FinServ Consulting has released the findings of the firm’s semi-annual Hedge Fund CFO Roundtable, which was held in October and focused on the outsourcing of regulatory reporting and the impact of Basel III.
Ten CFOs from alternative asset management firms with AUM ranging from USD1 billion to USD20 billion took part in the roundtable, which featured presentations by Howard Weinstein, managing partner of FinServ Consulting, and Craig Stein, partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel.
In the area of the outsourcing of regulatory reporting, feedback from the FinServ CFO Roundtable included the following:
• Approaches to managing Form PF have changed over time, evolving with the ever-expanding and dynamic regulatory and investor requirements
• One-in-three CFOs prefer to manage regulatory reporting in-house to oversee data through the creation of data management platforms (or regulatory data marts)
• A majority of the fund CFOs expressed high demand for cost-effective solutions to support regulatory reporting
• CFOs agreed that there isn't a "one size fits all" solution for regulatory reporting
FinServ supports alternative asset management firms' in-house and outsourced regulatory reporting choices with extensive regulatory expertise and a consultative approach.
FinServ client and CFO Roundtable attendee, Kevin Treacy, chief financial officer and chief operating officer for Premium Point Investments, says: "Our firm is really focused on meeting our regulatory requirements in a cost effective manner. FinServ has been a trusted partner in helping us meet those goals. They strike the right balance between technical expertise and great industry understanding."
On the topic of Basel III and how it impacts the custodian/prime broker (PB) and hedge fund relationships, the FinServ CFO Roundtable cited the following:
• The majority of CFOs plan to re-evaluate their existing PB relationships
• The CFOs also agreed that while consolidation of PBs is likely, a move that returns to the single PB model that existed prior to the financial crisis is not
"Our mission is to help asset management firms and their service providers derive more value throughout their operational and financial processes," says Weinstein. "Our quarterly roundtable events have been designed to provide a collaboration forum for fund executives to share their expertise while gaining new knowledge to build success together."
