Awards for Excellence in Institutional Client Service Europe 2010

Congratulations to Europe’s best providers of client services in asset management and custody. Click on a category to see the shortlist.

Best brand development

BNP Paribas Securities Services – The French custodian branched out from its home market and took its first UK pension scheme mandate this year after an intensive sales trail. It was also instrumental in bringing together some large UK deals - Aberdeen and the long only asset management arm of Credit Suisse along with merging Henderson and New Star in record time.
Brevan Howard – This hedge fund manager, whose usual target investor has been high net worth clients, was praised for the open way it approached pension schemes as new direct investors.
Cardano – Since its launch in summer 2007, Cardano has impressed trustees with its innovative solvency and risk solutions, taking mandates, previously held by well known consulting firms, for large schemes such as Asda and E.ON.
Hermes – Once just in charge of running money for the UK’s largest corporate scheme, Hermes has branched out to acquire boutiques in all sectors in the past couple of years. It has also pioneered the monitoring of sustainable investment monitoring and won mandates all over Europe including one from the BAE Systems pension scheme earlier this year.
Neptune Investment Management – The boutique asset management firm bagged its first public sector pension scheme in 2009 and a local authority trustee said it was impressive how the company had built up its public sector team to push for more business.

Best product development

Aviva Investors – Trustees were impressed with the innovation behind the Sustainable Future Pan European Absolute Return launched by Aviva Investors. It follows the asset manager’s push towards responsible investing, favoured by many local authority pension schemes, and is targeted to return Euribor +10 with lower than market-rate volatility.
F&C Investments – F&C found favour with trustees of smaller funds through their suite of LDI offerings that combined bond investment to take care of liabilities and equity exposure to enhance returns for pension schemes. Typically these solutions have only been available to funds large enough to afford segregated mandates – F&C’s suite is aimed at the pooled fund mandate.
Impax Asset Management – With less than a decade-long track record, Impax has become one of the forerunners in the environmental funds market. Trustees liked the company’s expanding fund range, which includes an Asian markets product, launched last year.
Insight Investment – Trustees liked Insight’s synthetic equities LDI product for its liability matching qualities but also that it gave them a chance to benefit from equity upside – a definite plus in 2009. The product accessed equity returns by using synthetics whilst effectively managing risk at an uncertain time.
Mercer Investment Consulting – One of the largest investment consultants in the world, Mercer launched its dynamic de-risking service last year and won clients including the Celestica (UK) pension plan. The service is an extension of Mercer’s implemented consulting business, which itself has grown to manage assets of £3bn across Europe.

Business development team of the year

Investec Asset Management – The South African asset manager has gone from strength to strength this year – some 95% of its funds outperformed their peers in 2009 and investor flooded in to push assets under management to record levels of £41bn at the end of the year. The company entered the FTSE 100 for the first time in March.
M&G Investments – The Prudential offshoot benefitted from the strong performance in bond markets last year – it saw net inflows of over £10bn from institutional investors and even higher numbers from the retail sector.
Manifest - Manifest rode the wave of investor support for better corporate governance within the companies they owned this year. The company won a significant mandate to work with four of the Swedish state pension schemes in December to add to its growing number of UK pension clients.
PIRC – The corporate governance monitor has lead the way in several high profile campaigns this year, winning support and mandates, especially from the UK local government pension community, for its work raising awareness of issues to be raised at AGMs.
Schroders Investment Management – The blue-blooded asset management firm hit the sales trail this year and a strengthened team brought in £15bn in new money over 2009 after seeing £9.6bn run for the door a year earlier. Institutional funds under management ended the year 29% up on 2008 at £76.7 billion.

