January 26, 2010

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisors who received retention packages from the brokerages’ merger are set to receive 30% to 75% of their production in cash today. So reports Dow Jones Newswires.
The retention package, in the form of a nine-year forgivable loan, was offered to about 6,500 brokers producing more than $500,000 annually in the wake of last year’s merger, says Dow Jones. Many advisors didn’t know just how much they would get until now. The retention payment is on a sliding scale, with advisors in the $500,000 to $749,999 range offered 30% of their production, those with $750,000 to $999,999 offered 50%, and those with $1 million or more offered 75%, reports Dow Jones.
There is also a deferred compensation component that will be paid in January 2012, which provides those producing $1.75 million and up another 30%. Other advisors are eligible to earn 25% to 30% of their annual production as a bonus if they increase production 25% by 2012, according to Dow Jones.
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney also announced a restructuring of the leadership of its ultra-high-net worth client wealth management arm, reports Dow Jones, citing an internal memorandum confirmed by the brokerage. Michael Armstrong now heads international private wealth management and handles the brokerage’s markets group, but is handing over responsibility for the U.S private wealth management arm to Andy Saperstein, who also is head of U.S. wealth management at the brokerage.
The private wealth management unit serves clients with a net worth of $20 million or more. Both Saperstein and Armstrong report to Charles Johnston, the brokerage’s president.

By Maureen Brody

January 22, 2010

President Obama announced a plan to rein in commercial banks yesterday that could impact how banks handle alternative investments. The plan prohibits banks from owning, investing in or sponsoring “hedge funds, private-equity funds or proprietary-trading operations for their own profit, unrelated to serving their customers,” reports Dow Jones Newswires.
It is unclear whether the new proposal could force J. P. Morgan to shed its One Equity Partners private-equity business, says the Wall Street Journal.
Goldman Sachs has about $145 billion in alternative assets under management as well as some big private equity funds, including GS Capital Partners VI with $20.3 billion and GS Mezzanine Partners V with $13 billion, reports Dow Jones.
Morgan Stanley has its own hedge fund business and owns stakes in several hedge fund managers, including Avenue Capital Group, says Dow Jones. This is on top of its real estate investments and small proprietary-trading desk.
Bank of America has affiliates in Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo has funds carrying the Norwest name, Citigroup owns Metalmark, and the list goes on.
What the proposal means just yet for banks is unclear. And Dow Jones reports that some see a silver lining in the storm cloud since the phrase at the end of the president’s statement – “unrelated to serving their customers” – could provide a loophole for private equity investing.
Dow Jones cites industry concerns over the breadth of the president’s plan, which as worded could prevent banks from financing any private equity firms – not just their own. Although banks accounted for just 10.3% of capital for private equity funds in 2008 – and likely less in 2009 – the prohibitions would further restrict an already tight credit market, according to Dow Jones.
Rep. Barney Frank , Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told CNBC that any banking curbs should be done over time. Moreover, lobbyists have already successfully gotten protections for venture capital and private equity funds in other legislative and regulatory proposals that have been floated by the administration, says Dow Jones.
Administration officials also said they were not trying to bring back Glass-Steagall restrictions from the Great Depression era. The Glass-Steagall Act had prohibited commercial banks from underwriting securities, but many of those restrictions were rolled back in recent years. Administration officials said existing financial firms wouldn’t be forced to downsize, reports the Journal.
Legislation allowing regulators to restrict the scope and scale of banks has already passed the House, but the new proposal appears to add to it. The Journal reports that Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, has co-sponsored a bill that would reinstate restrictions on banks that were repealed in the 1990s and that there might be some similarity between that bill and Obama’s ideas.

By Maureen Brody

By Paul O’Dowd     January 20, 2010

Neuberger Berman executives have shifted the money manager’s main priority from serious asset-raising measures to a more measured focus on client retention. The change in the firm’s approach went into effect last year following its transition to become an independent company after splitting off from the bankrupt and now-defunct Lehman Brothers.
Neuberger has also more gradually shifted how distribution managers interact with their subordinates, particularly since CEO George Walker took the helm about three and a half years ago. Instead of acting strictly as a manager, Walker has implemented more of a coach-player stance at the firm, meaning that managers are expected to work alongside their colleagues in handling client matters, when appropriate.

