Citi

Historically, the unglamorous asset servicing businesses of the big international banks have largely stood in the shadows. But their reliable cashflows and deep institutional relationships mean that’s all starting to change.

Just two years after selecting State Street as its custodian, Perpetual is deciding whether to take its business elsewhere in the wake of its acquisition of global fund manager Pendal.

Citi Securities Services has won the custody mandate for Mason Stevens as it looks to expand its platform offerings and its previous custodian, NAB Asset Servicing, winds down its operations.

As super funds swell to gargantuan size and downward fee pressure intensifies the heat will be on all funds to rein in significantly outsourced investment models.

Consolidation among superannuation clients is changing the nature of Citi’s business with them, and increased appetite for nation-building in Australia means plenty of opportunities in private markets.

Custody competition in Australia is heating up as super funds disappear in a flurry of merger activity. But with the RBC transaction catapulting it up the ACSA tables, Citi says it’s ready to take on all comers.

Martin Carpenter’s “fantastic career” as Citi’s local head of securities services will draw to a close later this year. He’s got no set destination in mind, but there’s still plenty of travel on the cards.

On the first weekend of December, Citi Securities Services went live on the last of 26 former RBC Treasury & Investor Services clients, putting an exclamation point behind one of the biggest and most complex of backoffice transitions. The RBC clients, predominantly fund managers and wealth platforms, are adding about $100 billion in assets under…

Family office portfolios could see massive underperformance ahead with most well-overweight cash, according to the latest Citi Private Bank global survey of the sector. David Bailin, Citi Global Wealth chief investment officer, said about a third of family offices in the survey reported cash holdings of 20 per cent or more while a further third…

Yarra Capital last week completed its acquisition of Nikko Asset Management’s Australian business, taking its assets under management to about $20 billion. Now the hard work begins. Branding has been decided, with Yarra Capital to remain the overall brand, Nikko’s fixed income business to be subsumed into Yarra’s and the old Tyndall Asset Management brand…