Page 20 - bne_Tech_03_2019

Blockchain & Cryptocurrency
March 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
INTERVIEW:
ITI Funds democratising the asset management business
Ben Aris in Berlin
The Guernsey-registered ITI Funds has set up five platforms – three in Luxembourg and two in the Cayman Islands – that dramatically reduce the cost of entry to the fund management business.
The platforms offer a variety of solutions that allow a potential fund manager to do anything from a high quality UCITS- regulated fund, the European gold standard of well-regulated funds that trade stocks and bonds – to the lightly regulated cryptocurrency exchange funds.
A fintech innovation, these platforms allow would- be managers to quickly and cheaply get into business. ITI Funds has dramatically lowered the cost of entry so where you used to need at least $30mn of assets under management (AUM) to run a fund, now you can do it for as little as $2mn. That could democratise the asset management business and turn the pyramid on its head.
ITI Funds keeps a foot in two worlds as it works both with investors and portfolio managers, matching their interests of both groups. It provides managers with a range of services: fund set up, fundraising, legal advisory, operational support, outsourcing investor relations. But the main difference from other companies providing services to funds, is help setting up new funds;
ITI Funds does not just take anyone on as client:
a portfolio manager has to pass an audit and confirm strategy performance before they become a client and the new becomes an eligible product, which ITI Funds can offer to its investors.
bne IntelliNews editor-in-chief Ben Aris talks
CEO of ITI Finds Gleb Yakovlev
to the CEO of ITI Finds Gleb Yakovlev about his business and the services that the company offers. Listen to the podcast of the full interview here.
Ben Aris: Can you give me a brief overview of what you do?
Gleb Yakovlev: ITI Funds offers a collection of niche funds but we also provide services and back office to start ups and young companies.
Our business is putting together investors and portfolio managers in a broader sense. Not someone who is already well established, but people or companies that need some kind of wrapper or infrastructure.
BA: Do you mostly cater to Emerging Europe managers or anyone?
GY: Anyone but EM in general and EM Europe in particular is a target market. Recently we signed up an eastern European asset manager, who is a leader on his market and we set up a Luxembourg Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) certified ETF on their domestic market using our infrastructure.
Obviously we are less interesting for pure western funds, but we are for European and UK based hedge fund mangers and crypto managers that want to run an algo trading strategy. For them setting up in London is even more expensive than for an eastern European asset management company so we attract clients from all over.