In an interview with FundFire, Walker says, “If we had held this discussion two years ago, I would have said [the main focus of the firm] was growth as well as world-class performance.” While adding new clients is still a priority – as well as hitting the mark on performance, of course – spending time with today’s existing client lineup is the new top priority.
“We don’t need to grow significantly to have success,” says Walker, who adds that the firm is working under different conditions following its split from Lehman. “We want to be a stable, client-centric organization. We are in the business to help clients meet their objectives.”
Firm officials say that when Neuberger was operating under the Lehman umbrella, it was forced to consider its parent’s orders of striving for growth, in large part because it was a public company and the bottom line was king. Now that the firm is independent, organic growth takes precedence.
Perhaps one reason for Neuberger’s change of heart was its client retention track record last year. According to the eVestment Alliance database, the firm lost 20 accounts in the 3rd quarter of 2009, totaling $6 billion in outflows. That number is disproportionately high against inflows of 11 new accounts with $1.1 billion in assets – a $4.9 billion difference.
Another important change at the firm, at least from past years, is management style – at least on the distribution side. Walker describes his management technique as a player-coach, meaning he likes to interact with existing clients as well as prospects.
“I do happen to be directly involved with a few clients,” he says, not surprisingly some of the firm’s largest accounts. “I average multiple client meetings in a day,” which includes existing clients as well as prospects.
This personal philosophy has trickled down into the broader managerial approach, which means many firm officials now lead through a coach-player system.
While Walker says the firm is certainly moving more in this direction, it doesn’t necessarily mean this managerial model fits every group. If the group is small enough, he says, then it makes sense for the leader to get involved. “If a group has about 200 people working within it,” then it is better to simply lead as a manager, he adds.
Fernand Schoppig, president of strategic consulting firm FS Associates, says this coach-player model can be useful if done the right way. He says one area to watch out for with this management style is “deserved recognition.”
He explains that if top management swoops in at the end of a hard-fought sale to give some extra muscle, that could bother some sales professionals. “You want to get the recognition for your work; you don’t want that stolen from you,” he says. “If it is done the right way and the [sales professional] is given proper acknowledgement and credit, [then that is OK].”
He adds that these sales professionals are measured by their results and if they get less credit because of managerial interaction, it could harm employee morale.
Neuberger, as of Sept. 30, had $82.8 billion in institutional assets under management.

Article published on December 21, 2009

By Tom Stabile

A study of the Web sites of the 20 largest high-end wealth managers globally finds most lacking basic functionality and features that could help the firms win new business. A few stand out in the ranking developed by MyPrivateBanking.com, a Swiss consultant, with UBS and Deutsche Bank taking the top spots, while Goldman Sachs and Citigroup’s sites placed last.

The study found most of the private bank and wealth management division sites had weaknesses in basic functions and content related to client fees or investment performance. Even the top finisher on the 100-point scale, UBS, only logged an 82 overall.

Deutsche Bank placed second with 81, a fraction of a point ahead of Credit Suisse, and Merrill Lynch was next with 80 points. At the bottom, Goldman scored 57 for 19th place and Citigroup’s private bank site was last with a 53. The survey ranked the public Web sites that are accessible to new and potential clients without a log-in or password. [See full rankings in chart below].

The “How Wealth Managers Win Clients Online” report broadly assesses sites across three criteria – navigation, content and interactivity. UBS’s private banking site fared well because of its array of interactive tools for clients to analyze portfolio needs and find investment products. The report says Credit Suisse had strong navigation and interactive functions, while Deutsche Bank had customer-friendly content and was one of few that details its fee structure online.

Meanwhile, Goldman and Citigroup scored low in the content and interactivity categories. For Goldman, a notable issue was the difficulty in making contact with the company via the site, says Steffen Binder, research director and principal author of the report for MyPrivateBanking.com.

“It’s hard to find any e-mails or contact forms,” he adds. “It sends a message – and I don’t think that’s the message they want to send – of ‘Please don’t contact us.’”

Citi had weaknesses common to most of the top 20 firms, but also lacked a search function, an online contact form, and suitable language options for a global clientele, says Christian Nolterieke, managing director at MyPrivateBanking.com.

Wealth firms should not underestimate the significance of a strong Web site today, especially as more affluent and older users turn to the Internet for information and social networking, Binder says.

“Many of the private banks are not prepared to fight for the customer online, especially today when there are many private banking and wealth management clients who are considering changing their provider,” he says. “[Web sites are] where people go for a first impression. Even the ultra-wealthy and older people, who are getting very fluent with Web technology, are doing a first-round focused search for information, and are looking for the opinions of peers in their wealth range and demographics.”

