National Asset Servicing (NAS) is acutely aware that, despite its dominant position in domestic and master custody for Australian investors, it is the last locally owned bank competing in a field where global scale is becoming paramount. And so, NAS moved to consummate its long partnership with Bank of New York Mellon through the latter taking an equity stake. JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services, meanwhile, focussed on the local issue of shoring up its sub-custody offering, completing the migration of the ANZ Custodian Services business in November, a year after originally acquiring the second-last locally owned sub-custodian. The transfer added 20 per cent to its Australasian assets under custody and swelled its workforce by 150 people, with “close to 100 per cent” of ANZ Custodian Services staff coming across, according to the CEO of JPMorgan WSS’ Australasian business, Jane Perry.

The move was part of JPMorgan’s strategy to do more ‘direct custody’ – its term for domestic or sub-custody – in local markets around the world, starting with Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and India in this region. Nick Rudenstine, a custody and clearing executive at JPMorgan WSS, explained the strategy thus: “This is an important element of the firm’s plans and priorities for international growth. JPMorgan already offers global custody and clearing solutions in the countries in which we are looking to expand. We have extensive relationships with many of the clients with which we want to grow this business, particularly those with cross-border investment flows and those with domestic business in the target markets.

We believe we can also add new clients seeking local custody and clearing services and grow these relationships across the firm.” State Street, meanwhile, is looking for an increase in local relationships of the superannuation kind. A few years after announcing its intention to once again seek the custom of Australian superannuation funds – reasoning that they had become more sophisticated and funds managerlike in their demands. The US bank has forged a fruitful relationship with Non-Government Schools Super Scheme, and late last year enjoyed the big breakthrough it craved, wresting away REST Super from its long-term partnership with JPMorgan WSS. The chief operating officer of State Street Australia, Paul Khoury, had been foreshadowing the REST deal to would-be recruits to the ‘superannuation unit’ that State Street is building to strengthen its proposition in the market.

The former operations manager at legalsuper, Anthony Mian, is one of the notable recruits to the unit so far. The investment operations chief at the time State Street signed with NGS Super, Jo Townsend, is now in the same role at REST Superannuation. State Street’s gargantuan effort to win the business was spearheaded by veteran business development manager, Chris Field. The global aspirations of Australian-based funds managers are a focus for RBC Dexia Investor Services, which has picked up several clients here for its Dublin based administration service for UCITS, the European funds passport which has also gained popularity among investors closer to home in markets such as Hong Kong.