such processes nor they do have the expertise for managing the same on a day-to-day basis in a professional manner.

Thus, companies partner with RTAs, who help them perform this job. RTAs also have a country-wide network, and their offices located at distinct parts of the country serve as branches for the mutual fund houses helping them in their sales processes.

Adding to this, R&T Agents like SAG RTA holds significant experience in maintaining a wide range of investors' transactions on a professional basis; hence, they contribute in cost savings and maintaining detailed, accurate records of investors' transactions for the mutual fund houses or other financial companies.

Investor’s clients and firms transactions managed by RTAs include buying, exchanges, changes in personal data, and email processing and so on.

What are the Key Responsibilities of a Registrar and Transfer agent?

• First and foremost, the R&T agent handles the responsibility of maintaining the records of all the mutual fund transactions on behalf of fund houses. R&T agent performs these duties at its distinct offices located across the country.
• R&T agents also act as a single-window system for investors. They also help the investors to complete their day-to-day transactions as well as receive detailed account statements.
• The new fund offer details, maturity dates of fixed maturity plans, and even the dates and amount related to dividend distribution are also provided by the RTAs to the mutual fund investors.
• An RTA also works as a one-stop-shop for the investor needs on varied mutual fund schemes and investments.
• RTA also keep an up-to-date record of all stocks bought by the investors, which include details like shareholders name, their shareholdings, addresses, and signatures, etc.
• RTA also held the responsibility of paying a dividend to qualified shareholders whenever due or required.
• Among their numerous functions, they transfer shares on behalf of a deceased holder. If you should invest in shares, you would be entitled to dividends which are declared by the board of directors at an annual general meeting.

RTA Agents have Numerous Functions:

For example, SAG RTA (Registrar and Transfer Agent) who offers a wide range of RTA services which include:

1. Securities Dematerialization through NSDL and CDSL Depositories
2. Share Certificate Transfer
3. Settlement of IEPF Claims
4. Payout of Dividend / Interest and ECS Transfers
5. Transfer of Securities and Investor Record-keeping
6. Revalidation of Dividend
7. Online, Phone and Email Assistance for Investor Inquiries

and much more…..

SAG RTA also stands in the primary league as a prominent RTA service provider who has been authorized by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). That’s not all, SAG RTA also holds the laurels of Rajasthan 1st Registrar and Share Transfer agent who manages all the necessary meetings, mailing, and reporting activities on behalf of investors along with regulatory reporting whenever it is required to be fulfilled from investors end.

What are the Key Benefits of Registrar and Transfer agent?

From the Mutual Fund/Companies Viewpoint

• Companies can avoid the additional cost that incurs to them due to the hiring of a dedicated workforce, which manages the mutual fund transactions and processes.
• Companies are not required to open multiple branches across the country for providing their mutual fund services to clients.
• Businesses can increase their sales by partnering with professional RTAs who offers quality services to their clients.

From the Mutual Fund Investors Viewpoint

• RTA provides actionable insights and detailed information regarding various investment schemes to investors
• RTAs also assist investors in making the right investment decisions
• RTAs also make trading of mutual funds smooth, easy, and convenient for the investors.
• Helps investors to avoid complex and lengthy paperwork procedure for mutual fund transactions like buying/selling units, updating contact details, etc.
• Investors can easily manage and track multiple investments in a less time period.