Conifer Securities, a US provider of back office services to hedge funds, has hired the former head of prime brokerage at UBS in the Americas who left last year after the bank's inroads into US hedge funds were overtaken by its progress elsewhere.

Dick Del Bello joins as a senior partner and will work closely with Jack McDonald, Conifer's chief executive, to boost business development and guide strategic initiatives. The move comes as regulators have called on hedge funds to use independent administrators to value their portfolios.