JPMorgan
Despite another strong showing from State Street, JPMorgan continues to hold on to top spot in investor services. It has won this award, previously known as global custody, four times in five years.
Capping another good year for the investor services division, JPMorgan recently landed a big outsourcing deal from Barclays Global Investors, which is also recognized in this year?s awards as the leading investment manager.
Ramy Bourgi, JPMorgan?s business executive for investor services in Europe, Middle East and Africa, says being picked as best provider by BGI was particularly satisfying. ?They grew by almost $100 billion last year and clients like that don?t grow on trees,? he says.
JPMorgan is marked out as the clear leader of its peers in the industry?s leading poll of fund managers, insurance and pensions markets, as conducted by Euromoney?s sister publication, Global Investor. When the leading institutional investor clients votes are given greatest weight, JPMorgan comes distinctly ahead of State Street, Bank of New York and Citigroup.
It will be of some concern that its performance in the US is outstripped by State Street but even in the US it pulled off a significant business win by landing a deal with Prudential Financial for custody of $140 billion of assets.
As well as the BGI deal, JPMorgan landed new business from Morley, ISIS and Royal London in the UK, AXA Investment Managers in Germany and Shell Australia. It continues to generate 75% of new mandate assets from its existing clients.
Bourgi says the one supports the other. ?Our clients are the best sales force,? he says. ?Your clients want to see you grow too and they are happy when they see new clients come on board because it ratifies their decisions.?
Above all, he attributes continuing success to paying attention to clients. ?We have a client advisory board and that is very helpful,? he says. ?It is basic: listen to your clients and implement.?
The trend of fund managers outsourcing their operations continues and that places demands on the investor services providers. ?Whenever I speak to a CEO, they want to know how we can make their business more efficient,? says Bourgi. ?That is a constant challenge for us and it means your relationship managers have to be good quality.?
Looking ahead, JPMorgan hopes for further growth this year. Bourgi says there are particular plans for France and Germany. ?Those two markets occupy my mind,? he says. ?We want to be much bigger there.?
