Going global to search Senior Managers for Hedge Fund Operations

Requirement
A leading hedge fund with a significant presence in India looked to Peepal as they were in the need of senior managers for fund operationsactivities.

Challenge
Hedge Fund Operations is a rare skill in Indian market. We just have a handful of third party companies who work on fund operations activities; many of these do not have people well equipped to handle the Ops activities of a large client. Somewhat better talent is available in captives but they again have a very small presence in the country.

Background.
The client has a significant presence in many of the world's capital markets, investing in a wide range of financial instruments across geographies. Its activities range from the deployment of investment strategies based on mathematical models and human expertise to the acquisition of existing companies and the financing or development of new ones.

Client has a state-of-the-art development, research and support center in India that works in coordination with the New York based head office to maintain the company's technological and financial leadership in the areas of securities information management, market evaluation, and order execution.

Firm has conceived a group to work on hedge operations activities which employs bright MBAs in Finance who look over the hundreds of thousands of transactions happening in multiple trades across the geographies. Being among the pioneers to do this sort of work from India, the firm had difficulties in finding managerial talent. 

Alternatives
Give in: We didn’t have the phrase in our dictionary.
Third party hedge fund Operations firms: Challenge was in extensive filtering. Not more than 10-15% of these candidates were of the quality level that our client expected.

Captives: People in captives were good but too less in number. Many of these were not open to a change.

Go Global: Such skills are available in good numbers in US and European markets. We could approach the population which was looking at working in India. Specially, people with Indian origin, and looking to come back and connect with their roots.

Action Plan.
We did all the three. Evaluated people from all the spheres.
Peepal took this up as a challenge and started their quest for the best talents all over the globe. Through continuous efforts and solid teamwork we’re successful in finding a few refined candidates. It was interesting to talk to people from all these backgrounds and then kicking our grey cells to determine what could fit the bill.
Three of these were made offers by the firm. Two of these came from third party hedge fund Ops firms and the other from a leading European Bank with strong Ops background.

Results
We could help our client in sailing through one of the most difficult searches and get them employees whom they are proud to have.
For us it was the sense of achievement which has always been our biggest motivator. Happy face of the customer acknowledging our effort was the bonus! We have a thriving relationship with the company till date and they recognize as one of their key partners to work with.