Professionalism Is Key For Fund Start-Ups

The pressure for investment managers to get things right from day one is immense. According to Julian Stockley-Smith, a Director of JP Fund Foundations, investors are now much more inclined to seek professional and independent oversight when assessing prospective funds. "We're seeing substantially increased due diligence; investors want a clear idea of a fund's infrastructure, the service providers they're using and the protections via independent oversight that exist. We were recently asked to give a review of our disaster recovery programme. That's the first time we've been asked that by a potential investor," explains Stockley-Smith.

The JP Funds Group provides a one-stop shop solution for hedge fund formation, servicing and administration. Typically, it takes four to six weeks to establish the fund structure, and as Stockley-Smith explains: "We handle a lot of initial drafting work and finalise the offering documents in close co-operation with external legal