Speaking at a luncheon in Sydney yesterday, BNP Paribas Securities Services' head of asset and fund services Justin Burman said fund managers are weighing up the pros and cons of taking part in mFund.
"Is it going to cannibalise their business on platforms, or is it a separate piece of business which they’re able to market in a way that goes direct to the consumer or through intermediated business?" asked Mr Burman.
Mr Burman said that of the roughly 60 mFund foundation members, "at least half a dozen" are clients of BNP Paribas Securities Services.
"We’re hearing a lot from our smaller asset managers wanting to be at the front end of that change," he said.
BNP's mFund clients range from companies that want to be at the "bleeding edge" to those that want to take advantage of the cost benefits of being a start-up mFund member, he said.
"For the fund managers that we’re dealing with, they have their own financial planning network or they have significant partnerships with financial planners and probably see it as a way to distribute to them," said Mr Burman.
BNP is also holding conversations with AMP, which is looking to use mFund to complement its distribution strategy, he said.
"We’re having discussions with AMP. It is something that has interest with them, for their total distribution strategy, but they’re not looking at going in a large way," said Mr Burman.
Market disruption in the financial services technology market will be a key topic of the upcoming Wraps, Platforms & Masterfunds Conference.
