[ S U R V E Y | P R I V A T E E Q U I T Y F U N D A D M I N I S T R A T I O N ]
HEADS UP
Results have generally improved compared to 2021 as providers report increased business .
Reading the tables
Each of the following provider pages contains one table and two charts , which , if read closely , provide a wealth of information . At the top of the page are the category and overall scores for each provider . Prior year scores , where available , are provided for comparative purposes , so readers can glean where client perceptions of the service received have changed over the year . The table also provides a three-year average where survey participation allows as well as performance against the global benchmark for each service area . The first chart , new for 2022 , shows the standard deviation for each category score . Essentially this is a measure of how far individual scores in each response pool diverge from the mean . Simply put , a low standard deviation suggests that respondents more or less agree with each other in their assessments . The higher the standard deviation , the more opinions vary . The second chart breaks down the average score for each provider by client segment defined by AuM . This allows buyside readers to see how peers of a similar size have rated each provider .
The results of this year ’ s Private Equity Fund
Administration Survey reflect an upbeat mood among both providers and their clients . “[ The last 12 months ] have presented opportunities for administrators to support managers in new and unique ways as managers deal with changing markets and their own human resource challenges ,” says Ultimus Leverpoint . “ As the private equity industry grows increasingly global , talent is in higher demand than ever before ,” Alter Domus confirms . “ Staff turnover and talent retention are top of mind in any industry at the moment , but increasingly so in the alternative investment and servicing sphere .” The issue of talent and human resources has other implications . According to SS & C , private markets managers were previously able to withstand a degree of operational inefficiency which is now unsustainable due to ‘ The Great Resignation ’. “ With the fight for talent as the backdrop , firms are optimising their business processes and consolidating and upgrading their tech stacks to reduce reliance on key performers and to ensure the focus of human capital can be alpha generation ,” says the firm . Investor transparency continues to be a regulatory focus with respect to private markets . Currently , the SEC is considering proposals to require private funds to standardise and regularly disclose performance figures , fees , expenses , and even compensation details , in addition to audited financial statements on an annual basis . As SS & C points out , legacy operating models will be challenged if and when these proposals pass : “ Private markets managers will need to re-evaluate their workflow as they prepare to comply . This will invariably continue the trend of strategic outsourcing across fund administration services .”
Methodology
GC ’ s annual Private Equity Fund Administration ( PEFA ) Survey measures clients ’ perception of the service received from their PE fund admins over the past year . The response pool is drawn from two sources . Those respondents who completed the survey in the previous year are invited to do so again , while PE fund admins themselves are invited either to submit client lists for invitation or to approach those clients themselves . The survey focuses on the views of fund managers , who have traditionally formed the bulk of the respondents . Back-end access to the survey portal allows providers to validate that the ratings they have received come from bona fide clients . The questionnaire , completed online , includes eight service categories and allows respondents to rate each category on a seven-point scale from Unacceptable to Excellent . Subsequent questions are optional and designed to allow the respondent to add supportive comment to their ratings . Five responses are the minimum required for an individual provider ’ s numbers to be published . Where a provider has received an insufficient number of responses for an individual assessment , those responses will nevertheless contribute to overall survey averages . The published results use Global Custodian ’ s conventional seven-point scale familiar to readers of the magazine ( where 1 = unacceptable and 7 = excellent ) for each category . Those providers wishing to understand their performance in more granular detail than is available through our published survey results can purchase data reports provided in Excel format . For more information on these and other opportunities , please contact matt . aldred @ globalcustodian . com or beenish . hussain @ globalcustodian . com .
90 Global Custodian Fund Services Annual 2022