The fund administration industry in
Canada first experienced substantial
growth in the 1990s in lock-step with
the growth of the largely U.S.-driven
hedge fund industry. At that time,
this level of growth, combined with
increasing complexity of fund vehicles
and investment strategies, as well as
certain U.S. tax rules impacting offshore
funds, resulted in many offshore centres
being constrained from an infrastructure
and resource perspective. These
factors were critical in driving fund
administrators to look to alternative
locations for their operations around
the world. Toronto thus emerged as
a key centre, with a number of global
administrators establishing operations to
take advantage of some key attributes: