Wells Fargo Bank has launched a fund services product line within its corporate trust services business to address customers' fund administration needs.

Wells Fargo Fund Services provides fund administration services including a full suite of back, middle and front-office products and services to private equity firms, exchange-traded commodities, commodity funds, hedge funds, fund of funds and the structured finance marketplace.

Jorge Villalba, a 12-year industry veteran, recently joined Wells Fargo to lead the fund services group. Tom Gandolfo is head of sales.

The team is based in Columbia, Maryland; Houston, Texas; and New York City. Additional hiring is anticipated by year-end.

"We're pleased to offer our hedge fund customers another option for their specific financial services needs," says Brian Bartlett, head of Wells Fargo's corporate trust services. "Our deep experience administering fixed income and bank debt products combined with our investment in first-rate technology and talent has produced a unique and compelling suite of fund services that adds tremendous value to our customers."

Services include reconciling the fund with third parties such as prime brokers, processing portfolio transactions, calculation and reporting on net asset valuations, monthly financial statement preparation and distribution, and full investor services including maintaining the share register and investor registration details.

Wells Fargo Fund Services gathers data from numerous third-party sources, consolidates the data and presents it to the fund manager in a daily, weekly or monthly report based on their needs.