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Quintillion
After five years in the ownership of US Bancorp, Quintillion is still admired for its personal touch and commitment to quality.“ They are the most client-centric administrator I have dealt with in 15 years,” writes one client. Another is delighted by“ outstanding service – we are very happy.” A third confirms that“ we receive excellent service from Quintillion in all areas.” The fact that Quintillion has not lost a single client since it was acquired in October 2013 and more than doubled the assets under administration to well over $ 30 billion in the same period, is a tribute to the good sense of the parent, as well as to its reach across the Atlantic and the reassuring size of its balance sheet. The value of a demonstrably successful post-acquisition transition, in a consolidating industry, should not be under-estimated. The hands-off approach has made it much easier to introduce clients gently to the complementary-but-optional services that US Bancorp can add to the core fund administration services – depositary banking, collateral management, global custody, and FX and cash management – without any sense of them being compulsory buys or a hard-sell. Judging by the names of the respondents, being owned by a large bank has also turned Quintillion into a credible contender for massive global mandates. Major asset managers will certainly struggle to find fault with the on-boarding process.“ Much less painful and more straightforward than I had anticipated,” says one client with recent experience of it. Any painful memories are probably dulled by the Quintillion policy of assigning to the on-boarding process the same people that will provide the services once a client is on-board, since it inevitably forges personal bonds. The Quintillion approach to fund accounting is equally distinctive, with valuations reconciled to independent data and thoroughly checked prior to publication, reducing the risk of errors being published. It takes more time, but clients obviously like the results.“ We have never experienced any problems with fund accounting,” notes one client.“ The fund accounting service is high quality with very rare mistakes,” adds another.“ Deliverables could sometimes reach us earlier – [ that ] is the only minor complaint.” The reporting scores, while still impressive, are more equivocal. Managers are pleased by the reporting to regulators( though it is not a service which Quintillion emphasises) and say their auditors are delighted by what they get as well.“ Our auditors – a big four company – are impressed and comment favourably about Quintillion every year,” writes one respondent. Another says Quintillion“ take the pain out of the audit process, which is a high accolade indeed.” Reporting to investors and managers does not rise to the same heights, but closer examination suggests respondents would like to be offered a choice of reporting models even if their current preferences are clearly being satisfied. Something similar is true of their assessment of reporting to tax authorities, where Quintillion is lightly admonished for giving insufficient priority to upcoming tax changes rather than under-performing in a crucial area( nor is it a field in which the firm claims to specialise). In investor services, the issue seems to be one of flexibility. A respondent says HWM Mantra, which Quintillion uses for investor services,“ appears to be quite a rigid system.” Another client notes that“ investor services client services can take some time to respond to queries.” But a third has found Quintillion“ very flexible and helpful in completing forms for investor subscriptions and redemptions.”
65 %
By size
4 %
31 %
Weighted average scores
PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
Large Medium Small
By location
82 %
2016 2017 2018 6.08 5.92 5.95
Weighted average scores by service area Service area
18 %
Weighted average score
Client service 5.83-3.1 % On-boarding 6.04 5.6 % Fund accounting 6.13-1.2 % Investor services 5.86-3.2 % Reporting to investors 5.93-1.6 % Reporting to managers 5.67-3.2 % Reporting to regulators 6.10 1.3 % Reporting to the tax authorities 5.55-7.2 % Reporting to auditors 6.13 0.7 %
Americas Europe and Middle East Asia
+/- the global average
KYC, AML and sanctions screening 5.40-10.4 % Depositary services 6.04 0.7 % Corporate secretarial services N / A N / A Middle office services 6.52 11.1 % Banking services 6.52 7.3 % Operations 6.74 10.2 % Cyber-security 6.05 1.1 % Price 6.15 5.7 % Total 5.95-0.6 %
The Hedge Fund Annual 2018 globalcustodian. com 65