Investment Fund Administration and Custody

In recent years, Cyprus has made enormous moves towards the enhancement and completion of the national legal framework concerning investment funds.  With these legislations in place, Cyprus is set to be established as an international fund jurisdiction.

For the Funds sector to achieve both recognition and profitability it is important that professionals within the sector are equipped with the most updated knowledge, and those joining the sector have a sound understanding of the fundamentals surrounding the processes of fund administration in Cyprus. Fund Administrators and Custodians are key for the investors’ protection.

Training Objectives

Course participants will attain an overview of the fund administration playing field, highlighting the roles and responsibilities of fund administration, the latest developments in managing the fund administration process and procedures, as well as briefly consider the following:

• The expertise to identify and manage sources of risk in fund servicing thus ensuring effective risk control
• Major players in fund administration and custody area
• The ability to maintain the fund’s compliance with regulatory rules
• Setting up a Fund– types of fund, key players, content of offering documents, regulatory requirements
• Fund Operations– portfolio administration, acquisitions and disposals, reconciliation to brokers/agents/custody, fund records
• Fund Valuation & Accounting– pricing policy, NAV, GL, Accounts, accruals, performance fees
• Transfer Agency– investor reporting, subscriptions & redemptions, fund register, KYC/CDD/AML, distributions
• Risk & Compliance– operational risk, fund compliance, administrator risk & compliance

Training Outline

Fund accounting and fund valuation

• Processing accounting entries for investments, income earned, fees and expenses
• NAV calculation and unit price calculation
• NAV reporting to unitholders / shareholders
• Maintenance of investment records
• Monitoring of investment limits compliance and reporting of breaches to the manager

Registry, Transfer Agent duties and responsibilities

• Processing of subscriptions and redemptions
• Processing of dividend payments
• Maintenance of the Fund’s registry
• Maintenance of Bank accounts of the Fund

Investors communication, Regulatory reporting and compliance

• Investors information
• CySEC reporting
• Preparation of financial statements
• Preparation of quarterly statement of assets and expenses
• Preparation of Central Bank statistical reporting

Provisional services

• Support for the preparation of Fund’s documentation

Provisions of the upcoming role for TAs

Depositary

• Watchdog” on behalf of Unit-holders
• Overseeing the manager
• Treasurer and keeper of the Fund
• Custody of assets and maintenance of cash
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Reconciliations and reporting
• Issuance, redemption, cancelations and evaluation of units
• Fund’s Rulebook and Prospectus

Training Style

The training style will include the presentation of all the material using slides and handouts.  The trainer will use practical examples to elaborate various concepts as well as show various videos that highlight particular course concepts and encourage class discussion.  Participants will engage in exchange of ideas and sharing of knowledge on the subject matter.  Participants will also be able to ask questions and obtain clarifications from the trainer on all the material covered.

Who Should Attend 

The course will be of benefit to all those professionals who are either newly employed or wish to join the Funds sector, as well as anyone within the sector who may wishes to update and refresh on the key areas.

These may include professional from the fund operations/administration teams, risk managers, compliance monitoring teams, audit and fund managers or third parties, lawyers, auditors and regulators.