Global Custodian Spring 2020 | Page 16

[ U P D AT E ] JP Morgan shines spotlight on securities services at investor day JP Morgan has now moved up to number two in the global custody rankings with just under $27 trillion of assets under custody. J P Morgan showcased its securities services business at its annual investor day meeting, where the bank stressed its ambitious goals to close the gap between its two main rivals. During the presentation, Teresa Heitsenrether, global head of securities services for JP Morgan, highlighted how the business has become one the most consistently performing units of the US banking giant. After achieving $4.1 billion in securities services revenues last year, the business has now moved up to number two in the global custody rankings with just under $27 trillion of assets under custody, and is now setting its sights on growing the fund administration business. “In fund services, we have made significant progress in closing the gap to our top competitors, and are now a leading provider of accounting and administration across the full range of traditional and alternative fund types,” said Heitsenrether. Assets under administration (AuA) for JP Morgan has grown nearly 55% since 2015, and last year it reached the $500 billion mark for its alternatives fund services business. As well as processing the largest custody mandate ever – its $1 trillion mandate with BlackRock – Heitsenrether explained it did so while also processing several other 16 Global Custodian 30th anniversary 2019 multi-trillion fund services mandates. “We are currently onboarding additional multi-trillion of assets from existing custody clients who are entrusting us with outsourcing their fund administration for the first time,” she explained. Heitsenrether also laid out the blueprint to achieve further growth, with technology investment and leveraging the wider corporate and investment banking business as the two main pillars of its strategy. She explained by combining the two with a ‘data backbone’, providing a single channel of data across products, regions and asset classes, it can now offer an integrated front-to-back solution for its asset manager and asset owner clients across the full investment lifecycle. “We have adopted an open architecture approach and have developed direct integration with a number of client order management systems (OMS). We are the only provider to offer fully integrated two way workflows… updating clients in real- time and eliminating the need for costly reconciliations,” she said. “We are developing our next-gen strategic middle-office that will go live in the middle of next year – leveraging the technology that supports our own trading desk – and delivering scalable cross-asset solutions that address the challenges of legacy lift and drop models. “Moving up the value chain to investment process, exploring opportunities by providing our own data, risk and analytics capabilities as services to clients. We recognise the importance of also having the flexibility to choose from a number of best of breed providers, so we are partnering with third parties to give clients seamless access.” In addition to JP Morgan, its main rivals BNY Mellon and State Street, have also sought to expand with a front-to-back strategy, as revenue streams from traditional custody and administration services continue to be strained by asset management pressures. “Our industry is evolving, and the winners will be those that can deliver end to end solutions across the investment lifecycle,” Heitsenrether added.