Polar 993 is thrilled to have completed its GS 007 Audit which was performed by Ernst & Young. This reporting framework, developed by the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB), has tested and measured the controls and processes of Polar 993 requiring it to meet the highest investment management, fund administration and registry standards.

The audit forms part of Polar 993’s ethos to ensure that our processes and procedures are at a “gold standard” level. It further demonstrates our commitment to continuous improvement, financial reporting accuracy and ethical standards. We have built and maintain a robust trustworthy experience for clients.

Our platform also has undergone a cybersecurity audit, to ensure it meets all the Essential 8’s requirements of strict cybersecurity controls that protect clients’ sensitive financial data. Essential 8 is a set of cybersecurity strategies designed by the Australian Signals Directorate to help organisations focus on eight impactful mitigation strategies to reduce cyberattack risks.

“Digitisation allows us to grow and manage our business ensuring that we deliver efficiencies for clients, their funds and their investors,” says Polar 993 founder, Adam Lindell.

“We selected Salesforce to provide our underlying technology platform after completing a comprehensive review of local and global technological solutions. We chose Salesforce as our core platform and to leverage the strength and rigour of a global institutional technology platform rather building our own,” he says.

Salesforce’s offering has been augmented with a number of leading industry applications, such as a registry and fund accounting systems, fully integrating the platforms to build a superior fund administration and compliance system for our client’s benefit.

“Integrating the best parts of those systems with the Salesforce platform, rather than building our own bespoke application from scratch, allows us to keep up with technology as it changes. It means clients can access our fully-digitised processes with the highest level of security, putting incredible rigour around our business,” says Adam.

“Importantly, our technology investment hasn’t required Polar 993 to have high IT headcount to support a proprietary software system. Rather, our approach mitigates business risk and allows us to have a high-touch service, delivered by our specialised team, who are focused on applying their acumen to servicing our clients rather than maintain and operating a proprietary software system,” says Adam.

The GS007 certification process, is the culmination of a multi-year build out and forensic granular review, documenting Polar 993’s processes, distilling them down to 91 modules that cover every aspect of the business. Technology was then applied to these modules to streamline the systems that underpin the business.

For example, the onboarding process, which includes more than 100 items, runs on a codified workflow that gives clients and their legal counsel full transparent oversight across every document and every stage and is managed via a secure client portal. It’s also easy to see the status of tasks, including assigned responsibilities. The outcome for clients is a transparent, intuitive, user-friendly experience, with everything housed in a portal that can be accessed 24/7.

“Benefits are felt at every level. Our clients have a direct line of sight across their funds and robust evidence they are fully compliant, with the ability to quickly and easily produce reports they can send directly to their boards or investors,” says Adam.

“We have consulted with our clients throughout this project, working closely with client beta testing groups to ensure everything aligns with their needs. The feedback is clients just love it,” he adds.

Looking ahead, Polar 993 is committed to continuing to delivering the market leading client experience by continually improving our secure, cloud-based portal. Our major 2025 technology project will be to augment what we are already doing with AI, allowing us to make our business and yours even more efficient.