DEPOSITORY BANK &
FUND ADMINISTRATION
www.lcf-rothschild.it
ANTWERP, BARCELONA, BEIJING, BORDEAUX, BRATISLAVA, BRUSSELS, FRIBOURG, GENEVA, GUERNSEY, HONG KONG, LAUSANNE, LIEGE, LISBON, LONDON, LUGANO, LUXEMBOURG, LYON, MADRID, MARSEILLE, MILAN, MONACO, MONTEVIDEO, NANTES, NASSAU, PARIS, SHANGHAI, STRASBOURG, TAIPEI, TEL AVIV, TOULOUSE, WARSAW.
CONTENTS
page
The LCF Rothschild Group
5
The Italian Branch
5
BPERE Acting as Depositary Bank
6
BPERE Acting as Fund Administrator
6
Funds of Hedge Funds
7
Hedge Funds
9
Our Competitive Advantage in Short
9
Real Estate & Private Equity Funds
11
Italian Depository Bank
12
Compliance
12
Th e LCF Rothschild Group
Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild Europe is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild Geneva, a Bank owned by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild. BPERE was the fi rst Swiss bank to be established in Luxembourg in 1969 and is part of the LCF Rothschild Group.
BPERE has more than 35 years’ experience acting as a depository bank and custodian: the Bank created its depository bank and custodian division in 1969 when Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild Geneva launched the fi rst European fund of hedge funds.
Today, fund administration and custody services are BPERE’s core business: more than 300 employees are currently dedicated to these activities relating to more than 400 third-party and in-house funds and sub-funds. The Bank has over EUR 40bn in assets under administration, EUR 15bn of which are alternative assets.
In other words, BPERE is a niche player, with strong capabilities to develop a tailor-made service for its clients.
Italian Branch
On July 28th 2006, BPERE obtained approval from the Bank of Italy to open its Italian branch. BPERE has been authorized, through the European passport procedure, to perform harmonized banking activities in Italy and specifi cally to act as a depository bank (a non-harmonized activity) in accordance with article 38 of legislative decree no 58 of February 24th 1998 and section V, chapter VII of the Bank of Italy regulation of April 14th 2005.
BPERE offi cially started its activities on February 5th 2007 and has been registered in the Albo delle Banche since March 2007 (ABI 03347 CAB 01600).
The core business of our branch is providing depository bank and fund administration services to Italian domiciled fund structures as well as promoting our offshore capabilities to Italian institutions.
BPERE Acting as Depositary Bank:
▶ Safe-keeping of a fund’s fi nancial instruments and liquidity.
▶ Ensuring that both the issue and redemption of a fund’s units and the allocation of its income are carried out in compliance with the laws and regulations applicable to the fund.
▶ Fulfi lling subscription and redemption orders in target hedge funds. Ensuring the correctness of the NAV calculation performed by the Italian management companies.
▶ Ensuring that a fund’s transactions are settled in compliance with the rules applicable to the markets where the transactions are executed.
▶ Carrying out the instructions of the management companies and checking that they do not confl ict with a fund’s regulations or the supervisory authority’s provisions.
BPERE Acting as Fund Administrator:
▶ Producing the NAV calculation
(assuming responsibility for and any potential liabilities related to the correctness of the NAV).
▶ Producing an Italian-compliant Libro Giornale.
▶ Maintaining an Italian-compliant shareholders’ register.
▶ Producing CONSOB-compliant semi-annual and annual Rendiconto for the clients of the management companies.
▶ Producing PRISMA reporting on a fund’s data on behalf of the Italian management companies for the Bank of Italy.
▶ Finding solutions to the provision of ancillary services such as AUI, SARA or SGR bookkeeping.
Funds of Hedge Funds
BPERE can act as a unique service provider for funds of hedge funds; we offer the client a one-stop shop solution, combining depository bank, fund administration and sub-custody services. An asset manager only has to deal with one institution: the depositary bank, which covers the roles of fund accounting, sub-custodian and custodian thus enabling the asset manager to make signifi cant effi ciency gains.
