J.P. Morgan Provides Insight into Increasing Fund Administration Requirements

Gold Coast.- The current economic climate is prompting superannuation funds to use forensic risk management tools to understand their absolute exposure to a diverse range of portfolios holding public, private and alternative investments, according to J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services.

“Driving this seismic change in Funds’ requirements is the increased need that Funds have to build a greater understanding of their risk of investment exposure, as well as exposure to supplier risk associated with using a range of financial services providers,” said Jane Perry, Chief Executive Officer for Worldwide Securities Services Australia and New Zealand at the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds today.

As the largest global custodian in the Australian market, with approximately 50% share of the superannuation sector, J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services said the level of interest in exploring full service administration services has increased exponentially as the global economic crisis has impacted the Australian wealth management industry.

“Client needs have clearly shifted from wanting a mix of in-house and outsourced, or simple outsourced administration to needing a partner who can provide a full service administration solution. Clients are being driven by their need to increase transparency and reduce risk, costs and administrative burdens,” said Ms Perry. "We have also seen significant market demand for products that can be used independent of traditional custodial services - including growth in usage of our Transition Management, Passive Currency Overlay and Foreign Exchange services.

As a market leading custodian, we’ve geared our business to be able to respond swiftly to a greater demand for services that leverage J.P. Morgan’s overall execution capabilities and further reduce clients’ risks, such as J. P. Morgan Futures and Options Clearing services and our latest Collateral Management service offering" said Ms Perry.