ACSA announce 2014 award recipients.

The Australian Custodial Services Association (ACSA) has announced four winners of the 2014 ACSA Awards, recognising outstanding contribution to the Australian custody and investment administration industry.

The 2014 ACSA award winners are:

• Marian Azer, Head of Global Funds Services, Product for J.P. Morgan Investor Services Australia and New Zealand,
• Daniel Cheever, Vice President and Head of Superannuation of State Street Global Services,
• Darryll Rogers, Manager of Superannuation and Regulatory Change, NAB Asset Servicing, and
• Paul Talbot, Business Development Manager of OneVue Fund Services.

The winners of the industry achievement awards were announced on Wednesday night at the 2014 Investment Administration Conference, produced by Conexus Financial in association with ACSA.

The ACSA Awards recognise individuals who have made outstanding contributions and demonstrated a high level of professionalism, knowledge and commitment to Australia’s custody and investment administration industry.

ACSA Chair David Braga commended the achievements of the award recipients in the past year, and acknowledged the ongoing hard work of the ACSA Working Groups.

“ACSA’s achievements are reliant on the collective voluntary efforts of staff from its member organisations. For this, I would like to congratulate and thank Marian, Daniel, Darryll and Paul for their substantial contributions during 2013 to the custody industry,” Braga said

Darryll Rogers, Marian Azer and Daniel Cheever were recognised for their outstanding contribution in the Stronger Super Task Force which was formed to facilitate understanding of the government’s Stronger Super reforms across the custodial industry, co-ordinating dialogue between APRA, custodians and the superannuation industry.

Over the past year, the Stronger Super Task Force achieved an industry standard to investment classification in line with APRA’s guidelines to prevent misunderstandings from varying interpretations. The task force also made considerable progress in reaching a consensus around issues such as achieving adequate detailed investment information for fund look-throughs, and treatment of derivatives and currency overlays.

Paul Talbot was recognised for his significant role in the promoting the efficiencies of automated processing in the managed funds industry, a cause he has advocated in his role as Chairman of the Securities Market Practice Group since 2011. Mr Talbot’s ongoing efforts to highlight the reduced risks and costs through automation contributed to the increasing popularity of straight through processing in the Australian managed funds industry.

“Through the ongoing dedication and collective efforts of our members, ACSA will continue to contribute to innovation and efficiency in the investment administration industry, and provide international best-practice for members, clients and the financial services community at large,” Mr Braga concluded.

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The Australian Custodial Services Association (ACSA) says the role of the custodian has broadened and is fundamental to supporting the continued growth in the superannuation, wealth management and investment sectors.

In his opening address at the 17th Annual Investment Administration Conference 2014 held in Sydney yesterday, ACSA Chair David Braga said the custodian’s role in facilitating Australia’s financial landscape was more important than ever as the sector continued to grow, fuelled by compulsory superannuation.

“Custody and investment administration is crucial to the overall health and wellbeing of the superannuation, wealth management and investment sector and is one of the fastest growing areas of Australia’s financial services community,” Mr Braga said.

While custodians remain the safekeepers of over $2 trillion of assets owned by Australian investors and almost $1 trillion of Australian assets for non-Australian investors, Mr Braga commented this was just a slice of the wide range of services provided today.

The role of custodians and investment administrators has grown over the past decade to include a range of middle-office services, including maintaining accounting records, tax reporting, compliance, performance monitoring, unit registry services and fund reporting.

ACSA, as the peak body representing the interests of the custodial and asset administration industry in Australia, used the annual Investment Administration Conference to unveil a revamped mission aimed at highlighting the importance for custodians to be heard in discussions across the financial sector.

“ACSA’s mission is to promote efficiency and international best practice through a united voice for the custody and investment administration industry in Australia,” Mr Braga said.

“Our core objectives remain largely unchanged and we will operate in the same way we have in the past. Custodians have a unique voice that needs to be heard in the debate across the financial sector. We are not proactively pushing policy direction, however we do have the best knowledge of the practical reality of running the large complex fund structures required to support Australians’ savings and investment aspirations.”

Mr Braga said 2013 was a busy year for ACSA members, highlighted by the Stronger Super Task Force and its ongoing work with APRA to ensure smooth implementation of MySuper reporting requirements.

Looking ahead to 2014, the ACSA Chair outlined several key initiatives the association will focus on, including:

Implementation of Stronger Super and RG133 reforms

• Launch of a new working group with a focus on the New Zealand custody and investment administration market
• Ongoing work with the ASX towards market automation, particularly for corporate actions
• Engagement with the ATO on a raft of taxation changes, including the Managed Investment Trust reform and electronic filing
• Continuing to work closely with regulatory bodies and other industry associations
• The theme for this year’s conference, produced by Conexus Financial in partnership with ACSA, is Efficiency in a Regulated World.