Binder says potential clients use the Web to build a “mental short list” from which they contact firms to meet an advisor. But he says because most private bank organizations still have a conservative culture reliant on word-of-mouth and print media to reach potential clients, firms that get the Web site right have an edge.

“We advise wealth mangers to spend more effort and get their Internet presence up to date, and then think hard about next steps, such as how to utilize social media to gain new customers,” he adds.

The most important element most firms are missing on their sites is an explication of their “unique selling proposition” and brand message, Binder says. One exception, he says, is Pictet, a Geneva-based private bank that in multiple instances on its Web site conveys a unique message for a large organization: that it has been around for 300 years and is owned by a limited number of partners – all of whom invest their personal assets and have their own wealth “on the line.”

“That’s a clear message that comes across on nearly every page of the Web site,” Binder says.

Many other firms have bland, superficial or generic language on their sites about “trust” or “confidentiality” or “personalized service.” He says only about a quarter of the top 20 firms have identified a unique message and are communicating it on their sites. “You waste your Web site if you don’t have this message,” he adds.

Most of the top firms score well for basic features such as biographical information on leadership or corporate history, Binder says. But many fail at the next level in features such as access to complete privacy notices, convenient contact functions or effective site search functions.

“If you quickly need the address of branch office on your way to your first meeting as a client, it shouldn’t take 10 minutes to find it,” Binder says. “It should take 20 seconds to get the address, a map, and even a short bio and picture of the advisor. It’s very simple to do it well.”

And Nolterieke says only 12 of 20 firms had encrypted, secure protocol coding on their online contact form pages, which is a “simple tool for significantly increasing the site user privacy.”

Most firms also fall flat in providing information about fees and fee structures; data for performance of managed portfolios or discretionary funds; minimum investment requirements; and assets under management. “Some of the banks have very good performance and could do well by publishing that information,” Binder adds.

Binder says Deutsche Bank and Paris-based Crédit Agricole were the only firms with extensive fee data available. But fees and performance are the “hard facts” investors want today as a baseline, he adds. And regulators are increasingly asking firms to disclose this information.

Binder says most high-end wealth organizations historically have been reluctant to share such data, especially in the U.S., which may partly explain why firms based in Europe generally scored higher. U.S. firms tend to have stricter legal department reviews of Web site content, he adds.

But he says given that U.S. investors are the most Web-savvy, it would behoove any wealth manager serving the market to have a strong online presence. He says Asia and emerging markets also have high concentrations of investors attuned to using online technology for private banking needs.

Article published on December 17, 2009

By Tom Stabile

Several high-end wealth firms are banking their growth plans on investors favoring a mix of in-house investment management expertise alongside external products to fill out portfolios. New York-based Evercore Wealth Management, which launched a year ago and now has $1.4 billion in client assets, and Philadelphia-based Glenmede, an $18 billion wealth firm that recently expanded to New York, both see investors burned by the market collapse wanting more access to portfolio managers making the actual investment calls.

The bet on clients choosing this model goes against the greater tide of open architecture investing, which has become a symbol in the wealth management world for avoiding conflicts of interest and delivering “best of breed” managers. The open architecture idea puts the advisor “on the same side of the table” as the investor, helping them set portfolio goals and then select outside managers. The movement was in large part a response to middle-market wealth firms that shunted clients into mediocre in-house investments, but the concept has also moved up-market in recent years.

In-house portfolio management has long been a staple at wealth management firms serving the ultra-wealthy, particularly at private banks and trust companies. A few leading firms in the sector such as Bessemer Trust and Rockefeller & Co. began adding an open architecture complement to their client portfolios several years ago, and others, such as Northern Trust, are moving in that direction now. Several large bank trust businesses, such as SunTrust Banks of Atlanta and U.S. Bank of Minneapolis, as well as multi-family offices such as Pitcairn of Jenkintown, Pa., also have made strides toward the open model.

Open architecture is certainly the predominant investing wave in the marketplace, says Robert Ellis, who heads the wealth management consulting practice at Novarica. But firms that can offer in-house expertise outperforming the benchmarks and delivering other special features can succeed, particularly at the high end of the market.

“It really revolves around the type of products that they’re developing,” he says. “It’s not the model that makes the difference, but the quality of the product. If the firm is just duplicating a portfolio that [investors] can get elsewhere, I don’t see it working. Clients are going to ask some pretty tough questions. You have to show it’s something no one else can do.”

But wealth managers say they can point to many advantages of the in-house investing model. For instance, the recent market volatility favors a wealth manager that is able to set an asset allocation view and then quickly act in the markets, says Glenmede CIO Gordon Fowler, who on Jan. 1 adds the title of CEO.

