December 2003 Volume 3, Number 4 Read back issues of FundSERV Quarterly
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FundSERV |
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| A message from Alan Hutton: FundSERV strives to bring transparency and promote industry integrity |
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| The holiday season is fast approaching and there is a renewed sense of optimism in the economy. The rise of the Canadian dollar and improved though volatile market performance should be signals for a long-awaited successful RRSP season. | |||||||||
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| New privacy legislation kicks in January 1 |
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| George Radwanski inadvertently did Canadians a great service. With all of the media attention he attracted, the recently disgraced and ousted Privacy Commissioner of Canada provided more free publicity for Canada's new privacy laws than millions of tax dollars could ever purchase. | |||||||||
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| FundSERV welcomes Carol De Veau to senior management team |
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| In June the FundSERV board approved the recruiting of a vice president of business development to increase demand for the Company's existing services and to provide new services to existing customers. | |||||||||
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| Executive assistant prefers people to processes |
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| As executive assistant to FundSERV chief executive officer, Alan Hutton, she sees it all. From operational management meetings where key decisions are made, to executive presentations, O'Kelly is there, taking meticulous notes while keeping one eye on the clock, ensuring that Hutton maintains his demanding schedule. | |||||||||
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| 2003 FundSERV United Way campaign, another sweet success |
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| Although FundSERV employees can donate to the United Way year-round through payroll deductions, September and October this year saw a wide variety of events that gave all 75 employees an opportunity to have some fun and contribute to the campaign. | |||||||||
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| FundSERV Network Performance |
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| Some year to date systems and network updates. | |||||||||
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Electronic Standards Group (ESG) |
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| ESG Standards Version 15 has been published |
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| ESG Standards Version 15 was published on November 24, 2003 after a one-month industry comment period (the draft version was published on October 14, 2003). | |||||||||
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| 2004 RRSP Contribution Period Edit |
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| In accordance with the IFIC First 60-Day Processing Best Practices Guide, the Electronic Standards Group (ESG) has modified the edit on the Contribution Period field to March 5. | |||||||||
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| Important Change to RESP Beneficiary Indicator Edit |
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| Upcoming changes to the Income Tax Act (ITA) will require that the Social Insurance Number (SIN) of all Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) beneficiaries be reported to the promoter prior to the contribution being made. | |||||||||
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| Update: Empty Settlement Instruction Files |
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| An update has been made to the Net Settlement Reporting (NSR) system that will accept empty Settlement Instruction (AF) files sent prior to the 6:00 a.m. NSR cutoff as instruction to over write a previous file for that settlement cycle. | |||||||||
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| The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) |
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| FundSERV is making changes to the transaction file archival service due to The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which takes effect on January 1, 2004. | |||||||||
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FUNDcom |
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| FUNDcom Permission Management Infrastructure: AIM Trimark makes it work |
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| AIM Trimark Investments (AIM) is the first customer to take advantage of the FUNDcom Permission Management Infrastructure (PMI), a control for access to investor account information via FUNDcom. | |||||||||
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| FUNDcom factoids |
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| Of the 1,604 unique FUNDcom users in October, 27 per cent were distributor front office, 69 per cent were distributor back-office and four per cent were fund company. | |||||||||
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IDentity/PKI |
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| Entrust TruePass: Protecting the Standards |
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| On October 17, FundSERV successfully launched its new Web site. As well as an updated design and improved navigation, the site now includes a separate area for customer-specific technical information. | |||||||||
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| LRA Corner: New functionality added to Certificate Management tool |
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| Certificate Management was developed and released last February to replace ePersona. | |||||||||
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Industry |
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| Omnibus processing: a factor in the future? |
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| Omnibus accounting, also known as bulk processing, is a common practice in the $7 trillion U.S. mutual fund industry. With an increasing number of U.S. service providers entering the Canadian marketplace, FundSERV has been asked to consider whether omnibus processing would work here and what it might mean to FundSERV's customers. | |||||||||
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Standards Steering Committee (SSC) |
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| Standards steering committee welcomes new members |
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| One of Cameron Murray's priorities as chair of the FundSERV standards steering committee (SSC) was the recruitment of new members. | |||||||||
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| The standards steering committee seeks your input |
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| The standards steering committee (SSC) advises FundSERV on the strategic direction of business transactions that would benefit from standardization. | |||||||||
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| Editorial Information | Copyright © 2003 FundSERV Inc. |