AI Fund Awards 2018

20 Acquisition International - 2018 International Fund Awards IF180007 Best Alternative Fund Administrator – Channel Islands MooreManagement It is no secret that the hedge fund world has always been quick to adopt new technology. By continually implementing new methods of absorbing and analysing market data they have pushed the accepted technical boundaries. From “black boxes”, which run complex automated strategies to dubious high frequency trading bots which exploit minute arbitrages à la Flash Boys, there are innovations everywhere. Conversely, alternative assets have traditionally not taken well to new technologies. Until quite recently, even reasonably large and well established real estate and private equity funds have been run almost entirely on Excel-based files. However, the landscape has changed, with the additional regulatory requirements and administrative burden facing investment managers increasing dramatically over the last 10 years. The role of administrators has dramatically changed, and today administrators are now responsible for all aspects of the fund lifecycle. From basic accounting and company secretarial duties to full compliance services, tax reporting, cash management and portfolio analysis. Fund managers are more willing than ever to relieve themselves of these more onerous elements and delegate responsibility to third party service providers. When you combine this with AIFMD reporting requirements, FATCA and CRS responsibilities and upcoming GDPR obligations, there is a lot more to administration than meets the eye. The backbone behind any administrator offering “a complete solution” is a world class software system. This needs to be flexible enough to adapt to all types of exotic asset classes and robust enough to be able to cope, at scale, with a multitude of different fund structures. Being in control of the data flow from inception to liquidation, and funnelling that data through one primary database, means the reporting capabilities are more powerful than ever before, particularly when dealing with co-investment vehicles or complex fund of fund structures. If clients want to see one investor’s diluted position through four layers of special purpose vehicles (SPVs), this can be easily achieved. For that reason, the most successful service providers all have their own dedicated systems people who remove the dependence on external support desks and software vendors. Having an Moore Management is an innovative fund administrator with offices in Jersey, Guernsey Japan, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. Robert Palazzini, the firm’s Associate Director in charge of Systems, discusses how the technology landscape has changed for alternative asset management and the importance of a world class software platform. Company: Moore Management Address: Ground Floor, Liberation House, Castle Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE2 3AT Phone: +44 1534 822 500 Fax: +44 1534 616 900 Web: www.mooremanagement.com Moore Management internal team of experts is crucial to managing data and transforming it into meaningful information. This new hybrid class of financial professional, accountant and programmer, has evolved to bridge the gap between the technophiles and the technophobes. No two funds are alike and each has its own special needs and wants, with some using US GAAP accounting standards, whilst other prefer IFRS. Some want to see monthly net EBITDA multiples, TVPI, DPI and MoM for each investment whilst some are happy with a simple IRR. Others like to measure performance against an external benchmark like the MSCI World Index or the S&P500. If your administrator is not offering you this level of detailed reporting then you need to ask why not, or start shopping around for a new one. Having an advanced fund management system with a skilled reporting team makes producing that information relatively straightforward. Of course, the added advantage of better systems is improved efficiency. Automating everyday processes minimises the risk of human error and improves the speed of processing. Not only that, if you can place trust in the processes which create the data, you can trust the data integrity itself. This in turn establishes confidence in the quality and accuracy of information being produced. In this new Matrix style world where we control the machines, there is no excuse for slow, inaccurate information. It takes a leap of faith to jump in to the future, especially when deciding to outsource activities, but if you are still struggling to let go you should perhaps consider your relationship with your current service providers. Are they embracing new technology and taking full advantage of the digital age, or are they technological dinosaurs, stuck in the past and doomed for extinction? At Moore we embrace new technology and are constantly evolving to meet the needs of our clients as well as the regulators. Our in-house team of system specialists are helping to revolutionize the funds industry through the use of technology and will continue to innovate long into the future.