Australia's fledging hedge fund industry is having trouble finding specialist custodians to service its needs. The reduction of proprietary trading by banks in the past two years has pushed many traders out to set up their own hedge fund operations, but this growth has not been matched by a corresponding increase in custodians providing the professional services they need.
With only two onshore custodians Chase and Fortis servicing funds with more than A$100 million $52.25 million under management, most of Australia's 20 or so hedge funds, with an average size of between A$10 million and A$20 million, are using offshore custodians operating out of Hong Kong. As these managers...
