RMB MultiManagers is to use youDevise’s Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP) as the primary portfolio management platform for its funds of hedge funds business.
RMB MultiManagers is to use youDevise’s Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP) as the primary portfolio management platform for its funds of hedge funds business.
London-based RMB firm, which has some USD 2.3 billion under management, is part of the FirstRand Group, one of the largest listed financial service companies in South Africa. RMB MultiManagers will use HIP to replace an in-house system based on linked spreadsheets.
RMB is also sponsoring the development of a new Leveraged Portfolios Module for HIP. The module will enable funds of hedge funds to track performance, interest, and other key components specifically related to such portfolios.
"We are delighted to have RMB as another major user and sponsor of HIP," said Owain McNeill, Business Manager of Alternative Investments at youDevise. "RMB has a well-known reputation for forward-thinking and innovation, having established many of the products and services in the specialized area of multi-management and fund of hedge funds investment. Our partnership is helping to pioneer a whole shift in the funds of hedge funds industry, from informal spreadsheets to formal, systematized practices."
Robert Rhodes, Chief Operations Officer of RMB MultiManagers, adds: "We were pleased to discover HIP. We had spent considerable effort searching for a portfolio management system for our funds of hedge funds. HIP gives us new power to stay on top of all the information related to our positions, in a way that is not possible using spreadsheets."
In early May, Key Asset Management of London, another pioneer in the funds of hedge funds business, with USD 1.2 billion under management, became youDevise’s inaugural client for HIP. In 1990, Key launched a multi-strategy fund of hedge fund, which has generated positive returns every year for the last 16 years.
Background note: HIP is the first portfolio management system for solving critical fund of hedge fund management, risk, compliance and cost issues, particularly those resulting from over-reliance on error-prone spreadsheets. The HIP also introduces Straight Through Processing (STP) methods to the funds of hedge funds industry. Known for its use in stock transactions, STP enables funds of hedge funds and their administrators, as well as the hedge funds in which they invest, to exchange data electronically, reducing reliance on error-prone phone calls, faxes, emails, and multiple spreadsheet entries.
Major capabilities of HIP include Portfolio Management, for tracking and evaluating investments in underlying funds; Shadow Accounting for monitoring, reconciling and forecasting portfolio cash, payables/receivables, and FX balances; Liquidity, for determining how much cash is redeemable from hedge funds over time; and FX Hedging, calculating exposure, hedging needs and determining gains/losses on existing hedges. HIP also provides compliance with investment guidelines, eliminates the need for multiple data entry, and enables automatic electronic feeds from external third-party administration and in-house systems.
The HIP is securely accessed using a standard Internet browser on an on-demand basis, and supports funds of hedge funds of all sizes and complexities. The web-hosted format allows customers to initiate its use in days, with full migration in less than a month’s time, and provides exceptional security. Annual fees are a fraction of the cost of developing in-house systems. The underlying technology is the same as that employed by youDevise to build the Repository & Distribution Center (RDC) for Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Merrill Lynch. The RDC is an industry utility that enables the secure exchange of trade ideas between brokerage firms and their money manager and hedge fund clients.
