Northern Trust enhances onboarding journey for investors in private capital funds

By Edlyn Cardoza

Northern Trust is looking to enhance the onboarding process for investors in private capital funds through a collaboration with Fenergo, a leading software provider focused on client lifecycle management (CLM). The new capability is part of Northern Trust’s digital innovation program to support private capital fund managers and their underlying investors.

Industry pressures are driving private capital fund managers and their investors to seek greater efficiency and oversight to address complex onboarding and monitoring requirements. Leveraging Fenergo’s multi-tenant Software as a Service (SaaS) CLM solution, Northern Trust will digitise and streamline onboarding journeys and due diligence processes for anti-money laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC) and associated compliance rules.

Clive Bellows, head of Global Fund Services, EMEA, at Northern Trust, said: “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. Moreover, 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.”

The digital portal provides a mechanism 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 enhance the operational efficiency of the overall onboarding activity.

Paul Kavanagh, chief revenue officer with Fenergo, said: “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. 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. I look forward to working with Northern Trust to unlock even greater value for them over the coming months and years.”

The development forms part of a broader 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. Northern Trust’s private capital fund services business provides a range of solutions for asset managers, including fund administration, global custody, depositary, and banking.