Transfer agent

Transfer agent

Companies that have publicly traded securities typically use transfer agents to keep track of the individuals and entities that own their stocks and bonds. Most transfer agents are banks or trust companies, but sometimes a company acts as its own transfer agent.

Transfer agents perform three main functions:

# Issue and cancel certificates to reflect changes in ownership. For example, when a company declares a stock dividend or stock split, the transfer agent issues new shares. Transfer agents keep records of who owns a company's stocks and bonds and how those stocks and bonds are held—whether by the owner in certificate form, by the company in book-entry form, or by the investor's brokerage firm in street name. They also keep records of how many shares or bonds each investor owns.
# Act as an intermediary for the company. A transfer agent may also serve as the company's paying agent to pay out interest, cash and stock dividends, or other distributions to stock- and bondholders. In addition, transfer agents act as proxy agent (sending out proxy materials), exchange agent (exchanging a company's stock or bonds in a merger), tender agent (tendering shares in a tender offer), and mailing agent (mailing the company's quarterly, annual, and other reports).
# Handle lost, destroyed, or stolen certificates. Transfer agents help shareholders and bondholders when a stock or bond certificate has been lost, destroyed, or stolen.

In many cases, you can find out which transfer agent a company uses by visiting the investor relations section of the company’s website.

See also

* Securities Transfer Association, a private trade organization of transfer agents.

The list of services provided by transfer agents:

1.Subscriptions to the fund 2.Redemptions from the fund3.Conversions (switches between funds)4.Exchanges 5.Dividend activities 6.Reconciliation duties 7.Client/shareholder enquiry response 8.Dissemination of shareholder information 9.Maintenance of shareholder records and correspondence

Transfer agency applications:Software applications which are used by transfer agents to serve their clients(Mutual fund companies).Some of these are as follows:1. Poweragent (US):- It's a product from Envision financial Systems.2. SARA-Shareholder Accounting & Registration Application. It's used in European markets.It's a product from FETA (First European Transfer Agent)3. Investor*One-Used internationally US, Dublin, Ireland and Luxemberg. Product from Sungard.

External links

* [http://www.sec.gov/answers/transferagent.htm U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission answers page]

:"Note: this article was originally based on public domain text from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website"


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Look at other dictionaries:

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  • transfer agent — A person having the duty of registering a transfer of corporate stock. 18 Am J2d Corp § 408. Not a managing agent within the meaning of a statute concerning the service of process upon a foreign corporation. Anne: 113 ALR 79 …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • transfer agent —    A person or company used by a corporation to process the transfer and registration of stock certificates …   Business law dictionary

  • transfer agent — noun an agency (usually a bank) that is appointed by a corporation to keep records of its stock and bond owners and to resolve problems about certificates • Hypernyms: ↑agency * * * noun : the officer, bank, or trust company that keeps the… …   Useful english dictionary

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  • transfer agent — noun An entity designated by a publicly traded corporation to keep track of the ownership of the corporations stocks and bonds …   Wiktionary

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