HSBC Securities Services (HSS) has turned size to its advantage and is scoring more highly in every service area, according to Global Custodians 2008 Hedge Fund Administration Survey.
The realignment of HSSs client base towards large, global institutional managers that require traditional as well as alternative services, may well mark the beginning of a new era in its alternative fund servicing, it added. “The gripes about remoteness and inflexibility that characterised the Bank of Bermuda transition are noticeable now only by their absence?, the survey concluded.”
The transition has involved a lot of work – with a quarter of alternative clients having to move to another provider – but it has given HSS the scale to expand its product set and really customise client service. “Whenever we have had an ad hoc issue, there has always been a feeling that the team have done what they can to resolve it,” says one client.
HSSs valuation of OTC derivatives received particularly high scores in the survey – now that it covers more instruments than it did last year. As a result, it concludes, HSS is well positioned for the 130/30 market. Private equity services have also been reconfigured and the real estate business has grown. HSS now offers trust services for REITs and accounting for special purpose vehicles investing in foreign property.
Geographically, HSS is drawing on its strength in the Middle East and Asia and is now servicing Sharia-compliant funds and offering global fund managers administration and distribution support in Taiwan and Vietnam. Operations in Sydney opened at the beginning of September 2008.
Individual location ratings in the survey showed a consistently high standard of achievement as Dublin, Hong Kong, Isle of Man and Singapore retained their Top Rated status, Luxembourg and US East Coast achieved Top Rated status and the Channel Islands and San Francisco reached Commended status.
“We are now better placed than ever to deliver a fully rounded service centred on our global footprint, a robust balance sheet, and our strong equity finance and cash management products,” says Mike Martin, global head of fund services for HSS.
D.C.