Opus Fund Services has enjoyed a number of milestones over the last 12 months. Chief among these were a rapid expansion of its Asian operations, which has helped to significantly improve the timing of daily deliverables. Also the introduction of a range of new technology developments, with a specific focus on evolving its smart technology capabilities. Opus has continued the expansion of its sales team to meet increased demand for its services.
“Our Irish offices have been an integral part of our 24-hour service offering. Dublin is a key link between our Asian and US operations functions,” comments CEO Robin Bedford, confirming that Opus has onboarded approximately 140 new clients in 2018, year-to-date. We have chosen to adopt an organic client growth strategy, rather than attempt to scale through acquisition and have seen a continued growth in alternatives, including private equity, venture capital and private debt.”
Opus opened a new Halifax, Canada office in Q2 with plans to create 30 jobs in the city. The office launched with three senior hires from Citco. Project manager Katie Murphy, vice president of innovation heads the office, joined by Jody McCormack, vice-president of projects, and Chris Ryan, vice-president of fund accounting.
Since Opus was established just over a decade ago, it has succeeded in being an innovative force in the marketplace. From day one, Opus embraced the disruptive nature of FinTech to sharpen operational efficiency and respond to the demand for more innovative services.
For example, in May this year, Opus introduced a new interactive Client Dashboard experience to enhance the way clients interact with its global investor relations and compliance teams. The Dashboard offers a deep, direct insight into the Opus operating environment, utilising a ‘you see what we see’ approach, says Bedford.
“Recent changes include giving clients the ability to control live data, including making changes directly into the underlying records where needed, as well as a cross-functional task list. This gives the client real-time insight into what we need them to do, preventing delays and the need to repeatedly chase clients.”
When asked to describe the culture at Opus Fund Services, Bedford replies: “Constant innovation is driven from a culture that questions everything. There is a relentless pursuit to continuously improve what we do, and how we do it. Our primary differentiation is driven by being a proprietary technology shop. We build, don’t buy our technology.”
On winning this year’s award, Bedford says: “We are very grateful for the continued acknowledgment, it is a validation that our unique disruptive strategy is being properly executed.”
Opus Fund Services is a multi-award-winning hedge fund administrator, established in Bermuda in 2006, subsequently expanding into the US with offices in Chicago (2008), San Francisco (2009), New York (2013) and Portland (2014). More recently it has expanded its global footprint by adding offices in Dublin, Ireland (2016), Manila, Philippines (2017), Halifax, Canada (2018). It currently serves over 250 fund managers and 425-plus funds with a combined AUM approximating USD14 billion.
