IQ-EQ, the Luxembourg-based administrator, has acquired Blue River Partners, a U.S. provider of fund services to alternative asset managers. The newly combined IQ-EQ U.S. operation will total 200 people in the U.S. as a result of this transaction. Founded in 2009, Blue River services more than 400 clients across the U.S. and employs approximately 180…

Swiss Life Asset Managers Luxembourg has mandated Société Générale Securities Services to take over its local representative agent (LRA) and local transfer agent (LTA) activities in France. This new mandate strengthens the partnership between the Swiss Life Group and SGSS. The LRA/LTA activity for Luxembourg funds distributed in France was previously carried out by Swiss…

19 December 2019: This is no time to beat around the bush. RBC’s investor services business has had a horrible 2019. Much as I admire the management team, it has not distinguished itself over the last twelve months. It ended its fiscal year with a kitchen-sink charge that will cover repositioning (primarily the exit from…

9 October 2019: Nothing sums up the transformation that Charlie Scharf started at BNY Mellon better than a scathing indictment of the bank’s previous digital strategy from Roman Regelman, hired by Scharf in 2018 to spearhead the digital drive. Regelman said in September: “I’ve seen banks that tout what I call the Silicon Valley model.…

18FEB20: Northern Trust has been appointed by the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund to provide its Integrated Trading Solutions package, including outsourced trading and middle office functionality, for a domestic equity portfolio managed internally by IMRF, the state’s second-largest public retirement plan. Northern Trust and IMRF have a more than 30-year relationship. Northern Trust provides global…

HSBC Securities Services has enhanced its global middle office infrastructure and services to support asset manager middle office mandates, especially in Asia where it reports significant growth. The improvements cover trade management and settlement control services, as well as introducing a significantly enhanced investment book of record (IBOR) reporting capability. This is driven by a…

Proxymity, Citi’s end-to-end proxy voting platform that directly connects the issuer and investor, has been rolled out in Australia. In collaboration with Computershare, Proxymity was deployed for 561 Australian shareholder meetings with votes covering AUSD86bn (USD58bn) of shares. The platform recorded vote transmission times of as low as 27.5 seconds for European investors that voted…