Coronavirus / Covid-19 and Castle Hall

As infections of Coronavirus (Covid-19) continue to spread worldwide, we wanted to provide an overview of how Castle Hall is managing our due diligence work on behalf of you, our valued clients.

1. Onsite visits

It is likely that the onsite element of our OpsReview engagements will be impacted over the coming weeks. Castle Hall will, of course, observe any travel restrictions or quarantine measures put in place either where our team is based (Canada, the UK, the UAE, the Philippines and Australia) or in the cities and countries where asset managers subject to due diligence are located.

• Our diligence process already uses desk based data collection and document review, followed by conference calls with the asset manager and administrator, to complete a substantial majority of our OpsReview due diligence process.
• When travel is in question, we will use video conferencing with asset managers when possible, and will ask managers to screen share or provide soft copies of "onsite verification" items. These can include topics such as a walk through of a trading system, or inspection of documents such as the compliance manual, regulatory inspection letters, or bank signatory cards. As such, we do not consider that an interruption to onsite diligence will impede our ability to generate an appropriate due diligence assessment.

At present, Castle Hall has restricted our team's travel to China. We will continue to monitor global advisories and adjust our travel and diligence procedures accordingly.

2. Monitoring, Financial Statement Reviews and Reputational Due Diligence

As our OpsMonitor, AFS and RDD services are desk based, we do not expect our diligence process to be materially impacted at present. Castle Hall team members are all able to work remotely and share information electronically.

3. Asset Managers and Coronavirus

We recently produced a blog with respect to Covid-19 and asset managers. We would be happy to discuss if you would see value in circularizing your own managers to gather information as to their preparations and readiness for a more serious pandemic situation.

Similarly, thematic conversations and outreach can also be undertaken with third party service providers such as fund administrators, prime brokers, banks, auditors, compliance providers and IT vendors.

As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions across any element of the due diligence process. Please don't hesitate to use the live chat function on the Castle Hall website or email / call Marice Young and her client support team if we can help in any way.

The Castle Hall Team.