Marketer of the year

Craig Brown, Legal & General Investment Management – Craig joined LGIM from HSBC Investments to become head of business development in 2006. He started out at Mercer Investment Consulting and also remains head of consultant relations for LGIM. Since Craig began at the firm it has developed its offering from mainly index-tracking funds and developed complex products for pension schemes.
Paul Craven, Goldman Sachs Asset Management – Paul is head of the UK and Irish Institutional Business. He joined the company in 2007. Prior to joining the firm, Paul worked at PIMCO Europe after spending seventeen years at Schroders as a portfolio manager and latterly as head of UK Institutional Sales.
Kerry Duffain, BlueCrest Capital Management – Kerry is head of BlueCrest Capital Management's UK institutional business and in charge of consultant relations. She joined BlueCrest in July 2008 from Pioneer Global Investments and has lead the push for BlueCrest becoming one of the few hedge fund managers to make a successful transition to the pension scheme market.
Steve Lee, Pioneer Investments - Steve Lee leads Pioneer Investments’ UK business development unit. Steve has worked in the industry for 23 years and joined Pioneer Investments in July 2007 from Barclays Global Investors where he spent 15 years and made it to head the local government client team.
Bernard Abrahamsen, M&G Investments - Bernard is head of institutional sales and distribution and has a focus on UK and European bond mandates. He joined M&G in 2002 from Schroders Investment Management where he was a director, having also worked for Rothschild Asset Management and Hoare Govett.

Best client administration

BlackRock – As one of the largest asset management companies, BlackRock’s clients are numerous, but each year it is singled out for recognition in after sales service it offers. This year the integration with new purchase Barclays Global Investors does not seem to have upset this trend.
Insight Investment – Insight clients would have been forgiven for harbouring concerns amid the upheaval of changing owners and subsequent splitting of funds with ex-partner SWIP, but pension schemes applauded the continued good administration provided by the company.
JP Morgan Asset Management – The asset management arm of one of most successful banks over the past year was a winner with its clients. Economies of scale allowing access to the systems of its investment banking parent may have helped the company stay ahead of any in the pack that may have had to trim its systems budget to stay afloat.
Record Currency Management – Boutique currency specialist Record, won several large pension mandates in 2008 and 2009, whilst investment returns faltered last year, their administration service continued to impress.
Rogge Global Partners - This boutique bond manager has a firm foothold in the public and corporate sector pension market in the UK. In recent years it has broadened its horizons and opened offices to target new clients in New York and Singapore. Its assets under management at the end of December had reached $36.9bn.

Best consultant relations

BlackRock – Since 2007, BlackRock’s consultant relations staff has increased 20%. John Gee-Grant, co-head of BlackRock’s global consultant relations group, told Financial News in January that the explosion of new products in recent years had meant the company were working far closer with consultants to access investor markets.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management - As part of one of the largest banking dynasties, it might be presumed that GSAM could rely on its name to get on to consultants’ buylists, but those who spoke to Financial News singled out this team as having done well to support relationships and provide good, timely information during turbulent times.
HSBC Global Asset Management - HSBC added to its consultant relations team last year and under the newly appointed head of Europe worked to improve communication between its regional offices with local and international consultants.
RCM - A spoke in the Allianz Global Investors wheel, RCM’s consultant relations team worked hard last year with the consultant community, which and helped bring in record numbers of institutional money to take assets under management to £141bn at the end of 2009.
Schroders Investment Management - Schroders’ bumper inflows last year, were assisted by the work of its consultant relations team. Richard Graham, head of UK & Ireland consultant relationships at Schroders, said it had become essential for consultant relations teams to make other parts of the business available to consultants too, given the fast pace of change within the fund management sector.

Best consultant relationship person

Corinne Crawford, M&G Investments - Corinne joined M&G as director for consultant relations is responsible for developing and maintaining the company’s standing within that community. Prior to M&G, Corinne began her financial services career at Fidelity Investments as an account manager for segregated institutional clients.
Chris Gower, HSBC Asset Management – Chris joined HSBC’s European consultant relations team in 2006 and now heads the unit within the global team. He joined HSBC from Lane, Clark & Peacock where he had qualified as an actuary after setting out in the financial sector at Aon Consulting.
Michael Lee, BlackRock – Michael joined BlackRock’s global consultant relations team in 2007. He deals with HR and benefit consultants in the UK along with the investment consultant community. Before joining BlackRock, Michael worked on SEI’s launch onto the DC market and began his career in financial services at Mercer Investment Consulting.
Zohra Nazar, Aberdeen Asset Management - Zohra is head of consultant relations for Europe at Aberdeen. She joined the company in 2005 from Hewitt Associates where she qualified as an actuary and worked as an investment consultant advising primarily defined benefit pension plans.
Dipak Patel, Wellington Management – As director of European consultant relations, Dipak leads Wellington’s London-based team. Prior to joining Wellington, Dipak held a similar position at UBS Asset Management after spending several years at Deutsche Asset Management.

