DST International (DSTi) has signed up the $543 million Catholic Church Insurance to its HiPortfolio/3 system and is receiving increased interest in the investment administration solution from boutique fund managers.
Ian Mathieson, DSTi Australia and New Zealand chief executive officer, said the company was getting more inquiries from boutiques. “Direct dialogue with the boutiques…we’ve had quite a lot of those,” he said. As a result of those discussions some boutiques look to third party administrators, instead of becoming direct users of HiPort/3, but Mathieson said a number of boutiques were still interested in coming on board directly. While most of DST International’s major clients have transitioned to HiPort/3 the company continues to stand by its original commitment that it wasn’t going to force anyone’s hand to change modules. DSTi also recently upgraded its HiPort investment management administration portfolio for client Goldman Sachs JBWere to facilitate the administration of managed account operations. Mathieson said DSTi would consider similar upgrades for other existing clients if they requested it. “The product design is very flexible. It’s able to cater for different people’s operations,” he said.
The role of IFM Investors in arranging a visit by a delegation of Australian super funds to the US last month gives a pointer to the scale of the longer-term ambitions of the global super-fund-owned asset manager, and a recent investment in the manager by the UK pension fund NEST is designed to give it even greater clout. IFM chair Cath Bowtell tells Investment Magazine the manager aims to be a partner to governments around the world as they seek capital to build critical infrastructure.
Glenda KorporaalMarch 21, 2025
