Quite a lot of vendors provide solutions in fragments or modules but that means you can get easily caught out by accident, and actually fall into the scope of disclosures of another jurisdiction without knowing. With FundApps’ global coverage as standard, we de-risked from day one.
Kamila Skowera, Chief Compliance Officer, on FundApps' Shareholding Disclosure global coverage
The Challenge
Viridian Asset Management had a bold plan: to launch its fund across multiple territories in APAC from day one, which was only months away. CCO Kamila Skowera had identified regulated disclosures as a prickly obstacle and set out to find a technology partner which would be ready in time for launch, had demonstrable expertise across all the desired countries and would be a long term partner that could match the ambitions of a fund such as Viridian.
The Hong-Kong based investment manager knew that in order to be effective, its strategy required unabashed investment in every jurisdiction from India, to Japan, to Australia and everything in between. The disparate, convoluted, and inconsistent monitoring and reporting requirements that blanketed Asia would be unavoidable.
From the outset, Kamila knew she wanted to embrace automation to calculate, track, and disclose positions as maintaining regulatory compliance manually would introduce an unacceptable amount of risk for the new fund. The aggressive launch plan timeline meant that Kamila and the Viridian team needed a fully functional solution before launch.
The Solution
A number of vendors and solutions were reviewed as part of Kamila’s process. “I could choose based on the best solution and FundApps was a quite clear winner in that comparison.”
Not only was the service “modern and very user-friendly”, providing easy navigation and quick access to critical functions, FundApps had a major differentiator: global coverage.
“Quite a lot of solutions provide solutions in fragments or modules but that means you can get easily caught out by accident, and actually fall into the scope of disclosures in another jurisdiction without knowing. With FundApps’ global coverage as standard, we de-risked from day one.”
With only four weeks to implement before the fund’s launch and the start of trading, FundApps’ Singapore-based team provided a detailed calendar dividing the implementation process into manageable tasks that were combined with frequent check-ins. Given the flurry of other pre-launch responsibilities, this level of support was crucial.
It was very important to me that there was a team in Asia. It meant I wouldn't have to wait until the evening or the next day to get some help if I needed it, and upon meeting the team, all my questions were answered.
Shareholding Disclosure monitors requirements in over 100 jurisdictions for beneficial ownership, short selling and takeover panels. Position data is checked against Shareholding Disclosure, Takeover Panel and Short Selling rules enriched with legal, market and regulatory data from Refinitiv and Bloomberg. The rules engine identifies if, where, and when disclosures are required, notifying clients to which regulator they must be sent. More than 200 forms are automatically generated in the Shareholding Disclosure service.
The Result
By launch date, Viridian was able to trade with confidence.
The fund’s dynamic strategy was well-supported by the Solution’s responsiveness and adaptability, reducing the burden of tracking daily position changes. Furthermore, the FundApps solution ensured the Fund followed market practice, providing an extra layer of protection should any regulator raise concerns about disclosures.
What began as an overwhelming regulatory challenge developed into an efficient process that exceeded the Viridian compliance team’s expectations. Fully equipped with FundApps’ automated monitoring and reporting solution, Shareholding Disclosure, the Fund tracks positions and files disclosures across Asia in real-time. And now, they are also in a position to scale with it, too.
We are definitely a success story. As I’ve said, I never look back. And that's the worst that could happen, right? When you're choosing a solution, you sign a contract and then ask yourself, “Why did I do that?" This is definitely not the case. Quite the opposite.
