Hughes joins ADP ICS from State Street, where he was a vice president in their custody operation in London. Prior to joining State Street, Hughes held senior management positions at Lloyds TSB and The Royal Bank of Scotland. He has 15 years' experience in securities and custody services and an extensive background in corporate actions, and he was a member of the CREST steering committee representing The Royal Bank of Scotland through the CREST implementation period in 1996.

The main changes under article 34a are that international brokers will now be permitted to intermediate securities transactions executed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and settle them with the underlying investors on the basis of settlement instructions. With the introduction of the above article, international broker-dealers will now be allowed to establish one trading/clearing account with their local sub-custodian, which will be dedicated for their clients’ clearing business only, as opposed to the present practice through segregated transition accounts for each underlying investor.

Dan Benhase, executive vice president of Huntington, said: ‘Based on our day-to-day experience with BISYS, which has been enjoyable and professional, we were very comfortable expanding this relationship and entrusting BISYS to support the launch and growth of The Situs Small Cap Fund. Fund accounting is a vital back-office function and BISYS has consistently supported our growing family of funds with proven technology and expertise, and a true commitment to service.’

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is a $27bn regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Gerling NCM was formed in December 2001 from the consolidation of Dutch credit insurer NCM and Gerling Credit Insurance Group. The company holds a 25 percent share of the credit insurance market. Rolf Kooijman, director of finance for Gerling NCM, said: ‘The creation of a new company formed from two existing operations necessitated a review of our global custody arrangements. Key concerns for us were an excellent accounting function and the ability to gain a clear global overview of custody activity; the existing relationship between NCM and ABN AMRO Mellon assured us that ABN AMRO Mellon provides the best match for these requirements.’

The Gerling NCM account will be serviced from ABN AMRO Mellon's centres in Breda and Amsterdam. Initial conversion is scheduled for Q4 2002.

The mandate covers transfer agency and investment administration, provided by Mellon Fund Administration (Dublin) Limited; Mellon Trustees (Dublin) Limited will act as trustee for the funds, while ABN AMRO Mellon Global Securities Services will provide global custody. Performance measurement and analytics will be provided through Russell/Mellon CAPS.

In addition, Mellon Global Investments Limited, the international distribution subsidiary of Mellon Financial Corporation, will be responsible for the management of seven of the 24 portfolios for HVB Group. The portfolios will be managed by three of Mellon's asset management subsidiaries: The Boston Company Asset Management; Mellon Equity Associates and Standish Mellon Asset Management Company.

‘Mellon was able to provide us with an end-to-end asset servicing solution, and has clearly demonstrated the value of its ability to integrate these services into a coherent and effective offering,’ comments Stefan Bub, board member for HVB Group's corporates & markets business segment.

The CRESTCo board of directors has also been reconstituted. Pierre Francotte has become chairman of the board of CRESTCo, replacing Sir Nigel Wicks who is now deputy chairman of Euroclear plc and Euroclear Bank. Continuing CRESTCo board members, Hugh Simpson and David Wyatt, are joined by Martine Dinne and Theo Van Engeland. Two independent directors, Herschel Post and Geoffrey Turner, have also been appointed to the board.

‘A team consisting of 14 Managing Directors will manage the Group in a committee-based structure with Management Committees, Group Committees and an Executive Committee. The Management Committees are tied to the core functions. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the head of the Customers/Markets Committee; the Chief Operations Officer (COO) will head the Operations Committee; and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) the Technology/Systems Committee. The Group Committees are set up across the core functions: Product Development with the COO as chairman; Risk Management and Compliance headed by the CEO; and Investment as well as Compensation and Policy chaired by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).’

All clear?

Mellon says that its clients expect it to have its own UK custody shop, in line with all its major competitors. But it is also clear that the arrangement with Clydesdale Bank, struck in 2000, has failed to live up to expectations. Whilst Mellon transferred its assets to Clydesdale, the promised $21bn of global assets that were meant to move the other way, to the custody of ABN AMRO Mellon, never moved, according to Mellon sources. There were also grand plans for integration of systems and a deal over the use of Clydesdale’s trustee and depository capabilities, which Mellon claimed at the time would make it, ‘in effect, a direct player in the UK marketplace’.

Before Mellon’s withdrawal of assets, National Custodian Services had £58bn (€90bn) of assets under custody, so the loss will be a severe blow to its ambitious growth plans.

Summit Mutual Funds appointed Northern Trust’s global fund services practice to provide global custody, foreign exchange, securities lending and cash management services to its Apex Series and Pinnacle Series mutual funds. Summit Investment Partners is the investment adviser for Summit Mutual Funds and manages over $5bn in investments for insurance companies, pension funds, foundations, endowments and both domestic and international mutual funds.

Under terms of the contract, PFPC Trust Company, PFPC’s parent company, will provide custody services and trade settlement, safekeeping and other securities processing services for the Turner Funds group, which includes 23 equity and fixed-income mutual funds, as well as Alpha Select Trust, a registered investment company sub-advised by Turner Investment Partners. PFPC will also provide accounting and administration, transfer agency and custody services for the Westlakes Institutional Portfolios, a start-up group of fixed-income funds for institutional investors. Total assets under management in the Turner funds to be serviced by PFPC are $2.5bn.

