PFPC of Wilmington, Del., licensing a platform from SunGard of Wayne, Pa., has beefed up its accounting and reporting capabilities to serve retail hedge funds.
PFPC is using the InvesTier system to streamline complex partnership reporting and allocations, accounting and valuations, and performance-based fee calculations.
"We will provide increased reporting flexibility, faster turnaround and improved access to reports, not only for hedge fund managers, but also for their clients and sales organizations," said Neal J. Andrews, senior vice president and managing director of PFPC's accounting and administration business.
The new system can also be ramped up to serve an unlimited number of investors, said Rene Paradis, managing director of alternative investment services at PFPC.
The use of such technology may help bring more players into the market, according to Carol R. Kaufman, president of the InvesTier operating unit at SunGard. "Traditionally, the complexity of accounting for equitable allocations of realized gains among various investment partners has been an arduous, labor-intensive, back-office burden. InvesTier allows fund accountants and administrators to streamline their processes and improve client services, and it can help to reduce operational costs and compliance risks," Kaufman said.
PFPC previously used another industry offering in combination with proprietary technology. The new system can interface with a variety of portfolio management systems and functions on a Microsoft.NET platform with Internet Explorer. Users can access the system either through the Internet or a private extranet.
Specifically, the system can tackle a number of accounting problems unique to hedge funds, including: valuation pricing, fee calculations, reallocations between fund of funds, and reporting to investors, regulators and auditors.
PFPC services the majority of U.S. registered hedge funds and fund of funds that may have between 700 and 800 investors, according to the firm. In total, PFPC works with more than 300 hedge and private equity funds with more than $18 billion in assets and 40,000 investor accounts. PFPC is rolling out the upgraded system across the U.S., Dublin and Luxembourg.
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