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Circle Partners
ircle is a great administrator to work with, and I would
“ Chighly recommend this firm to my peers in the industry,” writes a happy client. The overall average score certainly speaks of a firm that has the confidence of its small to mid-sized hedge fund clients, and there are testimonials to back it up.“ I have only ever experienced excellent services from Circle Partners, with many key personnel I am in daily contact with having been at Circle for many years,” writes one respondent. Others echo this assessment, arguing that“ Circle has consistently provided quality service” and that the firm delivers“ great value for the quality of service they are able to provide.” One respondent describes the service as“ perfect.” Of course, not everyone is happy as that(“ The level of service of the NL entity has decreased,” grumbles one client), and at least one respondent would like a price cut(“ Fees need to come down and they have not, unfortunately”). But the most striking aspect of the Circle performance is that the firm earns even better scores in peripheral services( which a minority of its respondents assess) than it does in the core fund administration services of accounting and investor relations( which almost every respondent addresses). Certainly, the scores for fund accounting and investor services are not as high as the comments suggest they ought to be.“ We have different sub-funds with different strategies and types of investments,” writes one user of the fund accounting services.“ Circle Partners provides accurate and timely accounting for each of the subfunds.” Another client argues that“ they have a very strong and knowledgeable accounting team, who are great to work with,” while a third respondent insists his fund accountant is“ one of the top diligent guys we ever met!” Likewise, in investor services, clients have noticed only a“ flawless process until now” and a“ very responsive investor services team.” There is a similar disjunction between the scores and the comments in reporting to managers(“ Communications between the administrator and the manager are very fluid, questions / comments / issues are solved very quickly”) and to investors(“ Perfect, no errors”). Closer analysis of the scores – which finds shortcomings highlighted by averages are, in fact, highly specific – resolves these mysteries in favour of the firm. There is one reporting field in which Circle Partners unequivocally excels. The firm prides itself on its financial reporting services across all reporting frequencies and accounting standards.“ Interaction between administrator and fund auditors is very smooth, rarely, if ever, we need to intervene,” attests a respondent. A second agrees that“ Circle provides accurate schedules, reports and data to our auditors” and“ is responsive to our auditors’ queries.” There is a score to match. For a firm founded as recently as 2000, Circle Partners has maintained an admirable discipline in sticking to fund accounting, investor services, middle-office services and financial, regulatory and tax reporting as it has expanded its geographical reach. Clients are now serviced from offices in Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, the United States, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Curaçao as well as the native Netherlands of the founders. But at least one client would like to see Circle Partners be more adventurous.“ They should strive more to find a right banking partner,” advises a client.“ There are two banks and none of them offers proper service.”
By size
95 %
5 %
Weighted average scores
PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
Large Medium Small
Weighted average scores by service area Service area
By location
9 %
68 %
2016 2017 2018 5.74 5.99 6.10
Weighted average score
Client service 6.22 3.4 % On-boarding 5.80 1.5 % Fund accounting 6.00-3.3 % Investor services 5.97-1.5 % Reporting to investors 5.69-5.4 % Reporting to managers 5.70-2.7 % Reporting to regulators 6.50 8.0 % Reporting to the tax authorities 6.29 5.2 % Reporting to auditors 6.24 2.6 % KYC, AML and sanctions screening 6.38 5.7 %
23 %
Depositary services N / A N / A Corporate secretarial services 6.83 16.4 % Middle office services 6.59 12.5 % Banking services N / A N / A Operations 6.28 2.6 % Cyber-security 6.23 4.0 % Price 5.92 1.7 % Total 6.10 1.9 %
Americas Europe and Middle East Asia
+/- the global average
60 Global Custodian The Hedge Fund Annual 2018 The Hedge Fund Annual 2018 globalcustodian. com 60