Secure Data & Technology in Fund Administration: 2021 Outlook - Lee Godfrey

Lee Godfrey, Intertrust Group Managing Director for Western Europe, joined Funds Europe’s roundtable ‘Technology and the human touch’ to discuss challenges faced by the specialist fund administration industry and share his expectations for 2021.

Technology has helped to solve many issues in terms of carrying out administration for private market vehicles. The amount of data and the difference between the data brought more complexity into the fund administration space. To bridge that gap, Intertrust Group employs proprietary technology:

The proprietary technology we’re using helps us collate this data and make it available in real time. We’re also using robotisation to trawl public media, to validate some of the data points that we’re using in our hedge fund valuations – Lee said.

The fund administration industry has seen an influx of new appointments from large custodians focused on the Ucits fund’s sector. Asked whether it was a coincidence, Lee noted that he saw Ucits going through a rapid change driven by investors and regulators:

‘There is going to be more demand for us to provide real-time and meaningful information to the investment community. We might not see the regulation come as swiftly and in such a condensed period as we did on the Ucits side, but this is our opportunity to get on the front foot. There’s $3.5 trillion in global liquid assets under management (AuM) and $7.1 trillion in private capital AuM. We know where the growth is, so it’s a very exciting place to be. What I found out very early on is that this industry is where the ‘real’ action happens; we’re so close to the deals.’

Sharing his vision for the year ahead, Lee expects technology to stay one of the main priorities:

The accessibility of real-time performance information and cyber security are priorities. So, providing sensitive information in real time, in manageable chunks but in a very secure and reliable way is going to be key.

You can read the full article here.