ISIS Fund Services Ltd. (ISIS) today announced that it is offering clients a comprehensive solution for compliance with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). read more ...

StatPro Group plc (AIM: SOG), a global leader in portfolio analytics solution, today announced that hedge fund and private equity administrator ISIS Fund Services (ISIS) has extended its offering to include StatPro Revolution. read more ...

Scott Burns of ISIS Fund Services and Keith Parker of Pacific Fund Systems outline the benefits of outsourcing fund administration for private equity investment managers.

 read more ...

ISIS Fund Services Ltd. (ISIS) is pleased to announce the expansion of its Charlotte, NC office with the hire of Jennifer Cavanna as Group Manager – Investor Services. Jennifer joined ISIS from IFS, a State Street Company (IFS) where she was responsible for launching the US AML team where she managed a staff of 13 team members between the NY and Boston offices. The US AML team was responsible for remediating all investors in the funds administered by IFS. Prior to launching this new team, Jennifer managed a team of 4 investor relations specialists who worked on converting client funds to the IFS platform and provided day to day administration services for some of the largest and most sophisticated hedge funds and private equity funds. “With over 10 years’ experience in the areas of compliance and investor servicing, Jennifer is a great addition to the ISIS team and will be instrumental in helping us to further develop our investor services offering,” says Mike Gentile, SVP of Operations in Charlotte.

 

“I am thrilled to be joining a fund administrator that places such high value on providing clients and their investors with a tailored customer services approach,” comments Jennifer Cavanna. “I look forward to using the experience I have acquired from my positions at highly regarded fund administration companies to enhance ISIS’ already excellent investor services offering.”

 

 read more ...

When asked “what the role of a fund administrator is,” a common answer would be, “to provide timely and accurate reporting of the fund’s performance.” Although this function is important, the transfer agency responsibilities are often overlooked as an integral part of the process mostly because the role is misunderstood.  The transfer agent is the first point of contact with investors, and responsibilities include:  (1) keeping accurate investor records; (2) performing anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorist financing (ATF) checks on the investors; (3) ensuring compliance to the fund’s investor acceptance policies; (4) processing all capital activity; and (5) communicating with investors. The transfer agency function is an intricately involved process that requires a specialized skill set, high attention to detail, and clear, proactive and responsive communication.

Engaging a fund administrator that invests in hiring and building a strong transfer agency team is a sure way to keep investors happy (after producing high returns of course).  Being the investor’s first point of contact with the Fund, it is essential to have experienced and qualified staff in this role who are equipped to handle inquiries from sophisticated investors.  When a trade request is received, a number of steps need to be taken in order to process the transaction correctly so having strong processes and controls in place is imperative.  There is a much greater degree of risk involved than one might think.  One example, if a redemption request is not recorded and the investment manager is not aware that assets need to be liquidated to pay the redemption proceeds there is a potential monetary loss.  To gain an understanding of your fund administrator’s processes and controls around this function, investors and investment managers should review the administrator’s SOC I report (formerly known as the SAS 70 Type II report).

Having the proper technology is also critical and can take years to build so that the transfer agency process can be streamlined and the risk of errors reduced.   ISIS has invested significant time and resources in developing an efficient workflow process around this function. Our workflow system documents the entire transfer agency process and also incorporates checklists for each trade that is processed. This application is fully integrated with our core accounting system, PFS-Paxus®, significantly abridging the process. It generates email correspondence to the investor and fund manager as well as standard request and acknowledgement forms for confirming transactions which lessens the amount of manual involvement reducing the risk of careless errors. Workflow systems like ours automate an otherwise complicated and detailed process of recording investor data correctly.

Having strong and detailed processes and procedures, streamlined technology workflows and experienced transfer agency professionals are imperative during this time of great regulatory change.  With FATCA looming, it is important to take a closer look at your system as well as those of your administrator to see if they will be able to classify investors correctly for reporting purposes as well as ensure that there are procedures in place to handle the new regulatory requirements.  At ISIS, we have taken the proactive step of updating our processes and procedures to handle the new FATCA requirements and also have worked with our portfolio and accounting system provider to verify that the information will be captured correctly.  Working with knowledgeable professionals in all areas of the fund administration process can add tremendous value to your fund operations.

The accounting and the transfer agency functions are equally important and require a great deal of collaboration between them to produce accurate and timely records.  The transfer agency process is also significant being the investor’s first line of contact for all fund investment and related questions. When selecting a fund administrator, the strength and depth of experience of the transfer agency team should be considered as well as the process and controls around the transfer agency function. The administrator’s technology capabilities around this function should also be closely scrutinised as this area is key in streamlining the intricate transfer agency process.  Take the extra step of conducting in depth due diligence on the fund administrators transfer agent technology as well as controls and processes - your investors will thank you.   

 read more ...

ISIS Fund Services Ltd. (ISIS) announces the expansion of its private equity offering through the hiring of a “dream team” from JP Morgan Bermuda which is closing its office in Bermuda.  A team of 5 professionals with combined private equity administration experience of over 40 years will be setting up shop with ISIS in its Bermuda office. “We’re thrilled to be adding such a high caliber team to our existing operations,” explains Ede Conyers, CEO of ISIS Fund Services. “Scott Burns and his team will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to ISIS which will surely assist us with growing this part of our business.”