Best RFP team

Aberdeen Asset Management - Gross inflows to Aberdeen’s funds in the last quarter of 2009 of £9.6bn was more than triple it won a year earlier, indicating the company’s RFP team had been busy.
Baring Asset Management - Barings has turned its focus towards emerging markets as many institutional investors have noted the potential benefits of geographical diversification – with this in mind its RFP team will have been suitably busy and helped bring in around £3.2bn in global net inflows.
Investec Asset Management – Last year’s winner in this category has won a lot of new institutional business in the last 12 months. Ninety-five percent of this South African asset manager’s funds outperformed their peers in 2009 and assets under management reached a record £41bn at the end of the year.
Lazard Asset Management – Lazard’s RFP team would have been instrumental in gathering the $10.3bn in net inflows the company received over the year to push its assets under management to $129.5bn by the end of 2009.
RCM - RCM’s RFP team were put to work this year, globally the company's assets grew by 60% over 2009 to reach £88bn at the end of December, of this increase around £1bn came from UK net inflows.

Best DC member support

BlackRock – Already a significant player in the DC market, BlackRock’s position was reinforced with its acquisition of BGI last year. It has direct investment commentaries available for members and has bolstered its in house support team by 20% over the past three years.
Fidelity International – One of the first players in the UK’s DC market, Fidelity International now looks after around 400 pension plans, each dealing with a dedicated account manager and member contact.
Legal and General Investment Management – A giant in the DC market, LGIM has over 795 corporate clients with over £12bn in assets. The fund material it distributes to members has been put together with those who know little about markets and investments in mind.
Schroders Investment Management – A relative newcomer to the DC market, Schroders has made strides in recent years and pumped resources into its relationships with end users.
Standard Life Investments – The Scots, insurance-backed giant led by chief executive Keith Skeoch has made it easier for the trustees of DC pension schemes to get access to the funds they want with its fundchoices investment platform, as well as providing member support through a variety of communication media.

Best trustee education

Aviva Investors – Aviva Investors has won plaudits for its trustee outreach programmes this year. It has offered classroom-based sessions and webinars on asset allocation strategies and the economic topics of the day.
BlackRock – BlackRock has a dedicated trustee masterclasses website to help guide pension executives through the maze of jargon, fund strategies and investment ideas. It also offers advice on regulatory changes and runs events for face-to-face education.
PIMCO – As one of the world’s largest bond managers, PIMCO has many pension scheme clients in the UK. Several of them applauded the US manager for its direct contact and education programmes.
Schroders Investment Management– Schroders runs regional roadshows and conferences throughout the year to educate trustees about new strategies, investment solutions and asset classes.
UBS Global Asset Management – Despite unrest elsewhere in the UBS empire, trustees have been impressed with how the asset management arm of the Swiss bank kept them up to date with market movements and products.

Best website

BlackRock – BlackRock’s dedicated areas for trustees and members were praised by investors as being clear and informative.
BNY Mellon – Consultants were impressed with BNY Mellon’s online reporting and use of web-based tools.
Insight Investment - the former Lloyds subsidiary moved under the umbrella of boutique collector BNY Mellon last year, whilst there were fears it may have been swallowed up or put in the shade by its new stable mates investors said it managed to retain and even reinforce its own identity.
Majedie Asset Management – Trustees commended the Majedie website for its clarity and ease of use.
Pictet – Investment in Pictet’s web-based tools did not falter during the financial crisis and as a result consultants considered the institution’s online service equalled if not exceeded some offered by larger firms.

