(Pictured: Connie Mckeage)

OneVue will become the largest independent provider of unit registry services in Australia following completion of the agreed purchase of Computershare’s fund registry business. Sydney-based OneVue is in the process of securing premises in Melbourne for the 50-or-so staff to come across from Computershare.

OneVue is also moving a business development manager to Melbourne permanently and sending several senior staff to Melbourne for six-nine months for the transition.

Connie Mckeage, OneVue chief executive, said the deal would give OneVue the scale to be taken seriously in the changing landscape of fund administration, where technological developments are improving efficiency throughout the industry. The next big change will be the introduction of ASX administration of managed fund applications and redemptions – AQUA II – which is set to start next year (see separate report this edition).

Mckeage is an enthusiastic supporter of the AQUA II project and other advances in efficiency which should help her clients. Her new clients from Computershare include BNP Paribas and Centuria Capital directly and, indirectly, Tyndall and Northern Trust.

“We’re always looking at new ways to do things,” she says. “Our focus over the next six-12 months will be to link ourselves to the ASX and help re-introduce some innovative fund managers to the market… We are getting the opportunity for the first time to have a genuinely free market.” OneVue is one of the 65 original industry partners to the introduction of AQUA II.

OneVue is 80 per cent owned by directors and staff and 20 per cent owned by other individuals in the financial services industry. Its offering includes online investment management and administration solutions for the financial advice, SMAs, self-directed and registry sectors.

“We can put different packages together for the big players in the industry,” Mckeage says.” We have to move away from an industry sector which is commoditized and show our value add.”