Automation updates to Northern Trust's Hedge Fund Monitor™ product enable Northern Trust clients to now enter multiple trades on a single screen, including multiple trades on a single portfolio and, significantly, to instruct a single trade and allocate it across multiple portfolios.

Subject to terms and conditions, this allows a client to switch hedge fund investments between multiple portfolios without necessarily having to declare each switch to the market. Northern Trust's registration process will allow clients to switch hedge fund investments without incurring difficulties with capacity such as lockups (the window of time in which investors of a hedge fund are not allowed to redeem or sell shares) and gates (a restriction placed on a hedge fund limiting the amount of withdrawals from the fund during a redemption period).

"Eliminating manual processing and enabling access to robust information are key aspirations for fund of hedge fund managers," said Ian Headon, Northern Trust's asset servicing product manager for alternative investments. "These latest enhancements from Northern Trust enable our clients across the globe to streamline manual entries, reduce operating overheads, and improve internal reporting.

Other key updates to Hedge Fund Monitor which enhance liquidity, compliance and performance include:

* Features that enable clients to view, at any given time, their quickest and most cost-effective liquidity options. This allows clients to easily toggle between these two options gives them greater flexibility
* Lot level liquidity details now reported on screen. Clients are now able to immediately see the various stages of liquidity in their portfolio, enhancing their ability to make investment decisions

Northern Trust is a leading administrator of hedge funds and FoHF with approximately US$100 billion of assets under administration for hedge funds and FoHF, as of March 31 2011. In May, Northern Trust announced it will acquire leading ing hedge fund administrator, Omnium, further expanding its hedge fund operations. The business which will be integrated as Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services, LLC, will offer world-class, scalable technology and dedicated expertise to serve hedge funds and large institutional investors with complex portfolios. In addition, it will provide comprehensive administrative and middle office services including trade processing, valuation, real-time reporting, cash management, accounting, collateral management and investor servicing.