 

Scott Burns who has been with JP Morgan Bermuda for the past 16 years will be leading and developing his already capable team at ISIS. “I cannot think of a better home for our private equity family,” comments Scott Burns. “ISIS’ emphasis on putting the client first and investing time and resources into constantly developing staff and technology to stay in front of changes in the industry really resonated with me. It felt like a natural fit.”

 

With the increased regulatory and investor pressure for private equity firms to outsource their back office operations, ISIS has been strategically looking at how to further develop this part of its business as it will certainly be a large growth area in the coming years. “We have dedicated considerable resources to developing our product offering over the past two years to meet and exceed the needs of our clients and their investors,” says Brian Desmond, CFO / COO of ISIS. ”Taking the time to shore up an already sound infrastructure over the past few years made it easier for us to bring on such a high caliber group dedicated to private equity. Scott and his team will be a huge asset to ISIS as it continues to grow its footprint in the industry.”

 

Charlotte, NC, September 23, 2012.  ISIS Fund Services Ltd. (ISIS) is pleased to announce the expansion of its Charlotte, NC office with the hire of Michael Gentile as SVP – Operations. Mike is responsible for managing ISIS’ operations in the U.S. including portfolio and fund accounting as well as investor services. Mike joined ISIS from Citi Hedge Fund Services where he most recently acted as Senior Vice President and led a team of 40 people. “With over 15 years’ experience in the areas of compliance, investor servicing and fund accounting,  Mike is a great addition to the ISIS team and will be instrumental in helping us continue to grow our existing U.S. operations ,” says Brian Desmond, CFO / COO of ISIS.

 

“I am excited to be joining a fund administration firm that has a strong product offering and a reputation for providing clients with high touch, high feel service,” comments Mike Gentile. “I look forward to working with the ISIS Fund Services group of companies and helping further develop the U.S. team.”

 

ISIS Fund Services (“ISIS”) is excited to learn that it has been nominated in four categories for this year’s HFMWeek US Services Awards which will be held in New York City on October 18^th. Specifically, ISIS has been nominated in the following four categories:

 

-          Best Administrator – Under $30bn Single Manager

-          Best Administrator – Small & Start-Up Firms

-          Most Innovative Fund Administrator – Under $30bn

-          Best Administrator – Under $30bn Client Service

“We were excited to learn that ISIS had been nominated for 4 categories in the HFMWeek US Services Awards,” said Brian Desmond, CFO/COO of ISIS.  “We have spent a considerable amount of time and effort this year in building upon our already strong service offering.  Specifically we have achieved a completely clean SOC I Type II report; formed ILS Fund Services Ltd., a fund administration company with a joint venture partner, the Horseshoe Group, dedicated to servicing funds that trade insurance linked securities; enhanced our portfolio reporting through Linedata’s Beauchamp product; and launched our web reporting platform, ISIS Connect. We are extremely proud of the accomplishments we achieved this year.”

 

For the fourth year in a row, ISIS Fund Services (“ISIS”) has achieved top marks and praise from its clients in the 2012 Global Custodian Hedge Fund Administration Survey and has continued its streak of being ranked in the top 10 of globally rated fund administrators. ISIS received a score of 6.88 on a seven point scale and has achieved “Best of Class” in five categories.

“We receive an excellent service and would not contemplate using a different provider,” enthuses one client. “I do not see any areas where the administrator could improve,” another client remarks. The score received in the 2012 Global Custodian Survey is a true testament to the emphasis that ISIS places on providing clients with accurate, timely and attentive service and also reflects the benefit of investing back in the Company through improvements in technology and launching innovative product lines.

“We are extremely pleased that ISIS received “Top Rated” status in this year’s Global Custodian Survey that is based on client responses,” commented Ede Conyers, CEO of ISIS Fund Services. “ISIS has dedicated a tremendous amount of resources this year to improve upon our service offering so that we can continue to provide our clients with excellent, value-added service. Some of our efforts over the past year include achieving a completely clean SOC I Type II report, offering clients enhanced portfolio reporting through Linedata’s Beauchamp product, launching ISIS Connect, a web reporting platform for clients and their funds’ investors, and forming ILS Fund Services, a fund administration company with joint venture partner, the Horseshoe Group, that is dedicated to servicing funds that trade insurance linked securities. Because of our dedication to providing clients with superior service and expertise, we continue to develop niches and focus on the areas that will bring our clients the most value added.”

 

ISIS Fund Services Ltd. (ISIS) is pleased to announce the hiring of Marc Weaver as Senior Vice President of Operations. read more ...

ISIS Fund Services selects Linedata Beauchamp reporting solution to offer enhanced portfolio analytics read more ...

Brian Desmond and Andre Perez of ILS Fund Services discuss the convergence of the insurance and capital markets read more ...

Brian Desmond and Andre Perez of ILS Fund Services discuss the popularity of insurance-Linked Securities read more ...

ISIS Fund Services sets up Cayman subsidiary and receives Corporate Services Licence read more ...