- Before
- “I can tell you a fund is at 77.4%. Proving why, to an examiner, takes me a week.”
- Now
- Starts the day with what the crew tested overnight, asks it why a meter moved, decides the calls it cannot make, and approves each test with its evidence attached.
Names Rule compliance for one fund, on Day 12 of 90
Quillfield Sustainable Emerging Markets Bond Fund — Class I QSEIX, $1,486.2M in net assets, 214 positions in 96 issuers across 31 countries, on the amended rule since its 485(b) of July 29, 2026. At quarter end “Sustainable” stood at 81.9%. Three vendor changes later it is 77.4%. It is Monday, October 19, 2026, and the Q3 review is due Friday, October 30. Here is how the compliance analyst, the portfolio manager and the Fund CCO work it with the agents, screen by screen.
- 01Monday morning
The crew tested overnight; six things need her
Rachel Adeyemi · Compliance analystRachel's day opens on four plain numbers: 326 name terms tested at 6:00 a.m., 3 below 80% with a cure clock each, 11 needing a person's decision and 5 sign-offs waiting for the CCO. Under “Needs you”, six items, one step each: decide a red flag where the sources disagree, the cure plan with the portfolio manager, two computations that differ on the Global Water Fund, 7 holdings without ESG data, 18 tests to approve and a delayed vendor feed the tests are working around. Beside it runs the crew's overnight thread, each agent saying what it did and what it needs.
Holdings Tester, 6:02 a.m.: “Tested 326 name terms across 318 funds and share classes on 68,214 holdings. 3 are below 80%, 9 are on watch between 80% and 82%.”
- 02The Name check
The fund's name, word by word, each with its meter
Rachel Adeyemi · Compliance analystThe name is split into its terms: Quillfield, Sustainable, Emerging Markets, Bond. Under each sits its type, its prospectus definition with the cited page and a meter against the 80% line and the firm's 82% buffer. “Sustainable” — green, social or sustainability bonds aligned with the ICMA principles, or issuers rated Leader or Advanced with no red-flag controversy — reads 77.4%: 168 of 214 positions, $1,150.3M of $1,486.2M. Emerging Markets is at 91.3% and Bond at 96.8%. The Check agent recomputed all three on a separate snapshot with a different method, and agrees.
“Quillfield” is marked Brand — no 80% policy needed.
- 03She asks
Why it dropped, and which trades fix it
Holdings Tester and Cure PlannerRachel asks the crew in plain words. The Holdings Tester answers with the three vendor changes, each cited: Andina Power Transmission from Advanced to Average on Oct 8 (−2.1), a red flag on Bosphorus Cement on Oct 14 (−1.0), and a red flag on Nusantara Pulp & Paper on Oct 16 (−1.4). She asks which trades fix it, and the Cure Planner answers from the plan it has already drafted.
Cure Planner: “Six trades restore 82.1%; T1–T4 alone restore 80.6% and keep the cash for the Oct 23 redemption. Ana decides each trade; compliance releases the orders.”
- 047:05 a.m.
The issuer's own report, in its own language
Issuer Evidence agentFor each downgrade the agent read the issuer's own report and set the original beside the English with the page: Andina's Spanish Memoria Anual, p. 87, and Bosphorus's Turkish disclosure both support the vendor. Nusantara does not settle. Vendor A flags deforestation after an NGO report of Sep 30; vendor B has no flag; the Indonesian sustainability report, p. 33, says the company's own concessions were certified at the end of 2025; a third-party report maps 3,100 hectares cleared inside a supplier's concession in 2026. The agent is 62% sure — below its 85% line — so it asks.
“The sources disagree. … I cannot settle this from the documents.” Verdict: I need you to decide.
- 05A person decides
Treated as out, with a reason, for the CCO to sign
Rachel Adeyemi · Compliance analystRachel takes the conservative choice. She treats Nusantara as out until resolved, picks the reason code DATA-CONSERVATIVE and writes the note that goes on the record. The decision overrides one vendor, so it joins the Fund CCO's sign-off queue as a data override with the issuer's page and the NGO report attached.
“This overrides one source. The CCO signs it.”
- 06Plan due Day 15
Six cited trades; the portfolio manager decides each one
Ana Sofía Ruiz · Portfolio manager, EM debtThe departure was recorded on Oct 8, and at 7:12 a.m. the Cure Planner drafted six trades from Ana's approved buy list v14, each with its source, its effect on “Sustainable” and a pre-trade check — one point of the meter is $14.86M. Ana accepts four: Andina into a Hidroandina Verde green bond (+1.26), Nusantara into a Java Solar green sukuk (+0.90), a Lagos Water sustainability bond from cash (+0.50) and Bosphorus into an Anatolia Wind green bond (+0.54). She declines Mekong Rail for liquidity and the Pacífico social bond to keep cash. The meter moves from 77.4% to 80.6%, with every other limit inside its band.
Ana's reason on T6 (CASH): “A $41.0M redemption is expected Oct 23 from a model portfolio. I keep the cash.”
- 07Released
Compliance checks the decisions and releases seven orders
Rachel Adeyemi · Compliance analystAna sends her decisions to compliance; she cannot release them herself. Rachel opens Check and release: her decisions are matched to the plan — 4 accepted, 2 declined with reasons LIQ and CASH — each accepted trade passes the pre-trade names test with every term and limit within, seven orders are staged in the order management system, and the departure record and cure plan go to the CCO.
“Traders execute; nothing sent without this release.”
- 08The EU sibling
The same strategy under the ESMA guidelines
Claire Dubois · Head of Product Compliance (EU)The UCITS sibling, Quillfield Funds SICAV – Sustainable Emerging Markets Bond Fund (€612.4M, 6 share classes), passes the 80% test for environmental or social characteristics at 83.0% and holds 46.2% sustainable investments against an annex minimum of 40%. But “Sustainable” is a sustainability term, so Paris-aligned exclusions apply, and Andina Power Transmission — 54% thermal revenue, by its own report — fails the exclusion for electricity generation above 100 g CO2e/kWh. Claire records a passive breach; policy says correct within 30 business days. The French Durables and German Nachhaltige names make the same claim as the English.
EU Names agent, 6:20 a.m.: “ESMA test on 40 EU sub-funds: 1 Paris-aligned exclusion hit (Andina, Sustainable EM Bond sibling).”
- 09Due in 3 days
The CCO signs what he can see the evidence for
Thomas Brennan · Fund CCOThomas's queue holds every exception with its due date: the departure record and cure plan, a cure-plan update, a definition change for the Clean Energy Fund, a new Holdings Tester version, the Q3 certification and Rachel's data override. The departure record shows who prepared it, the evidence behind it — the departure record, the cure plan with the PM's reasons, the issuer evidence, the pre-trade check of released orders — and the outcome: projected 80.6%, other limits within. He signs, or returns it with a reason.
Prepared by Rachel Adeyemi · signs Thomas Brennan, Fund CCO (the maker cannot sign).
- 10Before October 30
The board report, every statement cited
Records & Filing agentThe Records & Filing agent drafts the Q3 report to the board: the program, results at September 30, the three departures and their cure plans, the EU range and local names, and the certification. It already says that the portfolio manager accepted 4 of six proposed trades and that the projected result is 80.6%. Form N-PORT names items for 83 US funds are ready from approved tests for the treasurer, and the evidence pack exports per fund and quarter.
“Sent to the board portal only after the CCO signs.”