CXi adds funds, looks to mobile app

Investor registry software firm CXi has brought on its first two fund manager clients and is in the process of creating a client-facing app to allow advisers and their clients to view managed fund holdings and apply and redeem managed fund holdings via their mobile. Speaking to financialobserver, CXi chief technology officer Enda Mahoney said the fintech group, which initially launched at the end of 2015, had “learned a lot” over the process of developing its debut software, CXi-Registry, which had recently gone live with boutique manager Linchpin Capital and was in the testing phase with a second fund manager. “We want to get those two clients bedded down and then we will be spending a lot of time knocking on doors, but it is a complex process so we want to take it slow,” he said. “For us the opportunity is in building a Xero-type solution for the registry market that is cloud-based and is a very workflow-driven experience, so that when you get a new investor on board you are going through set processes.” Mahoney said the company’s registry solution was ideal for the more than 1700 small and medium fund managers in the Australian market who didn’t have the scale for large software providers like Bravura and wanted an in-house solution to effectively manage the administration of their funds. “A lot of them start out as family offices managing about 30 high net worth customers in a given product, and because it’s quite a boutique service they can’t outsource so they are managing it themselves on Excel,” he said. “Anyone can build an Excel spreadsheet to get started, but when you’ve got quarterly distributions, legislative reporting and you have to prove you’ve identified your customers, you really need an audited, controlled, repeatable cloud-based solution.” The firm was also working with a leading fund administrator to build out additional services for fund managers, like the ability to flag with sales staff when large clients were cashing out their fund units; and was launching an investor app in the third quarter of the year. The mobile app would initially allow end investors and their advisers to view their holdings in any managed fund on the platform, with plans to build out the capability to allow real time applications and redemptions of fund units, Mahoney said.