New Managers November 2012

Servicers' Spot - Custom House customizes reporting model for each manager

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Scott Price

Custom House was established in 1989 in Dublin, as a consulting and accounting firm for offshore funds. It went through various transformations over the years, and in 2005, it became the independent fund administration firm that it is today, servicing around 240 asset management companies globally and administering around 600 financial vehicles, including hedge funds, private equity funds and real estate funds as well as managed accounts and managed account platforms.

"One of the strengths of Custom House's operating model is the ability to capture and process trade information as soon as it is available," Scott Price, Regional Director – Americas at Custom House's Chicago branch, told Opalesque. "In the case of portfolio and managed accounts, where the focus is on the timely valuation of the positions and how this is presented and analyzed, this process is at its most effective, as the portfolios and managed accounts can be updated as trade information becomes available." Custom House currently communicates around 600 valuations to around 15,000 investors on a monthly basis.

Avoiding the mismatch

The fund administrator has seen many emerging managers, and as hedge fund managers have different needs in terms of daily reporting, it had to adapt its service model accordingly, and avoid what Price calls a historical "mismatch to cater the smaller startup firms."

"We issue risk reporting to most to our emerging managers, as they do not necessarily want to engage and develop their own risk-reporting platform," Price explains. "They are using us to give them this level of transparency either in real-time or daily on T+1. Our clients communicate these reports to their investors daily or use them......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.