Bain Capital CCO steps down

Alan Halfenger is leaving the buyout titan after 10 years of service to join a compliance consultancy. 

Having navigated Bain Capital through post-crisis rulemaking and other compliance challenges subjecting private equity firms to significant regulatory oversight, Alan Halfenger is leaving Bain after a 10-year stint to join ACA Compliance Group.

It is unclear who will succeed Halfenger. A spokesperson for Bain was not immediately available for comment.

ACA is a consultancy providing private fund advisers and others services in such areas as cybersecurity, risk, performance and technology.

In an interview with pfm, Halfenger said that he was keen to embark “on a new challenge” after spending the past decade developing and maintaining the global compliance program at one of the world’s largest private equity firms.

Halfenger said he wanted to apply what he learned at Bain to “both large and small firms alike” which face new challenges around anti-money laundering, personal trading activities and “pay to play” type reviews.

Last year, US Treasury issued proposals requiring GPs to adopt formal policies and procedures to combat money laundering. In 2012, private fund advisers were required to register with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which introduced a host of new requirements to which many GPs are still adapting.

The industry is “at a crossroads” at the moment, said Halfenger. “CCOs are under immense pressure to meet these new regulatory demands, but as non-revenue producers, they have limited budgets and are being asked to do more with less.”

Halfenger is a frequent speaker at events hosted by parent publisher PEI. Recently, Halfenger spoke at the Private Fund Compliance Forum, an annual gathering of private fund compliance officers, where he discussed the need for GPs to dedicate more resources to cybersecurity.