As London branch manager, Potter is responsible for corporate and institutional services clients based in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is also president of Northern Trust Global Investments (Europe) Limited. Significantly, Potter will continue to be based in London in his new role.

He replaces Steve Fradkin, who is to take up the newly created position of executive vice president – finance, reporting to Perry R. Pero, vice chairman and chief financial officer. Fradkin will take charge of strategic planning, investor relations, the corporate treasurer and the corporate controller.

SWIFT's selection criteria covered operational excellence, competitive pricing, financial status and business synergy with SWIFT. Although SWIFT has negotiated base level pricing with each provider, customers will contract directly with the provider of their choice, enabling them to leverage existing relationships to negotiate a more cost-effective service. SWIFT will still maintain end-to-end accountability for the service provided to all of its customers.

IFDS is a 50/50 joint venture between State Street Corporation and DST Systems, Inc, who also jointly own Boston Financial Data Services (BFDS) a leading provider of administration services to mutual fund companies in the US. Under the proposals, IFDS and BFDS would become shareholders in Cofunds. They would join four existing shareholders: Jupiter, Gartmore, M&G and Threadneedle. The proposed transaction is subject to due diligence and regulatory consents and completion is targeted for the end of the year.

Cofunds Limited was launched in January 2001. It is an independent company, providing a one-stop fund supermarket that provides administration and management services for intermediaries and their clients. It does not offer investment management or advice, nor does it compete with intermediaries by offering its services direct to the end client. Cofunds offers a choice of 620 funds from 45 fund management groups.

Clive Boothman, CEO of Cofunds said: ‘This development offers not only capital investment, but also access to the very considerable intellectual and technological resources of IFDS, the UK’s leading fund administrator. Importantly, it also maintains the independent model, which has been Cofunds’ trademark. It is a perfect fit.’

Meanwhile, M&G and IFDS have finalised the outsourcing agreement for IFDS to provide M&G with retail administration services. As a result of the agreement, all M&G’s administration service functions will be transferred to IFDS and M&G will migrate onto IFDS’ FAST platform by the end of the third quarter, 2003. All areas of customer and intermediary contact services will remain in-house.

SecFinex is an online marketplace for securities finance where participants can, on an anonymous basis, post their trading interests. They can also search portfolios and deal with specific counterparties on a private basis.

The transaction flow manager (TFM) utility has been in full operations since 9^th September 2002. The vote was part of a fund raising mission which was conditional on securing the commitment of the fund management community to use the TFM matching services. Efforts to obtain these commitments did not result in sufficient evidence of projected volume to warrant further operation of the company beyond year-end.

Cornelia McKenna, vice president and product manager for Mercantile, said: ‘BISYS has continually demonstrated its commitment to the success and growth of our funds with high quality service, the ongoing expansion and enhancement of its products and services, and its ability to support our unique business requirements with customised solutions.’

Through its NSCC subsidiary, DTCC will offer enhancements that are designed to eliminate many of the costly manual processes that currently exist in the marketing and processing of the funds based in the European cross-border centres of Luxembourg and Dublin.

‘We are increasingly being approached by firms in Europe and elsewhere in the world that recognise how DTCC has automated and centralised the trading environment for US funds and distributors,’ said Ann Bergin, managing director, mutual fund services, DTCC. ‘We are now beginning to create similar benefits for cross-border funds, enabling our customers to expand their businesses with greater efficiency.’

These new capabilities and others to follow are designed to provide seamless end-to-end processing, reporting and reconciliation of cross-border fund trades, including the ability to handle Euro-denominated transactions. The enhancements were developed with guidance from a 34-member advisory committee composed of both US- and non-U.S.-headquartered firms with significant business in cross-border funds.

Mark Birch, manager for Marks & Spencer Financial Services, said: ‘Our choice of Mellon was based simply on its ability to provide a high quality, competitively priced service. Flexibility was also a key concern for us, and throughout the selection process, Mellon consistently demonstrated its willingness to work with us to develop a solution that met our specific needs.’

This alliance combines FMC’s expertise in ASP technology solutions and BNY’s strength in investment operations outsourcing. FMC’s portfolio accounting, electronic trade communications, automated reconciliation and performance measurement systems will be packaged with The Bank of New York’s middle-office services to deliver an end-to-end business process solution for mid-sized investment managers.

As part of the solution, SEI has reached an agreement with Charles Schwab Clearing Services to integrate SEI's mutual fund processing platform with Schwab's mutual fund supermarket. This integrated processing platform aims to streamline many of the accounting, processing, reconciliation and clearing activities.

Prior to joining Fortis, Scanlon was a senior sales and marketing executive for Bank of America’s prime brokerage business, based in New York, responsible for all aspects of client relations, retention and new business development.