Client service team of the year

BlackRock - As one of the largest asset management companies, BlackRock’s clients are numerous, but each year it is singled out for recognition for its after sales service. This year the integration with new purchase Barclays Global Investors does not seem to have upset this trend.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management - Despite seeing net outflows for the first time in six years, several pension scheme trustees highlighted the GSAM team for strong client service. One of the team took the rising star in client service at last year’s Financial News awards.
Insight Investment – Despite the upheaval of several changes of ownership in recent years, Insight was highlighted for praise by several pension scheme trustees.
MFS Investment Management - Each year trustees nominate Anne Healy and her team at MFS for this award. Despite the departure of some significant portfolio managers last year, service levels at the Boston-head quartered asset manager have remained constant, trustees said.
PIMCO - The world’s largest bond manager boasts many clients in the UK and Europe and after a successful year in the fixed income sector saw its assets under management breach the $1 trillion mark at the end of the year. The number of clients has not watered down its level of client service, however - several pension scheme trustees highlighted the Californian asset manager for a mention.

Rising star in client services

George Fowler, Mercer Investment Consulting - George heads up Mercer’s office in Bristol and advises several multi-billion dollar clients, some of which have been nominated for investment awards. George is a member of Mercer's Implemented Consulting Investment Committee which sets the investment policy for clients that delegate this decision to Mercer. He is also active in DC advisory.
Joanna Howrey, BlackRock - Joanna is a managing director within the firm’s multi-asset client solutions group, which is responsible for developing, assembling and managing investment solutions involving multiple strategies and asset classes. She joined Merrill Lynch in 1997 and remained through the transition to BlackRock.
Michelle Inskip, Insight Investment - Michelle is an associate director in Insight’s client and consultant relationship management team. She joined Insight in 2004 and worked on the client service and RFP teams, before joining the institutional business development team in 2007. Prior to joining Insight, Michelle spent two years at Lazard Asset Management as an assistant to their institutional business development and client service teams.
Britt Lintner, GLG Partners – Britt moved to GLG as a principal in the asset allocation group in 2005 after honing her craft over 15 years in Lehman Brothers in the bank’s institutional European equity sales trading division. She began her financial career in the securities lending department at Mitsubishi Trust & Banking in the Securities Lending Department as an assistant trader.
Monique Stephens, Invesco Perpetual – Monique moved to Invesco Perpetual two years ago as UK institutional sales manager. She started her career in the City at UBS then moved spent time with Schroders and Fidelity International working with DB and DC clients.

Client service professional of the year

Keith Burdon, Martin Currie – Keith began his financial services career with Barings in investment banking before managing UK equities for 15 years. He joined Martin Currie in 2007 to look after the firm’s growing institutional client base.
Joanna Fidling, Insight Investment - Joanna joined Insight in September 2008 as director of local authorities. She came to the firm from UBS Global Asset Management, where she had been head of institutional business development and specialised in local government pension schemes. Prior to joining UBS, Joanna spent 12 years with Merrill Lynch.
Elaine Gordon, Artemis - Elaine’s name popped up several times from the investor community. She joined Artemis in 2005 to help support the firm’s push into the institutional market. She has over 15 years experience in the field, including heading specialist departments at Gartmore.
Natalie Morrison, Investec Asset Management – Natalie joined Investec as head of client relations four years ago after spending twenty years in similar roles at Western Asset Management, Citigroup Asset Management, Henderson Global Investors and UBS Global Asset Management.
Sharon Niebergall, Legal & General Investment Management -Sharon joined Legal & General straight from university, focussing on tax issues before moving to the insurer’s investment management arm in 1996. At LGIM she took on defined benefit and defined contribution clients. She now manages a team of six client support managers and their teams.

Best reporting (custodian and asset managers)

Aviva Investors – In addition to regular reporting of its portfolios and investment performance, Aviva has gained a reputation in corporate governance circles for its openness in disclosing the way it voted at company general meetings, publishing summaries every three months and resolution-by-resolution details every year.
BNY Mellon – The world’s largest custodian continued to pour money into its IT and systems budgets over the financial crisis, which seems to have paid off, as the investment community applauded its capability in reporting to clients.
Northern Trust – Northern Trust was commended for its clear, uncomplicated and adequately frequent reporting to consultants and investors.
Standard Life Investments – Standard Life was mentioned by consultants and investors alike for its succinct client reports, whether delivering good or bad news.
State Street – This US giant custodian impressed consultants with its innovative online reporting function.

