Last fall, after a particularly busy period on the pro-am hedge fund conference circuit, we noted that prime broker salespeople seemed to all be updating their business card to include the title “cap intro”.  Apparently, capital introduction (a.k.a. fund raising assistance) was seen as a great way to differentiate one’s self from the growing throngs of prime brokerages.

At around the same time, eFinancial News noted…

“By strengthening their capital introduction teams – once seen as a glorified dating service – prime brokers hope to secure potentially lucrative start-up funds as clients.

But a recent survey of hedge funds raises some questions about what really attracts and retains prime brokerage clients.  AllAboutAlpha.com media partner FINalternatives just released the results of its 2008 prime brokerage survey.  It concludes that the new focus on cap intro may not be generating a lot of fans:

“One in three hedge fund managers considers the capital introduction services they receive from their prime brokerages to be ‘poor’, the survey shows.  In fact, only one in four rate such services as ‘fair’ and just one in six say they are ‘good’.  A miniscule one in nine considers their prime broker’s capital introduction services as ‘excellent’.”

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