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Aassets under custody for Australian investors grew in 2013.

The Australian Custodial Services Association (ACSA)  released its half yearly industry statistics showing continued growth in Australia’s custodian and administration sector.

The latest research from ACSA – the peak industry body for Australia’s custody and asset administration sector – revealed total assets under custody for Australian investors grew by 6.7% to $2.16 trillion for the first half of the year to 30 June 2013.

Every major player in the custody market saw an increase in Assets under Custody during the six months, largely driven by a rising global and local market.

Helped by the falling Australian dollar and rising global equity markets, the period also saw continued strong growth for non-Australian assets under custody for Australian investors (up 10.2% to just over $600 billion); with Australian Assets under custody for Australian investors also rising strongly (up 5.5% to $1.56 trillion).

Australian Assets under Custody for foreign clients (sub custody) rose only 0.1%; reflecting slowing foreign appetite for Australian assets as the commodity boom slowed and interest rates were cut to historic lows.

Published biannually, the industry statistics show the size of assets under custody and administration in Australia – largely reflecting Australia’s growing superannuation and institutional investment base. As well as providing insights into settlement transaction volumes, the statistics are a league table of major custody, sub-custody and asset administers in Australia, recording major mandate wins and losses.

A closer look at the numbers

Local player NAB Asset Servicing retained its position as the largest overall player with $556 billion in total assets under custody for Australian investors (up 2.2% for the six months), followed by J.P. Morgan ($394 billion, up 5%) and BNP Paribas ($313 billion, up 5.7%).

Citigroup recorded a 21% increase in total assets under custody to $213 billion, reaching 10% market share

The other big mover over the past six months was Bond Street, with asset growth up 31% to $63.7 billion.

Total local assets held under custody increased by 5.5% over the past six months with NAB Asset Servicing, BNP Paribas and J.P. Morgan the leading holders of Australian assets under custody.

J.P. Morgan remains the largest custodian of non-Australian assets for Australian investors ($137 billion, up 25.8%), followed by State Street ($87 billion, up 2.8%) and Nab Asset Servicing ($86 billion, up 15.8%).

HSBC Bank remains the dominant sub-custodian in Australia with $576 billion in sub-custody assets.

Assets held under administration (not held in custody but administered by custodians) were up 14.5% to $245 billion. BNP Paribas took top spot as the largest administrator in Australia with $407 billion in assets under administration, followed by NAB Asset Servicing ($369 billion) and State Street ($208 billion).

Click here for a copy of the latest ACSA custody industry statistics.

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The research from ACSA – the peak industry body for Australia’s custody and asset administration sector – showed stronger growth in non-Australian assets under custody (14.5%) compared to Australian assets under custody (6.7%) for Australian investors. 

Australian assets under custody for foreign investors (sub-custody) also grew by 13.5% indicating a strong rebound in local markets and global demand for custody and administration services.

Published biannually, the industry statistics show the size of assets under custody and administration in Australia – largely reflecting Australia’s growing superannuation and institutional investment base. As well as providing insights into settlement transaction volumes, the statistics are a league table of major custody, sub-custody and asset administers in Australia, recording major mandate wins and losses. 

Mr Pierre Jond, Chair of ACSA, said players in the custody and asset administration space were seeing renewed confidence from their institutional clients such as asset managers, insurance groups and superannuation funds. 

“The latest ACSA statistics show positive broader market sentiment and strong growth across the board in the custody and administration community,” Mr Jond said. “The current data and industry feeling is that we will see sustained growth in 2013 rather than a temporary rebound,” he said.
 
Key players 

Local player NAB Asset Servicing remains the largest overall player in the custody market with $554 billion in total assets under custody for Australian investors (up 1.0% for the six months), followed by J.P. Morgan ($376 billion, up 11.8%), BNP Paribas ($296 billion, down 6.6%). Both Citigroup ($177 billion) and State Street ($171 billion) saw significant growth of their total assets under custody of 40.5% and 56.1%, driven by operational insourcing and client acquisitions.

Total local assets held under custody increased by 6.7% over the past six months with NAB Asset Servicing, J.P. Morgan and BNP Paribas the leading holders of Australian assets under custody. 
J.P. Morgan remains the largest custodian of non-Australian assets for Australian investors ($109 billion, up 13.6%), followed by Northern Trust ($86 billion, up 7.0%) and State Street ($85 billion, up 150.3%). 
 
HSBC Bank remains the dominant sub-custodian in Australia with $571 billion in sub-custody assets. 
 
Assets held under administration (not held in custody but administered by custodians) were down 10.5%, as low cash rates drive investors to move cash and fixed income assets into equity markets. NAB Asset Servicing remains the largest administrator in Australia with $379 billion in assets under administration, followed by BNP Paribas ($357 billion) and State Street ($182 billion).

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