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A frequent question advisors ask us is: “Why doesn’t
Vision® offer access to all mutual fund and variable annuity
companies?” Believe me, this is equally frustrating
for us as we have spent considerable time trying to convey
Vision’s benefits to the few non-participating companies.
We understand that, for some advisors, Vision’s full
potential is not realized until we provide access to your
entire book-of-business. So to better answer this question,
a little background is probably appropriate.
Record-keeping for mutual fund shareholders is the primary
business of DST Systems®.
We maintain more than 85 million shareholder accounts on
behalf of 250+ mutual fund companies.
DST introduced Vision to help advisors and back-offices gain
more efficient access to the accounts on the DST system.
While we are the largest shareholder record-keeping platform,
there are some major fund companies that are not currently
DST customers.
Shortly after the Vision Web site launch in 1998, non-DST
fund companies approached us about offering intermediaries
access to their shareholder base through Vision, even though
they did not use the DST record-keeping platform. We quickly
decided to make Vision an open platform, available to any
fund company on any shareholder record-keeping system.
In 1999, Liberty Funds (a Columbia Management Group company)
became the first non-DST fund company to support Vision,
followed by AIM Funds and OppenheimerFunds in 2001. Liberty
and AIM have since become DST Systems’ shareholder
record-keeping customers. In addition, Lincoln Benefit, Nationwide,
and Hartford Life are among the 16 variable annuity companies
that currently participate in Vision through an external
interface. The fund and annuity companies pay DST for your
Vision access and we have a uniform Vision fee schedule,
regardless of how or where the shareholder record-keeping
takes place.
We have had numerous discussions with most major fund and
annuity companies that are not available through Vision today.
While participating in Vision does require the development
and support of a communications interface that allows Vision
to access the underlying data, this is not an onerous process
for a medium- to large-size company. Therefore, the non-participating
companies have made a business decision that we have been
unable to influence.
As a distribution partner, you do have the ability to influence
a mutual fund or annuity company’s decision on participating
in Vision. We have found that an advisor directly contacting
wholesalers or key personnel at the management company is
a very effective method of generating interest in Vision.
We will continue to do everything possible to fill the few
remaining holes and appreciate your assistance in helping
Vision reach its full potential for everyone.
As always, I welcome your comments.
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