When AMFI decided that a deceased IFA's nominee should be entitled to continue receiving trail commission, the news was welcomed by the IFA community. But, in their hearts, most IFAs knew that the trail will after all continue only so long as assets continue. Many IFAs don't really have institutionalized firms that continue running smoothly even after their time - so how secure will their families really be as far as continuation of trail is concerned?

What most IFAs would have really wanted, but could not realistically hope for, was that trail commission continues to be paid at the same level to their family after their time, whether or not the assets exist. Wishful thinking? Well that was the case until Oct 5th, - until Reliance MF announced its Trail Non-Stop program - which is perhaps the biggest IFA benefit program ever. Few fund houses have the financial muscle as well as the willingness to commit to such an open-ended IFA benefit program as what RMF has announced.

Read on as Himanshu takes us through RMF's Trail Non-Stop Program : a no-strings attached, inclusive and generous income assurance program that provides a great safety net to ALL its IFA partners - big or small. Check out what leaders of some prominent IFA associations have to say about this huge commitment from RMF. We have seen many initiatives launched in the fund industry, but rarely have we seen such overwhelming acclaim for an initiative like we are seeing for the Trail Non-Stop program of Reliance Mutual Fund.

WF : What is the objective & rationale behind launch of this program?

Himanshu : IFAs work selflessly, day and night to secure the future of their investors and growth of MF industry, at times compromising on their personal commitments too. In this profession, the future safety and security of IFA families is dependent on the trail income they earn on their assets.

In the daily work-rigor, IFAs rarely get to think about the future and security of their own family. What will happen to the family's income, their lifestyle and how can it be sustained in case anything happens to the IFA? We at Reliance MF feel a strong sense of responsibility toward these families which we consider as our extended family.

Recently we all were deeply saddened by the demise of a young IFA in an industry event. This IFA was in his early 40's and post this incident everybody was in shock to hear this sad news and were worried for the family of deceased IFA whose future depends on the mutual fund trail revenue. In our internal study of such historical cases , we observed that post demise AUM managed by these IFAs firms goes down by up to 50% -75% in a short span of 1-2 years and had direct impact on the trail payment received by the nominee.

It is very evident that IFA's current hard work has very less control on their future assets and revenue stream when they were not around and hence we thought of launching Trail Non Stop Program and providing a strong commitment to all the IFA families.

WF : What exactly is Trail Non Stop Program?

Himanshu : Trail Non Stop Program endeavors to pay Non Stop Trail to Program Beneficiary in order to support family of IFA in the unfortunate event of death of the IFA.

WF : What will be the eligibility criteria for anyone to get benefitted from this program?

Himanshu : There are NO eligibility criteria for this program .This program is OPEN TO ALL IFAs in the industry registered with RMF. Just to ensure the benefits goes to active distributors in the industry we are having a minimal clause of doing 1 SIP per Month with Reliance MF

WF : Who will be the Beneficiary of this Trail Non-Stop Program?

Himanshu : The IFA Family will be the beneficiary of this program. Thousands of IFA families who support the industry are the real unsung heroes of this industry and we are just acknowledging their efforts through this program. IFA partners can register their details online at www.rmfpartners.com.

WF : Is there any upper-cap for the payment of the Program Benefit?

Himanshu : Yes, we have capped the benefit to Rs.12 Lac of per year i.e. Rs. 1 Lac per month. This covers 98% of the IFAs in the industry and we feel this is the category of IFAs whose families need such an income assurance.

WF : Will the program benefit stop at the age of 58-60 years which is the typical retirement age in India?

Himanshu : Even the government pensions end at certain age, but we have launched this program so that every needy IFA family should get the assurance and benefit they deserve. Hence we have decided a cut-off age of 70 Years which is much more than the working age for most IFAs.

Payment to the Program Beneficiary of the deceased partner will be made till he would have attained the age of 70 years, had he/she been alive. (For example, if the ARN holder dies at the age of 45 years, we will continue paying the program benefit in form of trail commission to the nominee for the next 25 years)

WF : Your message to the IFA fraternity?

Himanshu : We at Reliance MF have made a huge commitment to the IFA fraternity through this program. A commitment which is for next 50 years and beyond. The industry has seen many ups and downs, many players coming and going, but Reliance MF is here to stay by your side at all times.

