Morgan Stanley Fund Services, which provides fund administration services, has launched an enhanced version of its reporting platform in response to growing demand from investors for additional fund disclosure.

The new reporting platform, branded Stratum, allows for reporting at various levels of detail and frequency, as defined by the manager on a fund-by-fund basis. 

According to MSFS, Stratum provides transparency into the process underlying NAV calculations, including confirmation of assets and liabilities and sources of price inputs used in computing valuations; this then qualifies deeper layers of portfolio transparency by revealing the drivers of risk and performance. A further feature is that the platform allows a range of disclosure options as agreed to by managers and their investors.

"With increased demand for greater hedge fund transparency, we developed Stratum to assist our clients by offering a flexible disclosure platform based on the books and records we maintain as fund administrator," said Seth Weinstein, chief executive of MSFS.

"Stratum delivers uniform and timely reporting appropriate to each fund's strategy and investors. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to fund transparency and the Stratum framework attempts to meet the varying needs of our clients and respond to industry ‘best practices' recommendations."

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, MSFS was established in 2004 as a full-service hedge fund administrator offering daily fund accounting financial reporting, middle/back-office support, transfer agency services, portfolio risk, performance and tax analytics. MSFS has a staff of over 300 based in New York, London, Dublin, Glasgow and Mumbai.