The six services described in full
Each section below is a framed sheet taken down from the term wall and read out in order.
A
Asset Register Stewardship
The asset register is the spine of the room. For every entity in scope we keep a bound register that records each holding by instrument, custodian, account reference and statement date. The register is not a summary. It is a line by line record that can be reconciled to a custodian statement and defended in a board meeting. When a position changes, the change is entered with the supporting document reference and the date the evidence was received.
Stewardship means more than data entry. Each quarter we reconcile the register against the statements on file, marking every open line and chasing any position that cannot be matched. A line that cannot be reconciled is never closed by assumption. It stays open, with an owner and a target date, until the custodian confirms it or the board directs otherwise. This is slower than closing it quietly, and it is the reason clients trust the register.
We also maintain the register index: a short table that shows which register covers which entity, when it was last reconciled, and where the signed copy is stored. The index is the first document a director sees when asking a question about a holding.
T
Term Sheet Review
Term sheets govern the agreements that keep a holding structure whole, and they change less often than people assume. Our review begins with the last signed version and works forward. We read the current document against the archived version, note every change in renewal dates, notice windows, fee arrangements and governing clauses, and produce a review sheet that the board can read in one sitting.
We do not interpret legal effect. Where a clause appears ambiguous, we quote the clause in the review sheet, note the question it raises, and route it to the appropriate adviser. What we do insist on is completeness: every renewal date is captured, every notice window is calculated from the date on the document rather than the date of receipt, and every open question is carried forward to the next review.
The review sheet is filed against the register entry it governs, so that a reader moving from the asset register to the term wall finds the same reference in both places. That single habit removes most of the confusion that accumulates around a long lived holding structure.
C
Custodian Liaison
Custodians and fund administrators generate a steady flow of statements, confirmations and queries, and that flow can overwhelm an office that treats it as background. We act as the single correspondence line. Every inbound document is logged on the day it arrives, matched to a register entry, and either filed as reconciled or raised as an open query with a named contact at the custodian.
We keep a contact map for each custodian: the relationship manager, the operations desk, the escalation route and the usual response time. When a query stalls, the desk escalates on a documented path rather than by informal email. When a correction is issued, the correction and its source are attached to the register line so that the audit trail stays intact.
Clients see the query log at each review. Open items are listed first, with the date raised, the last response and the current owner. Nothing is described as resolved until the custodian confirms it in writing.
D
Dividend Timetable Administration
A dividend timetable is a small board with large consequences. Record dates, ex dates, payment dates and withholding steps all interact, and a single missed step can delay a distribution or create a correction cycle. We lay the timetable out on a board for the current quarter and check every date against the governing term sheet before any instruction is issued.
The board is the authority for the quarter. Each row carries the entity, the entitlement basis, the record date, the payment date and the supporting document reference. When a date moves, the movement is entered on the board with a note explaining the change and the source that required it. We do not maintain parallel timetables in email threads, because parallel timetables are how dates get missed.
We also prepare the reconciliation after payment: the amounts received against the register position, any shortfall explained, and any withholding documentation filed. The result is a clean record that a director can read without needing to reconstruct the quarter from correspondence.
B
Board Paper Preparation
A board pack should answer three questions before the meeting begins: what is the position, what has changed, and what decision is required. We assemble each pack around those three questions. The position comes from the reconciled register. The changes come from the term review and the custodian query log. The decisions are listed on a single page, each one with the source document attached and the deadline for the decision noted.
We keep the papers plain. One numbering scheme, one date format, one place for signatures. The register extract is attached as an appendix rather than summarised away, and the review sheet is attached in full, because a summary that hides the source is worse than no summary at all.
After the sitting, the signed resolutions are filed against the register entry they affect, and any action arising is added to the desk calendar with an owner and a date. The next pack opens with the status of those actions, so that nothing discussed in one sitting disappears before the next.
F
Compliance Filings
Statutory and regulatory filings are prepared from the register and the term wall, never from memory. For each filing we identify the requirement, collect the supporting records, prepare the document, review it at the desk and lodge it on schedule. The dated receipt is kept on file and referenced on the register index.
Where a filing depends on a position recorded elsewhere, we reconcile the two before submission. A filing that states a holding that the register does not support is a defect, and it is easier to find at the desk than at the regulator. Our review step exists to catch exactly that kind of mismatch.
We also maintain a filing calendar with the due date, the responsible person and the evidence of lodgement for each obligation. Clients can ask the desk for the calendar at any time and receive the same view the desk uses, rather than a prepared summary.