Northern Trust has partnered with software provider Fenergo, in an effort to enhance the onboarding process for investors in private capital funds.
The new mandate is part of Northern Trust’s digital innovation programme to support private capital fund managers and their underlying investors, focusing on client lifecycle management (CLM).
Leveraging Fenergo’s SaaS CLM solution, Northern Trust will digitise and streamline onboarding journeys and due diligence processes for anti-money laundering, know-your-customer and associated compliance rules.
The digital portal provides a mechanism that aims to securely source, capture and authenticate data. Investors will be able to access the portal to upload and review all their relevant information in a single source of record.
This will help to accelerate lifecycle processes by reducing the manual document flow, while providing a more secure channel for sensitive data, and enhancing the operational efficiency for the overall onboarding activity.
The partnership comes as industry pressures are driving private capital fund managers and their investors to seek greater efficiency and oversight to address complex onboarding and monitoring requirements.
The development forms part of a wider alternatives digital transformation plan under Northern Trust Whole Office, a strategy that facilitates client access to services, solutions and new technologies across the investment lifecycle.
Clive Bellows, head of global fund services at Europe, Middle East and Africa at Northern Trust, says: “Northern Trust will deploy Fenergo’s technology in tandem with the expertise of our servicing teams to onboard investors faster through an efficient digital portal. The development will support clients and investors throughout the lifecycle, including continuous risk assessment of investor data, periodic reviews, as well as offboarding.
“The reduction in manual document flow will enable our teams to focus on more value-added activities on behalf of our clients and further enhance our information security protocols.”
Paul Kavanagh, chief revenue officer at Fenergo, comments: “We are delighted to welcome Northern Trust to our growing asset servicing client community. The asset servicing industry is experiencing significant growth but firms operating in this space are coming under increasing pressure to scale, improve client experience and adapt quickly to changing regulatory environments.”
He adds: “Our CLM solution, which includes an onboarding digital portal, helps firms like Northern Trust to reduce risk and manage compliance and deliver tangible operational efficiencies that transform the investor journey through the end-to-end lifecycle.”