As a fund house we have already made our commitment to the IFA community, now it is up to IFAs to decide how he honours his commitment to his family. So the only message to all our IFA partners that, while you continue to take care of your investors, Reliance Mutual Fund pledges to take care of your family with "Trail Non Stop". This is our commitment to all IFAs and we are sure IFAs will keep their commitment to their family. IFA partners can register their details for "Trail Non-Stop" online at www.rmfpartners.com

Here are reactions from leaders of some of India's most prominent IFA Associations on the launch of RMF's Trail Non-Stop Program :

Dhruv Mehta, Chairman, Foundation of Independent Financial Advisors (FIFA)

Dear IFA Friends, I really welcome this path-breaking & innovative launch of a scheme "Trail Non Stop by Reliance MF. It is a first of its kind, it is innovative and it really demonstrates the importance to IFA community to Reliance MF, where they are bringing in a program which will protect the family and dependents of the IFA for the work he has done in building up this business & AUM in case of an untimely death . We were thinking if something happens to one of our members, what is it that we can do to protect their families, but we never came to an answer. But RMF has come with an answer, and I think it is really path-breaking , innovative , it shows their commitment to IFA community , once again I would like to thank RMF for launching this and I really applaud them for this initiatives

Mrs. Kashmira Dhruv Mehta , Wife of Mr.Dhruv Mehta

I think this is a very good scheme, especially for wives of IFAs and they will definitely feel more secure after hearing about this scheme. I am very touched that RMF thought about the wives and families of IFAs.

M S Shabbir, President-APIFA - Association of Professional Individual Financial Advisor, Hyderabad.

Being at the age of 60, I realize that as long as I continue to work I will have income. The day I stop, the income stops .This program is a big boom to me, it's a big advantage for me. I am extremely excited to hear , whatever assets I have , my family will continue to get the last drawn trail amount life-long if anything happens to me . I consider it as a beautiful gift to my wife from Reliance MF.

R Lakshman, Founder President - Karnataka Association of Mutual Fund (KAMFA ) Bangalore

I am very happy and I congratulate Reliance MF for a commendable initiative in introducing a life-time safety-net, in event of unfortunate demise of IFA during his productive life. It's a great initiative which is going to be a "game-changer" for the industry and which no one has ever attempted. My congratulations to Reliance MF once again for this great initiative .

Suresh Nair - President, All Kerala IFA Association (AKIFAA)

It is an absolutely wonderful initiative taken by Reliance MF. It's the first time, an MF is demonstrating that they not only care for their IFAs but they also care for IFA's family if something would happen to the IFA. This kind of initiative has not been undertaken by any AMC anywhere in the World and to have this initiative done by Reliance MF in India is absolutely a game changer and other MFs will find it difficult to match this.

Mukesh Chothani - President, Guntavanuk Vikas Pratinidhi Sanstha, Nasik

A game changer initiative for Reliance MF and the entire industry. I request all the IFAs, especially the newcomers to come and secure their and their families future in this industry through this unique program.

Surendra Kumar Bagaria, ASK Circle, Kolkata

This is no doubt a good initiative from Reliance MF. There is however some scope for misuse - especially for partnership firms where one of the active partners passes away. If trail were to be paid to the nominee of the individual who passed away while other partners continue to be active in the same ARN, the program is open for misuse. It would perhaps be a better idea to initiate this program only for those ARNs which become inactive or are closed following the death of the ARN holder. Another aspect we must keep in mind is that while it will no doubt enthuse IFAs due to the family protection, and is indeed good from that point of view, I would hope that IFAs channelize their energy to enhance their business for the right reasons and not the wrong reasons.

Bharat Bagla - MF Network, Kolkata

Launch of this program by Reliance MF is an extremely noble gesture. Rarely seen any organisation which sees beyond business. The initiative will make wonders for us, our families and our future.

Nikhil Naik - Next Advisors

I think this is one of the finest initiatives I have ever come across. I have not heard of such initiative in any other industry which thinks so much for its distributors.

A K Narayan, President, IFA Galaxy - Chennai

This is a unique program, without any parallels in the industry. How many fund houses are really demonstrating in this manner about how much they care for their IFAs? So many people were there at the MFRT conference where the untimely death of an IFA happened. Only RMF has come forward with a concrete program to protect such families and has made this unfortunate family the first beneficiary of the program. We must compliment Reliance MF for this wonderful gesture, which is a great benefit for the IFA fraternity. I hope some more leading fund houses decide to emulate Reliance MF's move over time, to secure the families of IFAs.

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