BACK OFFICE SYSTEMS NEEDED AT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS BEFORE TFSA LAUNCH
Toronto, ON – November 21, 2008 – “The new Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) is an exciting new financial product for investors that differs significantly from existing plan types like RRSPs and will require financial institutions to develop new systems and processes to support it,” said Simon Keogh, Vice President Product Management at Univeris. “Our solution allows these financial institutions to be up-and-running on January 1st, 2009 so that their advisors are able to be industry-competitive and work with their clients right away. This TFSA solution is being made available to all Univeris clients representing over 16,000 advisors.”
“While other financial institutions struggle to create and financially support a separate technology solution for TFSAs,” said Keogh, “we are ready to work with our clients to set up their TFSA solution immediately. Since the TFSA module is seamlessly integrated into the Univeris EWMS* wealth platform, our clients have a single platform to manage TFSA alongside their mutual funds and other wealth products. This allows the back offices of our clients to be more efficient. So on January 1, we�re set to go as are our clients.”
“The seamless integration into the EWMS platform is key since it allows the TFSA to be incorporated immediately into existing business practices like account opening, while also benefiting from the compliance checks and balances built into EWMS,” states Keogh. “The TFSA will also appear along side an investor registered and non-registered assets providing advisors with a complete picture of their client�s wealth holdings.”
The EWMS TFSA module includes all required forms and documentation as the reporting requirements differ from that of an RRSP. It will also track and manage all contributions, withdrawals and account gains, over time, so that advisors can work with their clients to ensure they effectively maximize contribution limits. “Since it will be integrated seamlessly into the EWMS platform, advisors don�t have to learn another system,” said Keogh. “Advisors process and administer it directly through the EWMS front office system that they already know. In addition, the EWMS TFSA module will expand in Fall 2009 to include full government reporting requirements for the 2009 tax year.”
*EWMS – Enterprise Wealth Management System, Univeris� technology platform
About Univeris
Univeris, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, is a privately held company and is the leader in enterprise wealth management for the Canadian market. Founded in 1991, Univeris has over 75 staff and over 20 major financial services clients across Canada representing over 16,000 advisors with over CDN $70 billion in mutual fund assets under administration. Univeris offers the most comprehensive enterprise wealth management platform with fully integrated back office operations, compliance and front office practice management for financial advisors. The corporate website is www.univeris.com.
