Beyond the Back Office: How STP Is Shaping The Investor Experience

Some twenty years ago I was part of an industry working group that was looking to standardize the investor subscription process into alternative funds. After multiple meetings and discussions it was determined that getting potentially hundreds of law firms coming to agreement on the format and content of a single document was just not in the cards.

Focus then shifted to automating the subscription process and eliminating the need for endless sized subscription booklets and the continuous movement of paper documents. Once again, as things couldn’t be standardized, the initiative didn’t move forward.

The importance of the above is that this was one of the first times that the fund administration community agreed that not only do we have an obligation to the Fund/Fund Manager to provide a certain experience, but also we had an obligation to make the investor experience one that could strengthen the relationship with the Fund Manager and with the Administrator. Investors can have significant influence over service provider selection, and their overall satisfaction is a win/win for the Manager and the Administrator.

STP has undertaken a number of initiatives to enhance the investor experience. The days of mailing or faxing statements have been replaced with online portals for the retrieval and storage of documentation. Copies of subscription documents, historical statements, K1s, financial statements, and even Manager letters and commentary can all be accessed via our BluePrint website portal.  Enhancements to the system are being rolled out regularly to ensure a state-of-the-art investor interaction that can reduce the time managers and STP spend reproducing and sending details that an investor can now find with ease.  

Although the standardization of subscription documentation has never come to fruition, we have been able to digitize the process. Investors can now log into a website and, through the use of workflow tools and document uploads, successfully subscribe to a fund without having to complete an enormous subscription packet containing potentially hundreds of lines and questions that don’t apply to their particular investment.  

Why does this all matter? Ensuring investor interaction with the administrator is as easy and seamless as possible gives managers the time they need to concentrate on what they do best: providing return on investment. Outsourcing the investor experience is just one of several back-office tools managers can use to enhance their overall management of investments.