Market participants will benefit from the much earlier availability of cash proceeds from securities settlements. For example, future cash receipts resulting from night-time settlement will be available as of 07:00 am to cover outgoing, time-critical, large payments (e.g. to fulfil pay-in obligations for the FX settlement system CLS).

The model will follow a phased introduction beginning in Q4 2003. In the first phase, the new model will be introduced for night-time processing. The next phases will include enhancements to day-time processing and further central bank links. The model will be implemented on the CASCADE platform.

For the remainder of 2002, Lynn Mangum, 60, will continue in his current role as BISYS' chairman and chief executive officer. Beginning January 1, 2003, and continuing for a minimum of 18 months, Mangum will be employed as chairman of the BISYS board, and will be directly engaged in corporate acquisition activities, European marketplace business development initiatives, and assisting Sheehan with strategic planning and overall guidance of the business.

‘Over the years we have developed a strong relationship with JPMorgan, and we are confident that JPMorgan Investor Services has the resources and capabilities to meet our needs,’ said Richard Adamski, vice president and treasurer, TIAA-CREF.

‘This acquisition is confirmation of our dedication and vision to provide a comprehensive suite of services to investment managers, irrespective of their structure, investment strategy or domicile,’ said Tom Perna, senior executive vice president at BNY.

IFA was incorporated in 1993 by professionals from the investment management industry and specialises in servicing alternative investment vehicles, such as hedge funds and separately managed accounts. IFA currently has servicing locations in New York, Bermuda and California.

Northern Trust was appointed by the trustees of the newly created plan, which was created from the merger of 13 legacy schemes within TotalFinaElf in the UK. Northern Trust has had custody of the Elf Exploration UK Pension Plan assets since 1989.

Stan Shelton, executive vice president of State Street, said: ‘FX Connect has concentrated almost exclusively on serving large global institutional investors and institutions. Our partnership with SunGard allows us to bring these efficiencies and benefits to the corporate marketplace in the most powerful way possible.’

FX Connect is the established leader in the multi-bank foreign exchange trading market with a market share estimated recently by Tower Group at over 70%. SunGard Treasury Systems is also an established leader among treasury management solution providers with a client base comprising over 50% of the Fortune 1000 companies.

In addition to core custody services, ABN AMRO Mellon will provide investment accounting, securities lending, performance measurement and analytics to the fund, which held approximately £700 million of assets across all classes at its most recent actuarial valuation.

Philip Nash, director of finance for the Council, said: ‘Our decision to appoint a global custodian was based on an increased need for consolidated reporting and the desire to benefit from value-added services. ABN AMRO Mellon demonstrated that it has the best systems, services and people to meet these requirements.’

As part of the deal, ING Investment Management (IIM) is appointing BNY as its global custodian. BNY will service the global assets of IIM’s Benelux operations, encompassing approximately EUR90bn. Once the alliance is effective, these global custody services will be provided through the new partnership. Dutch sub-custody services for BNY, for these assets and the alliance, will be provided by ING Bank. This will complement the long-standing sub-custody relationship between The Bank of New York and ING’s Belgian subsidiary BBL.

In September, ING and BNY announced a global arrangement to outsource ING’s international cash equities clearing and settlement operations to The Bank of New York in London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Brian Williams, the Council’s head of corporate finance, said: ‘Northern Trust’s excellent reputation in the market was a key factor in their appointment and the Council is already enjoying the benefits of sound working relationships with company personnel. The complex transition programme was effected with minimal disruption thanks to their expertise and professionalism. The Company’s Passport System is a particularly impressive and powerful reporting tool which meets our current needs and should provide the flexibility for future developments.’

Omgeo has also appointed Simon Farrington to lead the Americas client service and support team. Previously based in Omgeo’s London office and responsible for the integration and consulting team, he has been with Omgeo since 1998 and has led numerous successful initiatives in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Megan McKeever Costello, previously vice president at Reuters Consulting, also joins Omgeo as the director of integration and consulting in the Americas region. Farrington and Costello will ultimately focus on the successful, efficient and smooth implementation of Omgeo’s services as well as on ensuring continued high client satisfaction.

The other members of the committee, who were nominated by the chairman, are:

Richard Barber – Citibank NA; Shelley Bays – Aitken Campbell; Philip Bruce – London Stock Exchange; Sue Concannon – Halifax Share Dealing; Simon Davies – Lloyds TSB Registrars;  Barry Lewis – Credit Suisse First Boston; Mike Hines – Winterflood Securities; Mike Martin – HSBC Bank; Richard Pattinson – Barclays Bank; Michael Power – Cazenove; Trevor Spanner – Merrill Lynch International; Paul Swann – London Clearing House; John Trundle – Bank of England; Mike Williams – UK Debt Management Office.

In addition to the recent appointment of Ian Ratoff as head of European sales & marketing, the brand name for the securities services product range in the UK will become National Custodian Services. Clydesdale Bank plc will continue as the legal entity provider of trustee and depository services for the UK business. The business will continue to operate out of Glasgow with an enhanced presence in National’s head office in 88 Wood Street, London.

Terry McCaughey will continue to advise the National on strategic areas, and will be ