The group received an Australian financial services license after opening an office in New Zealand last year.

For the past eight years, Intertrust has been providing corporate and fund administration services in Australia, including company secretarial support, board support, accounting and reporting, payroll and KYC/AML services.

He reported that the market for outsourced custodial services for alternative funds, including private equity, real estate, venture capital, infrastructure and debt funds, continues to grow in Australia and is estimated at more than $500 billion in assets under management with annual revenues in excess of $150 million annually.

Intertrust corporate trust chief executive Andrew Cannane commented: "Global investors are looking for service providers who have the commitment and capacity to partner with them in all major fund jurisdictions around the world."

"Obtaining our AFSL allows us to now provide a complete end-to-end solution for alternative funds investing in Australia, covering custodian, custody, fund administration and corporate services."

Intertrust expects a mix of new and existing customers to drive local growth.

"We expect significant investment in Australian real assets from both domestic and international fund managers, institutional investors and superannuation funds in the coming years," Mr Cannane said.

"Foreign investors will increasingly look to global, independent, conflict-free, technology-enabled and reliable service providers to achieve economies of scale, allowing them to focus on areas where they have a source of competitive advantage."

Intertrust managing director of market offices Daniel Jaffe added that expanding the group's operations in Australia and New Zealand was a key priority.

“We see huge potential for growth in the alternative funds segment in Asia Pacific and remain [well placed] to support this growth while continuing to invest in the region at a time when many other businesses are holding back on expansion,” said Mr Jaffe.

Intertrust already provides custody services in Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Ireland, USA, Jersey and the Cayman Islands. The company has 3,800 employees worldwide.

Sarah Simpkins

Sarah Simpkins is a journalist at Momentum Media, reporting mainly on banking, financial services and wealth.

Prior to joining the team in 2018, Sarah worked in commercial media and produced stories for a current affairs program on public radio.

You can contact her at [email protected].