“In the more traditional banks,” according to Nick Maton, “policies and technologies havent been adapted specifically with the knowledge and expertise to support alternative investment managers.”
Maton is the recently appointed Luxembourg country head of Alpha FX Group, which provides foreign exchange risk management and alternative banking services. He has been chartered with building a business for the companys alternative banking platform in the grand duchy.
“The platforms designed to help alternative investment managers open overseas bank accounts…. to ensure that their account opening process goes smoothly, but also making sure that they can complete their transactions,” Maton stated during an interview.
Alternative fund firms often face a lengthy process in passing a banks compliance procedures, he said. That is because the often-bespoke nature of alternative funds do not neatly fit into standard anti-money laundering and know-your-customer protocols. That translates into extended back-and-forth and requests for additional documentation.
While alternative fund managers are certainly capable of handling this process themselves, Maton said that they would prefer “to focus on transactions. And if they are looking to actually set up a new structure or execute a transaction–buy an asset, whether it‘s in the real estate space, whether it’s in private equity space–then time is normally of the essence.” He asserted that Alpha FX has “the technology, but also the expertise, where we understand the objective of the asset manager. We also then understand, in detail, the process of looking through funds structures so that we can quickly identify all the requirements needed without having to go backwards and forwards. Typically accounts can take weeks or months to get set up [at a bank]. Were trying to do this in days, essentially.”
Agency banking model
Alpha FX is an electronic money institution operating “what we call an agency banking model.” Fund firms interact with Alpha FX. However, transactions are handled by Barclays and Citibank. “We have a model that we have built with two of the biggest banks in the world, but our clients deal with Alpha FX.”
Alpha FX was founded in 2009, originally to focus on foreign exchange risk management services, before expanding into payment services. The group is headquartered in London, where it is listed, with offices in Malta, the Netherlands and Canada. The company claimed more than 800 clients across its business. Its alternative banking segment posted £9.5m in revenue during the first half of 2021, a year-on-year gain of 600%, the company stated. Its global headcount was 171 as of 30 June 2021.
Maton joined Alpha FX as the head of its Luxembourg business–and its first employee in the grand duchy–in early January. He previously was the Luxembourg managing director of Intertrust Group, a corporate and fund services provider, and of HSBC Securities Services, the banks custody and fund administration business.
Applying for Luxembourg license
Alternative funds in Luxembourg have been “growing phenomenally”, he pointed out. Initially the company will service clients by passporting its Malta licence, but “the logical next step is obviously to build out more substance in Luxembourg, hence, they‘ve hired me in Luxembourg. We’re going to apply for the licence in Luxembourg, and obviously then be regulated in Luxembourg. And that‘s the process we’re going through at the moment.”
Even with local authorisation, the company plans to serve funds using a mix of its locations. “Well be leveraging the group model to grow the business, but with a good substance in Luxembourg to support our clients on the ground in Luxembourg.” Maton did not want to disclose specific business and staffing objectives. “The first step is to get the licence.”
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