Special Reports

By Doug Nairne - One of the most important changes in the global financial industry over the past three years, and indeed the business environment as a whole, is the increased importance placed upon due diligence. That means paying closer attention not just to counterparties in order to detect any evidence of fraud – although this is certainly a vital component – but also wider issues, especially legal ones, to see whether they could have any detrimental effect on a firm’s business. »

By Simon Gray - Risk is the element that hedge fund managers above all others, are supposed to thrive on, but members of the industry long ago understood that there are many more facets to the concept than the market volatility that brings opportunities to the strong-nerved. Indeed, the past few years have highlighted the factors memorably described by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, in another context, as “unknown unknowns” – risks that could not be protected against because their very possibility was not conceived of. »

By Paul Compton - The traumatic crisis that engulfed the industry two years ago prompted a renewed concern among many hedge fund managers to gain control over their positions and exposures. Traumatised investors started asking managers many more questions about how positions were being valued, and even, in the wake of Madoff, whether the assets the fund claimed actually existed. This greater activism on the part of investors has turned out to be a lasting phenomenon, with managers under pressure to answer questions continually about their investment exposures and operational risk. »

By Lance Smith - The market turbulence of the past three years has exposed a number of flaws and limitations in traditional approaches to risk management. In the aftermath of the crisis, investors are increasingly pressuring alternative investment managers to ensure the most advanced and appropriate tools and methodologies are being used to deliver the most robust risk management process possible. »

By Simon Gray – The alternative investment management industry has already had to come to terms with a wholesale shake-up in attitudes toward risk assessment and management in response to demand from investors. They are no longer willing to take on trust promises that managers are doing what they say they’re doing. In addition, investors need assurance that managers are equipped with all the tools and system necessary to protect themselves not only against the predictable volatility of markets but unlikely and improbable events too. »

In the wake of the financial crisis and economic downturn that have shaken the alternative investment industry over the past few years, fund managers and service providers face new challenges in restoring impetus to the sector – not least in Europe, where a new regulatory environment will be ushered in by the European Union’s Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers, says Nina Kleinbongartz, product manager for alternative investments in Europe with Citi Global Transaction Services. »

The number of third-party administrators in Luxembourg has been swelled by the emergence of middle-tier firms that can now compete with the mega-administrators on a global basis and are establishing a presence in leading European fund centres, says James Eldershaw (pictured), director with PFS. »

By Simon Gray – The financial crisis and economic downturn of the past three years have brought fundamental changes for managers of hedge funds and other alternative investments, but also for their service providers such as administrators and custodians. A mix of changing demands from investors and increased regulatory oversight of the industry is putting pressure on providers, not least to product more detailed, frequent and up-to-date information and to demonstrate their capability to act as a backstop against mismanagement or outright fraud. »

Prior to the global financial crisis, the investment fund industry was focused mainly on revenue growth, on the back of good returns based on an ever-widening range of fund structures, asset classes and global jurisdictions. In the light of current reduced returns, the industry’s focus is more on cutting costs. As a result, reduced cost of IT ownership and operational efficiency from a common processing model are high on the agenda, often facilitated by platform consolidation to remove the cost of a patchwork of systems and processes, says Keith Hale (pictured), global head of transfer agency at Multifonds. »

The global fund industry has not yet returned to the heights of the boom years before 2007 – indeed, it may never do – but over the past year the mood in the sector has markedly improved. Especially in Luxembourg, there are signs aplenty of renewed confidence that business is coming back to a centre that has built on its reputation as a retail fund domicile to carve out an important niche in the alternative sector as well, says Mariusz Baranowski (pictured), the former managing director of Custom House Fund Services (Luxembourg). »