Registered Fund Solutions, LLC, and UMB Fund Services Announce First-to-Market Registered Hedge Fund Program

NEW YORK & MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UMB Fund Services, JD Clark & Company, and Registered Fund Solutions, LLC, have announced the development of the first turnkey solution in the marketplace for launching and servicing registered hedge funds and funds of funds.*

The program, sponsored by Registered Fund Solutions, LLC, features a team of best-of-breed professional services firms collaborating to provide a full spectrum of services for registered hedge funds.

The practice of registering hedge funds with the SEC is gaining popularity as a means of broadening distribution, due to these advantages:

Ability to accept an unlimited number of accredited investors, thereby allowing the manager to reduce the fund’s minimum investment requirement
Provides independent board governance and increases fund transparency to investors, platforms and intermediaries
Easier access to fund distribution platforms and intermediaries, bringing greater visibility and access to investors

The program, Registered Fund Solutions, offers key benefits for money managers wanting to launch a registered hedge fund, including:

Gathers a team of top-tier firms to provide fund services, eliminating the difficulty of selecting and coordinating service providers
Reduces fund start-up costs and overhead expenses
Provides assistance in establishing and supporting the fund’s board of managers

Lonnie Macdonald, executive vice president of business development for UMB Fund Services, said, “Many hedge fund managers would like to offer a product that, while not a mutual fund, will allow them to keep their normal fee structures and liquidity provisions in place while also affording them broader distribution through RIA platforms, large broker-dealers, and other channels. As the marketplace has driven a need for registered hedge funds, UMB Fund Services and Registered Fund Solutions, LLC, have innovated a one-of-a-kind, cost-effective, turnkey program to launch and service these closed-end products.”

Vic Fontana, president of Registered Fund Solutions, LLC, stated, “By bringing to the marketplace a turnkey solution that makes it much easier to start a registered hedge fund, we will enable many great managers to move their strategies into the world of financial advisors – without having to go through all the hassles that normally come with creating a registered product.”

The professional services firms collaborating in the Registered Fund Solutions consortium include:

Registered Fund Solutions, LLC (program sponsor) – Provides each fund with board and governance services
UMB Fund Services/JD Clark & Co. – Provides fund accounting, administration, transfer agent, blue sky, tax reporting, and custody services
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP – Provides fund registration and legal services
Rothstein, Kass & Company – Provides audit services
Foreside Fund Services, Inc. – Provides distribution and marketing services
Cipperman Compliance Services – Provides CCO and compliance consulting services
GSC Financial Insurance Services – Provides risk management and insurance services for each fund

About UMB Fund Services

Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., UMB Fund Services offers a complete line of products and services to the fund industry, including administration and fund accounting, investor services and transfer agency, marketing and distribution; custody services through UMB Bank, n.a.; alternative investment services through JD Clark & Co.; and managed account services. It currently serves more than 180 clients with combined assets of more than $200 billion. For the past two years, the company has been named one of the top 10 midsize employers in southeastern Wisconsin by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. UMB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: UMBF), the parent company of UMBFS, is a financial services holding company with more than $12.4 billion in banking assets, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.

*i.e., funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”)