The Milan branch team will be in charge of providing depository bank and fund administration services. Each Italian client will have a dedicated Italian-based person in charge of problem solving and day-to-day relationship management.
BPERE Luxembourg, which is the same legal entity, will act as sub-custodian bank. BPERE Luxembourg has a specifi c department, the Fund Desk, working on funds of hedge funds. The Fund Desk is in charge of managing order routing, analysing information on target funds and calculating the equalization factor.
ASSET MANAGER
SUB-CUSTODIAN FUND ADMINISTRATOR
DEPOSITORY BANK
Hedge Funds
BPERE provides hedge funds with a full service: we can act as depository bank and fund administrator for hedge funds based in Italy, Luxembourg or the Cayman Islands.
The Milan branch team will be in charge of providing depository bank and fund administration services. Each Italian client will have a dedicated Italian-based person in charge of problem solving and day-to-day relationship management.
Our Competitive Advantage in Short:
▶ Dedicated team focused on alternative investments
▶ Flexibility in structuring products
▶ Proactive involvement with prime brokers
▶ Expertise in equalization processes
▶ Tailor-made reporting
▶ Highly experienced in dealing with the managers and administrators of funds of hedge funds, e.g. transmission of data, timing, transparency and the due diligence process
▶ Adapted accounting and valuation processes
▶ A niche player approach benefi ting both large and small institutions
▶ More than 30 years’ experience in alternative investments
Real Estate & Private Equity Funds
BPERE has considerable experience in providing high-quality, value-added services to non-traditional investment vehicles. BPERE has administered private equity and real estate funds since 1991, before the emergence of the Luxembourg law on SICARs.
Following the adoption of the SICAR law in 2004, the “Private Equity & Real Estate Desk” was created in order to meet the specifi c requirements of these structures. Currently, BPERE provides its services to a third of the SICARs approved by the CSSF.
Our Italian team has proven profi ciency and strong specifi c skills with more than 15 years of combined experience in the administration of real estate and private equity funds.
The specifi c experience of the Italian team members covers a wide range of activities related to depository bank and fund administration services:
▶ Project Management
▶ Fund Implementation
▶ Fund Administration
▶ Relationship Management
▶ Client Services
▶ Legal Stuctures and Negotiations
the Italian team, we have been able to create a special desk for real estate (RE) and private equity (PE) fund administration services which uses Italian software. The accounting and operational procedures are similar for both.
The Italian branch is able to provide real estate and private equity SGRs with the following services:
Italian Depository Bank
▶ Safe-keeping of a fund’s fi nancial instruments and assets.
▶ Presence at the notary’s offi ce during real estate transactions in order to verify the
agreement has been duly concluded and to ensure that the payment is promptly processed.
▶ Managing invoices, lease contracts and expenses payments (even via automatic commercial payments and RID).
▶ Liquidation of F24 tax form via automatic system.
▶ Issuing of bank drafts if required.
Compliance
▶ NAV validation: ensuring the correctness of the calculation used to value a fund’s units by recalculating the NAV.
▶ Ensuring that every transaction is carried out in compliance with the applicable rules.
▶ Checking that the management company’s instructions do not confl ict with a fund’s regulations, the relevant laws and the supervisory authority’s provisions.
Fund Administration
▶ Management of participants’ initial commitments and the drawdown.
▶ Maintaining an Italian-compliant shareholders’ register.
▶ Producing regulatory reporting relating to shareholders’ activities.
▶ NAV calculation and production of the Relazione Semestrale and the Rendiconto Annuale.
▶ Production of fi scal reporting (Registro IVA) and regulatory reporting (PRISMA).
Moreover, each Italian client has a dedicated Italian-based person in charge of problem solving and day-to-day relationship management.
