Friday: Evaluating a fund administrator

We're taking a look at human capital, outsourcing and CFOs – starting with outsourcing fund administration.

Fund administration business PEF Services has published a handy guide to selecting a fund admin.

The firm’s white paper breaks down which areas of a fund admin to consider into five categories: capacity (can they handle complex funds?); expertise (do they know the ins and outs of private capital funds?); service (check the service level agreement); and security (make sure SSAE 18 System and Organization Controls 1 Type 2 audit standards are in place).

It also lays out three tech demands that CFOs should make of any fund administrator:

  1. Investors increasingly expect more access to data from their GPs. Find a fund administrator that offers an investor portal capable of collecting key fund data and a range of performance metrics.
  2. Reporting is necessary but can also become a time-consuming task if not paired with the right technology platform. Find a fund administrator that consolidates fund data on a centralized platform and offers customizable reporting dashboards and report templates.
  3. Having the proper security in place is not only important to avoid potential fines, but it’s also crucial to protect investor data. Find a fund administrator whose platform technologies have advanced security features, such as two-factor authentication and extended validation.

The report comes with a neat evaluation checklist, as well.

I’ll be at the Private Debt Investor CFOs & COOs Forum in New York next week – drop me a line if you’re planning to attend. Rod James will be at the InvestEurope CFOs Forum in Madrid.

Today’s letter was prepared by Brian Bonilla.