Northern Trust has been appointed for a new asset servicing mandate by Modular Asset Management in Singapore, a specialist Asian macro alternative investment management company licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
As part of the deal, Northern Trust will provide a range of custody, fund administration, middle-office outsourcing, collateral management and risk compliance monitoring services to Modular’s newly launched Cayman Islands-domiciled Modular Asian Macro Fund and related entities.
Modular, which spun out of a large US hedge fund manager in January 2020, is one of Asia’s largest hedge fund launches in recent years, according to Northern Trust.
The bank noted that the track record of Modular’s founder, Jimmy Lim, has attracted commitments from global institutional investors, which will bring the firm’s assets under management close to US$1 billion.
Lim ran similar specialist Asian mandates at Millennium, BlueCrest and J.P. Morgan.
Modular Asia Macro Master Fund is a specialist, pure-play Asia macro strategy that aims to provide stable uncorrelated absolute returns by investing in liquid foreign exchange and rates markets primarily within the Asia-Pacific region.
Iain Carey, head of hedge fund services, Asia-Pacific at Northern Trust, said: “We’re seeing an increasing trend to middle-office outsourcing in the hedge fund arena, across Asia. Northern Trust’s experience and expertise in dealing with sophisticated funds, coupled with our advanced technology platform and Singapore-based fund services capabilities ensure we’re well placed to help Modular achieve its overall objectives.”
Matthew Cannon, co-founder of Modular, added: “We looked at a range of service providers and were impressed by Northern Trust’s technology platform and integrated suite of services which securely support our complex investment strategies, investor liaison and operational needs.”