“Clients just want the best ideas going into their portfolios, and certainly our ability to consider various markets without restraint has been helpful, as has our discipline to do everything we can to cushion clients from declines in the markets,” he adds. “We can act faster on information we generate internally. We don’t have to wait for a hired gun to make the changes for us.”

Fowler says it also helps for an asset allocator to have an active hand in the markets. “If you have market knowledge, you’re much more in tune with where the opportunities and the risks are than if you’re just selecting managers,” he says.

Evercore has built teams with fixed income and core equity specialties that are available for its baseline 1% fee along with asset allocation and wealth management planning, says Jeff Maurer, partner and CEO of the unit launched last year as an affiliate of Evercore Partners, an investment bank. The attractiveness of the in-house strategies is partly in the simplicity of the flat fee structure and the balanced portfolio approach.

“Some lessons I’ve taken away from broad open architecture platforms is that there are an awful lot of managers on them, and clients end up having multiple large-cap domestic and international managers, as well mid-cap and small-cap managers,” Maurer says. “It’s a fairly complex solution that’s right for some people, but not right for others.”

Maurer says Evercore clients, generally in the $5 million to $70 million range, tend to like transparency not only into holdings, but also into the investment thinking behind them – access not always available from a third-party manager. “Our clients like to talk to the portfolio manager about what’s in the account and why it’s in there,” he says. “They want a customized portfolio and they want personalized tax efficiency.”

Evercore, he adds, offers access to an external slate of managers – partly through its use of Fortigent, a specialty asset management platform provider – for clients who want a hybrid approach to investing, which most do, or simply want all outside managers. Evercore passes through the external manager’s fee to clients. Glenmede, too, offers the option of hybrid or full open architecture investing.

But using the firm’s investing expertise is at the heart of Evercore’s model, Maurer says, and it also is driving development of custom strategies for clients with common demands. For instance, various clients are expressing concern about inflation and the U.S. dollar’s declining value, so Evercore is crafting a portfolio with a mix of stocks, exchange-traded funds and other investments.

Maurer says Evercore is gearing for significant growth from new clients, because it has capacity under its current line-up of 15 partners. Most clients have come from previous relationships with the cadre of U.S. Trust veterans at Evercore, which includes Maurer, a former CEO of that firm. He says Evercore aims to grow assets to $5 billion in the next five years, much of it by adding new clients to the fold.

For its part, Glenmede is building out its planning capacity with the recent hire of Jason Pride as director of investment strategy. In the newly created slot, Pride is directing investment policy and strategy for Glenmede clients alongside Fowler. He comes from a director of research post at Haverford Trust.

Fowler says Glenmede’s current outlook focuses on adding high-quality holdings in growth stocks, high-yield bonds, European equities and distressed debt.

Article published on December 14, 2009

Morgan Stanley put former Merrill Lynch president and COO Gregory Fleming in charge of its asset management business yesterday. So reports The Wall Street Journal.

Fleming, 46, moves into his new role as president at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in February. He will report to Morgan Stanley’s CEO, James Gorman, who takes the reins of the entire company on Jan. 1.

Fleming’s new job includes overseeing merchant banking and Morgan Stanley’s global research department.

MSIM was particularly hard hit by the market meltdown, facing huge losses in its real estate holdings. The bank is selling its retail mutual fund operations, Van Kampen, to Invesco. MSIM plans to take a small holding in Invesco when the deal closes next year.

Gorman and Fleming were co-workers at Merrill Lynch before Gorman left to run Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit in 2005.

Fleming has built a reputation on Wall Street as a dealmaker. He was instrumental in the deal that saw the marriage of Merrill Lynch’s investment management business with BlackRock. Invesco CEO Martin Flanagan tells the Journal Fleming “was involved in arguably the most important money management transactions” in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Fleming was also closely involved in Merrill’s fast-tracked sale to Bank of America last fall and is credited with securing a share price of $29 for the company.

Blackstone president Hamilton James called Fleming’s hiring a coup for Morgan. He says dozens of firms were interested in signing Fleming, whom he describes as a “business builder,” the Journal reports.

Indeed, the Financial Times says Fleming is believed to have received job offers from AIG and the Hartford insurance company, as well as being suggested as a possible candidate for CEO of Bank of America.

According to The New York Times, Fleming has been lecturing and working as a senior research scholar at Yale Law School, his alma mater, since leaving Merrill last January.

Fleming declines to comment on his appointment.

