Since the emergence of “Modern Portfolio Theory” and the “Capital Asset Pricing Model” in the late 1960s, institutional investors have taken a quantitatively driven approach to portfolio construction, looking to create portfolio diversification and obtain better risk-adjusted returns by balancing their asset-class exposures. This journey has seen several important advancements in thinking about how to optimally achieve desired results.
Funds that want to take the total portfolio approach first need to get the total portfolio view. To do that they not only need data – and lots of it – but a rock-solid understanding of exactly how they’re going to use it.
Equip taps Northern Trust for custody
Equip Super has appointed Northern Trust to provide it with global custody, fund administration and portfolio analytics services, bringing its more than 30-year relationship with NAB Asset Servicing (NAS) to a close as the custodian winds down its operations.
Equip Super, which picked up Catholic Super in 2022 and “continues to look for new growth opportunities”, was after a partner that could enable it to “scale effectively while providing its members with a consistent service experience”.
“We chose Northern Trust as our new custodian based on their global services and product offering and competitive fees. They proved to be the best match to enable us to meet our Fund’s strategic objectives and provide the best financial interest to our members,” said Equip Super CFO Marc Pizzichetta.
Equip is the latest NAS client to find a home, with BNP Paribas taking the crown jewel with MLC (and the amalgamated Insignia Financial) and State Street picking up a number of other its other clients.
It’s a nice win for Northern Trust, which was recently in contention for Perpetual, currently held by State Street. That process began with Perpetual’s acquisition of Pendal but has been put on hold as it proceeds with the sale of its corporate trust and wealth units to KKR and the rebrand of its asset management business.
“The decision by Equip Super to select Northern Trust underlines our commitment to Australia and is a testament to the breadth of our experience and expertise in providing asset servicing to Australian superannuation funds,” said Leon Stavrou, Northern Trust country executive for Australia and New Zealand. “We understand the unique needs of this industry and look forward to building our relationship with Equip Super as they continue to grow.”
And while it seems that the feeding frenzy that began when NAS announced its exit from the market might be slowing, and plenty of transition activity has already taken place over the last 12 months, there’s still more to come. At NAS, another round of redundancies is expected to take place in December, though staff are largely able to take voluntary redundancies now.
