Global Funds Registration goes digital

Martin Neason, Director at FE fundinfo's Global Funds Registration Service provides insights into the complexities of cross-border distribution and the latest enhancement of the GFR service.

The registration of a fund for cross-border distribution in a foreign country is a time consuming and challenging process. Most Asset Managers lack the specialist expertise and (regulatory) knowledge to be able to arrange and maintain the registration of their funds in their target jurisdictions. Resources to achieve these tasks are hard to acquire and manage, and often results in managers having to resort to costly solutions, such as lawyers, with hidden expenses.

We spoke to Martin Neason, Director of FE fundinfo’s Global Funds Registration (GFR) service , on what the current challenges are for Asset Managers and how the process of fund registration can be brought into the future by leveraging technology.

1. What are the main challenges faced by Asset Managers with a global/multi-jurisdictional fund distribution strategy?

The main challenge is remaining compliant. Managers must keep abreast of frequent regulatory change and regulatory requirements that must be met, plus the administrative burden of maintaining accurate data regarding the registration and distribution of the fund, these challenges are magnified the greater the number of countries in which the fund is registered.

2. Given the complexities of cross-border distribution, what do you think are the major barriers for Asset Managers?

The complex nature of the processes involved in arranging and maintaining a fund’s registration and having a dedicated resource to understand and manage these compliantly.

3. In your view, which country currently presents the most intricate regulatory hurdles?

The regulatory requirements are impacted by the type of investor being approached, the registration of a fund for retail investors is always more complex than a registration for institutional investors. Bearing this in mind, Hong Kong stands head and shoulders above the rest for complexity for the retail registration of a foreign fund, but the procedure in Hong Kong is very straight forward if only institutional investors are to be approached. This is also true of Belgium and Singapore

4. Are Asset Managers effectively utilising technology to streamline their internal processes?

Many managers are moving towards the use of technology to assist with each aspect of the management and distribution of their funds, including the management of their fund’s registrations, however, legacy systems, the ever-changing requirements, constant pressure to reduce costs and the complex nature of the tasks involved form a considerable challenge in achieving this.

5. We recently released digital enhancements to FE fundinfo’s Global Funds Registration service. Can you please elaborate on these enhancements and how they seek to benefit asset managers?

FE fundinfo have recently made the GFR service available in our Fund Information Hub. The Fund Information Hub provides our clients with a single point of access through which they can interact with and manage the products and services offered by FE fundinfo.

The availability of the GFR service in the Fund Information Hub enables our clients to obtain accurate and timely information on not only the registrations of their fund, down to a share class level, but also information on non-regulatory aspects such as the fund’s tax status and which entities are engaged to support the fund’s registration in each country. The service also enables our clients to request amendments to existing registrations, to request new registrations and provides access to the Country Guides for each of the 70+ countries covered by the service.

In addition to the availability in the Fund Information Hub, the GFR Service now manages the registration data of our clients directly in FE fundinfo’s core database. This increases the accuracy and timeliness of fund data and decreases the amount of data our clients must maintain and provide. This means our clients can rely on the accuracy of this data to compliantly distribute the fund’s documents and data across FE fundinfo’s full suite of products and solutions.

A cost effective solution for global fund registration

FE fundinfo’s Global Funds Registration (GFR) service fuses leading regulatory expertise with technological flexibility, offering a streamlined workflow to alleviate the burden of cross-border fund registrations for our clients. With the aid of a dedicated Registrations Manager, we offer cost-efficiency, expedited market access, effective and regulatory-compliant fund distribution.

For more information, please contact us.