HFA Asset Management is in final negotiations with National Custodian Services (NCS) for a fund administration and unit registry contract, replacing the incumbent combination of ANZ Custodian Services and Link Market Services.

HFA’s chief operating officer, Amber Stoney, said the hedge fund-of-funds vendor wanted a backoffice provider which could integrate custody, fund administration and unit registry under the one roof. “;Having unit registry and admin done by different organisations meant we always had two parts to reconcile…it should improve efficiency to have a custodian who can do [registry] in-house,”; she said. HFA has approximately 8000 unitholders, and $2.8 billion in funds under management.