Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) will provide trustee services for hedge funds in South Africa, according to Duncan Smith, Senior Business Development Manager for Emerging Markets.

“We are expanding our trustee services to include a solution around the hedge funds space, which is quite important for us,” said Smith.

The South African hedge fund industry has been largely unregulated until recently.

The regulations, which will be implemented from April 1, 2016, will require all new hedge funds to register in terms of the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, while existing hedge funds will have 12 months to register.

The regulations create two broad categories of hedge funds, each with different levels of regulation: qualified investor hedge funds and retail hedge funds.

“We will be offering a trustee service and will of course coordinate with our colleagues in Luxembourg and Dublin and other jurisdictions around the hedge funds environment to provide a world class service to the South African market,” Smith told Africa Global Funds.

Smith said that in South Africa, SGSS currently provides depository/trustee services for the long-only funds.

“We’ve been involved quite intensively not only in the long-only space, but also on the hedge funds side in terms of shaping the regulations and legislation, working with the regulators in the market,” he added.