ANZ considers outsourced fund administrators

The largest NZ fund management administration gig could come from $33 billion ANZ Investments, which is understood to be exploring outsourcing options.

ANZ is NZ’s last investment business owned by a major bank and retains almost complete in-house control of its cash management, including registration, accounting and custody.

However, industry sources say the bank is poised to begin back-office operations, putting it on par with its competitors in the space.

Last year, ASB joined Australian banks Westpac and BNZ to outsource most of their back-office services. Sign a custody and custody agreement With BNP Paribas Securities Services NZ. BNZ and Westpac have long used external providers such as Trustees Executors and Apex (formerly MMC) for various money management services. However, ASB internally maintains a registry.

Apart from ANZ, only AMP and Booster do most of the management in-house among the larger KiwiSaver providers.

Kiwi Wealth, now more than $7 billion owned by Fisher Funds, recently turned off its long-standing in-house management system after outsourcing to BNP Paribas and Apex (MMC). However, it is understood that Kiwi Wealth’s business will eventually switch to Trustees Executors, Fisher’s custodial provider.

ANZ, the largest retail fund manager in NZ, currently driving three KiwiSaver schemes among other investment products, has JP Morgan acting as global custodian, with all administration and local custody done internally. increase.

A bank spokesperson said:

“We are always looking for opportunities to evolve or improve our business, but we do not publicly comment on commercial partnerships.”

ANZ’s fund management team, led by Fiona Mackenzie, also some senior departures Over the past few months, including Alan Clarke, Co-Head of Diversified Portfolio Management, and Craig Brown, Chief of Equities in Australia.