Best pensions custodian

BNY Mellon – The world’s largest custodian continued to win new business this year, despite niggling issues around the two companies’ integration remaining. Investors responding to the annual R&M Survey, which ranks the service provided by custodians, said BNY Mellon was one of the performing in the sector over the financial crisis.
Citigroup – Despite speculation the distressed bank was going to have to sell its custody and asset servicing arm last year, Citi pulled through the financial crisis and won praise from its pension clients for ongoing impressive service. The annual R&M Survey, in which clients rank the services of their custodian, Citi received overall positive comments and some of the most improved scores.
JP Morgan – JP Morgan’s custody arm rejuvenated its client service team this year and as a branch of one of the least harmed investment banks over the crisis, was cited as a safe harbour during the storm by investors.
Northern Trust – Northern Trust received plaudits this year, having developed cross-border and pooling solutions for its pension scheme clients. In the annual R&M Survey, in which clients rank the services of their custodian, it received scores marking the highest improvement compared to its peers.
State Street – The US bank is one of the giants in European custody. It faced questions about foreign exchange fees last year, but globally, and including asset managers as well as pension schemes, it saw 75% of its new business last year come from existing clients, a sign that it is doing something right.

Best consultant for non-investment services

Cardano – Since launching on the consulting scene in 2007, Cardano’s fiduciary management model has necessitated close cooperation with custodians to work out their investor clients’ solutions.
Hewitt Associates – Despite being relatively quiet on the middle and back office scene in recent months, Hewitt’s work with pension schemes on regulatory and cross-border solutions has involved much discussion and work with custodians.
Mercer Sentinel - The retirement of Chris Angell, a long-time Mercer stalwart has been handled well, according to industry sources. The team, now led by Sonja Spinner, has worked hard on demanding better service from custodians for their clients.
Thomas Murray – The UK firm with an extensive international network has been providing ratings, information and data on global custodians since 1994 and has worked hard on behalf of its clients to keep down fees.
Towers Watson – The merger of the two consultants did not fundamentally change the service it provided last year, according to investors. In fact the investment consulting service at Watson Wyatt was little affected, as Towers Perrin only brought an additional three staff to the team.

Best performance measurement provider

Amaces - This group, formed out of ex-city professionals, works with institutional investors to benchmark the performance of their custodians. Reports monitor and compare fees, fund accounting and operations.
Inalytics - Inalytics, launched by Rick DiMascio over 10 years ago measures performance across investment returns, portfolio transitioning and works with investors to bring better transparency to processes. It now has a presence in 11 countries.
Redington Partners - Redington Partners’ innovative benchmarking of LDI solutions was remarked upon by trustees. Using this service the consultant is able to build portfolios around clients’ specific needs.
The WM Company – For many years the investment industry has used the WM Company to measure pension scheme performance. The monitor ranks 220 pension schemes, including local authority funds and creates a separate list for the giant 50 funds in the UK.
Thomas Murray – Thomas Murray was cited by trustees as giving trustworthy insight along with hard data on the international custody sector.

Best pensions custodian for securities lending

eSecLending - eSecLending is a third-party independent securities lending agent that uses auctions to determine the best route to market - either via agency exclusives or traditional agency lending. The company offers beneficial owners an alternative to the custodial lending model.
JP Morgan – As confidence in securities lending returned, JP Morgan was one of the first lending agents to suggest investor began to build more risk into their reinvestment portfolio through segregated mandates.
State Street – State Street had well-publicised problems with the reinvestment of some of its clients’ cash collateral, but the custodian still earned positive comments from trustees and consultants for this service.
Northern Trust – Problems with some of Northern Trust’s pooled cash collateral funds after the collapse of Lehman Brothers were a concern at the start of the year, but trustees and consultants said the custodian’s efforts to sort these out were commendable.

Best pensions custodian for foreign exchange

JP Morgan – As confidence in securities lending returned, JP Morgan was one of the first lending agents to work with clients on ways to reinvest cash collateral to produce better returns, whilst retaining the security of a segregated mandate.
Northern Trust – Consultants said they found Northern Trust always willing to provide date-stamped data for them to accurately measure the value for money clients received.
Pictet – Consultants were impressed with Pictet’s operations in foreign exchange trading and the level of transparency the Swiss trust bank allowed its clients.