Improving Corporate Governance

At ICOS we focus on improving corporate governance at all levels in the alternative investments industry. Like our colleagues in the public investment space, our industry requires more transparency, better collaboration between boards and investors and a radical new approach to risk management.    

Getting Board active!

Whether we sit on the board of a fund or act as a Risk Intermediary, our solutions ensure that the board of a fund becomes “active”. We ensure that a communication channel exists between investors and fund directors, and that relevant summarized key documents are made available in a timely manner to all current shareholders.

Independent Seasoned Professionals

All our directors are seasoned professionals which are independently contracted directly to the fund. ICOS is not a director's firm in any way, but rather an overseer to the corporate governance solution. Our directors have all worked “hands on” in the alternative investment industry for no less than 10 years in different operational and legal aspects. They have no conflicting link to any other service provider in the industry. We enforce our own code of conduct and evaluate our directors on a yearly basis and issue them with an ICOS ABM Certification. 

Risk Controlled

Our clients mandate us on a yearly basis to prepare an operational risk audit report which is reviewed at the board level and shared with all current investors. To avoid conflicts we ensure to engage our services with independent directors sitting on the fund’s board, so that we can retain an un-biased opinion in our assessments. 

ICOS Code of Conduct

• Act honestly, and with integrity at all times.
• Limit all engagements to no more than 15 clients.
• Ensure that the fund is run according to its mandate and risk parameters at all times.
• Resolve all problems and  conflicts of interest in order to protect the ultimate interest of the fund investor.
• Adhere to only an excellent operational infrastructure, and ensure that an operational due diligence review on the fund and its service providers is carried out annually for the benefit of the board and the fund’s investors.
• Ensure constant contact and disclosure with fund investors, preserving information which might be reasonably regarded as confidential information.

Funds willing to appoint ICOS Directors should follow these principles:

ICOS ABM Certification

We are the first in the industry to audit and certify all of the directors who follow our approach. We scrutinise their approach, analyse their current appointments, make suggestions for improvements and provide them with an annual certificate which is made available on our secure intranet for verification by third parties.