By Kathleen Laverty

Article published on December 7, 2009

U.S. Trust, its stake in BlackRock and holdings in a Brazilian bank are among the most likely candidates to be sold by Bank of America after it was ordered by the government last week to decide by the end of June which businesses it will sell to raise $4 billion in common equity. So reports Dow Jones Newswires.

The sale of assets must be completed by the end of 2010 as part of the deal Bank of America reached with the Federal Reserve late Wednesday to pay back the $45 billion it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The bank has been ordered to sell businesses, and not just loans or portions of the bank’s holdings of mortgage-backed securities, which were listed at $180 billion in “fair value” in the third quarter. Dow Jones says that by ordering that securities cannot be sold, the Fed appears to be trying to ensure lending would not be hampered by loan sales.

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst John McDonald says the bank’s stake in Banco Itau of Brazil, tops his list of businesses that could be easily sold. Other analysts think Bank of America should sell its 48% holding in BlackRock. McDonald, however, disagrees, calling BlackRock a good asset to hold onto.
U.S. Trust, the wealth management business the bank bought in 2007 for $3.3 billion in cash from Charles Schwab, is also considered a good bet for the sales block, some analysts say.

But Bank of America has previously said would not sell the unit. The bank says U.S. Trust established it as “one of the largest financial services companies managing private wealth in the U.S.”
However, one analyst notes that the bank could offer advice to wealth clients through the Merrill Lynch brand if it is forced to sell U.S. Trust.

Speaking Friday, a Bank of America spokesman would not say which businesses the bank may sell but stressed it remains “very committed to U.S. Trust.”
Other analysts say Bank of America could divest branches or get rid of the property and casualty insurance businesses it attained when it took on Countrywide Financial, Dow Jones reports.

Meanwhile, the bank’s sale of First Republic Bank and Columbia Management will close next year, but a person familiar with the matter says the gains will be immaterial.
By Kathleen Laverty

Article published on November 25, 2009

Ultra-wealthy families are re-evaluating their investment decisions and looking for strategies that reduce risk in faltering markets while capitalizing on upside opportunities, a new report by the Family Office Exchange and Harris myCFO shows. So reports the Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, “Managing Threats and Opportunities through Effective Risk Planning,” ultra-high-net-worth families are not only looking for protection against another financial meltdown, but are also concerned about tax and regulatory changes, executive compensation and the public’s increasingly negative opinion of wealth.

The report is based on interviews with 70 family office heads and wealth advisors, as well as a roundtable involving 20 wealth industry experts who discussed the effects of the financial crisis and market downturn on wealthy families, the Journal reports.

Harris myCFO and the Family Exchange Office recommend their wealthy clients talk about their fears for the future and analyze their biggest risks. They urge investors to find ways to identify threats before they cause harm, while at the same time seizing opportunities as soon as they become available. Investors are also advised to take some calculated risk, primarily because doing so is integral to building wealth, the Journal reports.

Meanwhile, the Journal says, a study by the New York-based Institute for Private Investors, which caters to families with at least $50 million in total assets, shows rich investors are most concerned with liquidity, concentration and inflation as the biggest risk to their portfolios. When a similar survey was conducted two years ago, investors said their biggest fear was manager risk. Inflation was not even ranked on the 2007 list. Manager risk was ranked the sixth largest risk in the new survey.

About 25% of the IPI’s private membership of 1,100 people responded to the fall survey, the Journal reports.

The Family Office Exchange offers research and consulting services to families worth at least $75 million. Harris myCFO is the multi-family-office unit of Chicago-based Harris Private Bank.

Article published on December 2, 2009

By Tom Stabile

UBS Wealth Management Americas has tapped a former Merrill Lynch managed accounts business executive for a new consulting role, adding to the cadre of brokerage veterans it has recruited from its wirehouse rival in recent weeks. The addition of Mike Perry for the consulting post comes about two weeks after UBS parted ways with Steve Roussin, who had been the managed accounts platform chief, and just over a month since Robert McCann came aboard as the new head of the UBS brokerage.

Two well-placed sources with knowledge of the UBS organization, including a former brokerage executive, confirmed that Perry has come aboard as a consultant. A spokesman says UBS declines comment on the matter.

Perry, who left Merrill in September, is the fifth high-ranking veteran of that brokerage who is known to have joined UBS since McCann started in late October. McCann had headed Merrill’s brokerage until January, when he left days after the closing of Bank of America’s acquisition of the entire Merrill Lynch organization in the midst of the 2008 financial crash.

