National Australia Bank announced it will be offering investors access to managed funds via the ASX’s mFund Settlement Service and will include some of its own funds on mFund. The mFund Settlement Service allows investors to acquire and redeem units in unlisted managed funds via their sharebroker on the ASX. The service does away with many of the paper forms normally required for an unlisted managed fund application.
The mFund service uses CHESS, ASX’s electronic settlement system, to automate and track the process of applying for and redeeming units in these managed funds. Holdings, referred to ‘mFunds CHESS holdings’ are held electronically and can be linked to the same Holder Identification Number (HIN) used to hold other investments transacted through ASX. Investors can track their managed fund investments using the same systems used for shares and other securities.
National Australia Bank (NAB) is the first of the big four banks to offer this service and it joins Macquarie Online Trading which began offering the service earlier in October.