The provision of hedge fund middle office services includes automated trade matching, derivatives processing, reconciliations and connectivity to multiple prime brokers.

Northern Trust's hedge fund middle office solution is an extension of Investment Operations Outsourcing. A key piece of the solution is Web Trade Services, a trade-processing innovation that has been available to traditional asset managers as an operations outsourcing component. Northern Trust introduced the full range of hedge fund services in recent weeks to support a fund launched by New York-based Julius Baer Investment Management LLC (JBIM).

"Our new middle office solution offers hedge funds the efficiencies of investment operations outsourcing and the potential for seamless integration with Northern Trust's highly configurable, robust hedge fund administration platform," said Jeff Potter, product manager for Northern Trust Web Trade Services. "With greater operational efficiency, increased connectivity for trade communications and global administrative support, managers can focus on maximizing gains for their investors."

Northern Trust's middle office services for hedge funds facilitate trade communications between the investment manager front office, prime brokers, trade-matching utilities for over-the-counter and exchange-traded securities, and third-party administrators. In the case of JBIM, Northern Trust is providing hedge fund administration services along with middle and back office support through Investment Operations Outsourcing. The operational efficiencies gained by linking these businesses together allow Northern Trust to efficiently process and communicate at every point in the hedge fund lifecycle. This efficiency manifests itself in speed of trade capture, portfolio valuation, reconciliations and reporting.

"Hedge funds require a combination of speed and risk management from their service providers that is ideally suited to the solutions we have developed at Northern Trust," said Peter Cherecwich, head of Global Product and Strategy for Northern Trust's asset servicing business. "Web Trade Services is more than just a technology solution -- Northern Trust has the accounting, pricing and service expertise to quickly resolve matching exceptions and reduce trade failures. As investment managers face increasing pressure to effectively manage costs while providing greater returns for investors, Northern Trust can deliver the scale and infrastructure required to support higher volumes and expanding trading strategies as our clients grow."