About two weeks after starting at UBS, McCann hired four ex-Merrill executives – Brian Hull, who had headed Merrill’s ultra-wealthy advisory unit; Bob Mulholland, a sales and private client unit executive; John Brown, a senior officer in the trading and prime brokerage areas; and Paula Polito, a senior marketing executive.

But unlike those other recent ex-Merrill additions, Perry is not an employee – at least not yet. One source says Perry’s focus is to consult on the UBS brokerage’s product lineup, including managed accounts, insurance and other investment offerings. The source says Perry has been sitting in on meetings with executive teams that are developing McCann’s battle plans to reshape the brokerage. The source says Perry has been reporting his findings to that senior group.

Perry’s name was one of several tossed out by industry watchers as a candidate to replace Roussin, in part because both men held similar positions heading up brokerage managed account platforms, including separately managed account, mutual fund wrap and unified managed account programs.

As head of investment solutions at UBS, Roussin oversaw the managed account and alternative investment product platforms offered to the firm’s 7,300 advisors. The brokerage replaced Roussin with two of his former deputies, Ray Smesko and Derek Burke, both of whom are managing directors in the investment solutions business. The spokesman declines to say whether Smesko and Burke’s co-head posts are interim or permanent appointments.

Perry left his post as head of managed solutions at Merrill in mid-September. Since Bank of America closed on the acquisition, Merrill has lost several senior product unit executives, including Mitch Cox, who had been head of products before leaving for Barclays Wealth Americas, and Perry, who had reported to Cox. They had all worked under McCann for several years.

Merrill has since reorganized its leadership in a plan unveiled about two months after Sallie Krawcheck started her new role as head of the wealth management division for Bank of America, overseeing both the Merrill brokerage as well as the legacy bank and U.S. Trust business units. In that reshuffling, John Tyers took over Perry’s old post as managed accounts product unit head, moving over from another position at the firm where he headed the Broadcort clearing and custody platform.

Article published on November 16, 2009

By Jay Cooper

A new partnership for Northern Trust’s investment operations outsourcing business aims to make life easier on marketing, distribution and client service teams that outsource middle-office functions to the Chicago-based firm.
Northern Trust is partnering with Equipos, a firm specializing in client reporting, document management and business process management solutions for asset managers and wealth managers.
The partnership will allow Northern Trust’s existing middle-office outsourcing clients to take all of that data from Northern Trust and easily integrate it into client reports and other marketing and communications pieces, using Equipos’ client reporting and communications software. Equipos is a British firm that specializes in client reporting, document management, and business process management for asset managers and wealth managers.
Terms of the partnership were not released, but Northern Trust executives say they will link the Equipos client reporting and communications software to their own middle-office outsourcing platform and clients will be able to utilize the Equipos reporting functions sometime in 2010.
Traditionally, much of the middle-office data for an asset manager – including securities details, transaction reports and performance and attribution data - had to be aggregated and put into client and prospective client communications and reports manually.
The deal with Equipos will make it easier to take that data, which is already on the Northern Trust platform, and pull it together for client reports or marketing collateral, Northern Trust executives say. “We already have the data. Now we’re in a position to be of more value in improving the quality and efficiency of how that [communications material] is created,” says Dan Houlihan, head of product and strategy for Investment Operations Outsourcing at Northern Trust.
The Equipos platform is designed to help marketing teams create client communication and marketing material – including market commentary from portfolio managers, quarterly and monthly client statements, product fact sheets, pitch books, PowerPoint presentations, transaction reports, and investment review reports – in both online and print format.
The Equipos system also features a function to help with work flow management as communications pieces move across different teams within an asset management firm.
Assisting with work flow is one of the key components of new technology platforms aimed at helping asset managers in their marketing, distribution and client service efforts, says Denise Valentine, a senior analyst at Aite Group. “Client reporting platforms have gone through their own evolution of improvement,” she says.
The focus for these platforms is on making it easier to manage the creation of a communications piece as it moves through different departments within an asset management firm. “To get a report out the door you have to talk to the portfolio manager, the client service officer, the compliance office,” Valentine explains. “These systems have focused on workflow to speed that up.”
She adds that the goal of these platforms “is to be user-friendly in how to use the data.”
The partnership with Equipos comes after Houlihan was brought on to Northern Trust to head the outsourcing business in February. As reported, he joined after many years in technology management and consulting and came on with the goal of providing more outsourcing services that better serve marketing and communications teams at asset management firms.
“This is going to take us a leap forward in what is possible for end-client communications,” he says.