In a major coup for EMX, the UK mutual fund order routing platform, the UK funds supermarket Cofunds has signed a contract to use the EMX Message System for the transmission of messages to buy, sell, value, reconcile and settle mutual funds. EMXCo says it means all the major UK fund supermarkets are now live on the system.
“I am really pleased to see Cofunds joining the system,” says Max Wright, Chief Executive of EMXCo. “Those people that have been around our business for a while will know that we have had a close working relationship with Cofunds for some time so it is good to see the time is finally right for them to go live. Our system is proven to deliver fantastic cost savings and incredible efficiencies. That is why all the major UK supermarkets have moved over to EMX as well as many other serious fund investors. As their businesses take an ever larger share of the UK market, so our business volumes will also continue to grow.”
EMX has good reason to be pleased. For a time, it seemed that fund supermarkets were potentially serious competitors to EMX, so drawing them into the system will neutralise that threat.
“EMX is now clearly the industry standard,” concedes Stuart Dyer, Chief Executive of Cofunds. “At Cofunds we are continually working to improve our processes, increase our efficiency, reduce our costs and deliver excellent client service to IFAs. Adopting the EMX Message System is yet another important step forward.”
EMX has added over 60 new clients in the last 12 months, including Williams de Broe, Brewin Dolphin, Coutts and Natwest. Its Message System currently routes orders worth around EUR60 million a day in over 3,000 funds.
Cofunds has the products of 52 fund managers on its shelves, and is used by around 5,000 registered intermediaries.