Custody consultant Thomas Murray, which in 2007 opened an Australian office amid a blaze of publicity following its conduct of the Future Fund’s backoffice tender, has seen both of its local staff recently depart.

Karen Bignell, the consultant’s first staffer on the ground in Australia, is in the process of transferring to JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services, where she will be a member of the Melbourne client service team reporting to national head of sales and relationship management, Bryan Gray.

Meanwhile Terry McCaughey, an HSBC custody veteran prior to joining Thomas Murray, left on December 31 after the end of “what was only ever a short term contract to support Karen”, according to global chief executive of the consultancy, Simon Thomas.

He said Thomas Murray would continue to operate in Australia, where clients of its custodian monitoring service include Cbus, CARE Super, LUCRF and MTAA Super.

“Peter Katz, who has worked with Thomas Murray over several years, has already taken over all existing TM client relationships in Australia and New Zealand,” Thomas said.

“Thomas Murray is currently reviewing the market for another salesperson – we don’t want to be rushed into making the wrong hire “.