Three service providers to the asset management industry, Financial Express, Technical Fund Marketing and Global Funds Registration, have joined forces to launch Kii Hub, an end-to-end solution for the production, maintenance and distribution of key investor information documents.
From July 2011, all asset management companies marketing Ucits funds must start to provide key investor information documents, replacing simplified prospectuses.
Production guidelines are stringent: most KIIs must be no longer than two sides of A4; they must use simple, non-technical language; and they will have standard performance charts, a standardised synthetic risk-reward indicator and standard charges disclosure. In addition, a separate document must be produced for each retail share class and translated into the local language wherever a fund is promoted.
Kii Hub combines Financial Express’ proprietary fund information and document production system, TFM’s expertise in drafting technical and marketing documents and GFR’s cross border services.
Kii Hub can either work alongside a company’s in-house team or provide a complete outsourced solution from drafting to translation and delivery.
The hosting service is fully automated, secure and web-based, speeding up production turnaround and offering tailored sign-off processes.
Mikkel Bates, marketing director for Kii Hub, says: “The enormity of the task presented by the introduction of key investor information documents is now dawning on investment groups. While they welcome a clear, concise successor to the often complex and lengthy simplified prospectus, groups realise that the production of compliant documents, possibly in several languages, for all of their retail share classes will be a daunting task, to say the least. Kii Hub is an efficient, cost-effective means of outsourcing this burden to tried-and-tested experts, freeing up their time to concentrate on fund management and marketing.”
Michael Holland, managing director of Financial Express, adds: “We have already received commitment to Kii Hub from investment groups who were considering the best way to approach the requirements of Key Investor Information documents. Financial Express is a trusted partner in the production of accurate fund literature and currently provides over 60,000 factsheets each month for a broad range of asset managers. Together with GFR and TFM, we believe Kii Hub presents a compelling solution for pan-European asset management groups to meet the demands of this latest regulatory development.”
