Transfer Agency Services Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement, each Fund, on behalf of itself and, where applicable, its Portfolios, hereby employs and appoints the Transfer Agent to act as, and the Transfer Agent agrees to act as, its transfer agent for each class of each Fund’s now or hereafter authorized and issued shares (“Shares”), dividend disbursing agent and shareholder servicing agent in connection with any dividend reinvestment, accumulation, open-account or similar plan provided to the shareholders of each Fund and of any Portfolios of a Fund (“Shareholders”) as set out in the currently effective prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (the “prospectus”) of each Fund as provided to the Transfer Agent by each Fund, including without limitation any periodic investment plan or periodic withdrawal program. In accordance with procedures established from time to time by agreement between the Transfer Agent and each of the Funds (the “Procedures”) and the Service Levels (defined below) to be established by the parties, in each case with such changes or deviations therefrom as have been (or may from time to time be) agreed upon in writing by the parties, the Transfer Agent agrees that it will perform the following services (all such services referred to herein as the “Services”):
(a) Establish each Shareholder’s account in the Fund on the Transfer Agent’s recordkeeping system and maintain such account for the benefit of such Shareholder in accordance with the Procedures;
(b) Receive for acceptance and process orders for the purchase of Shares, and promptly deliver payment and appropriate documentation thereof to the custodian of the assets of the Fund (the “Custodian”) and assist the Fund’s administrator with the calculation and payment of commissions and distribution and shareholder servicing fees to dealers related to such orders;
(c) Pursuant to purchase orders, issue the appropriate number of Shares and hold such Shares in book entry form in the appropriate Shareholder account;
(d) Receive for acceptance and process redemption requests and redemption directions and deliver the appropriate documentation thereof to the Custodian;
(e) In respect to items (b) through (d) above, the Transfer Agent may execute transactions directly with broker-dealers authorized by the Fund;
(f) At the appropriate time as and when it receives monies paid to it by the Custodian with respect to any redemption, pay over or cause to be paid over in the appropriate manner such monies as instructed by the redeeming Shareholders;
(g) Effect transfers of Shares by the registered owners thereof upon receipt of appropriate instructions;
(h) Prepare and transmit payments for dividends and distributions declared by the Fund or any Portfolio thereof, as the case may be;
(i) If applicable, issue replacement certificates for those certificates alleged to have been lost, stolen or destroyed upon receipt by the Transfer Agent of indemnification satisfactory to the Transfer Agent and protecting the Transfer Agent and the Fund, and the Transfer Agent at its option, may issue replacement certificates in place of mutilated stock certificates upon presentation thereof and without such indemnity;
(j) If applicable, issue replacement checks and place stop orders on original checks based on Shareholder’s representation that a check was not received or was lost. Such stop orders and replacements will be deemed to have been made at the request of the Fund, and, as between the Fund and the Transfer Agent, the Fund shall be responsible for all losses or claims resulting from such replacement;
(k) Maintain records of account for and advise the Fund and its Shareholders as to the foregoing;
(l) Record the issuance of Shares of the Fund and maintain pursuant to Rule 17Ad-10(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”) a record of the total number of Shares of the Fund which are authorized, based upon data provided to it by the Fund, and issued and outstanding. The Transfer Agent shall also provide the Fund on a regular basis with the total number of Shares which are authorized and issued and outstanding but shall have no obligation, when recording the issuance of Shares, to monitor the issuance of such Shares or to take cognizance of any laws relating to the issue or sale of such Shares, which functions shall be the sole responsibility of the Fund;
(m) Accept any information, records, documents, data, certificates, transaction requests by machine readable input, facsimile, data entry and electronic instructions, including e-mail communications, which have been prepared, maintained or provided by the Fund or any other person or firm on behalf of the Fund or from broker-dealers of record or third-party administrators (“TPAs”) on behalf of individual Shareholders. With respect to transaction requests received in the foregoing manner, the Transfer Agent shall not be responsible for determining that the original source documentation is in good order, which includes compliance with Rule 22c-1 under the 1940 Act, and it will be the responsibility of the Fund to require its broker-dealers or TPAs to retain such documentation. E-mail exchanges on routine matters may be made directly with the Fund’s contact at the Transfer Agent. The Transfer Agent will not act on any e-mail communications coming to it directly from Shareholders requesting transactions, including, but not limited to, monetary transactions, change of ownership, or beneficiary changes;
(n) Open, maintain and manage, as agent for the Fund, such bank accounts as the Transfer Agent shall deem necessary for the performance of its duties under this Agreement, including but not limited to, the processing of Share purchases and redemptions and the payment of Fund dividends and distributions. The Transfer Agent may maintain such accounts at State Street Bank and Trust Company;
(o) Receive correspondence pertaining to any former, existing or new Shareholder account, process such correspondence for proper recordkeeping and respond to Shareholder correspondence;
(p) Process any request from a Shareholder to change account registration, beneficiary, beneficiary information, transfer and rollovers in accordance with the Procedures.
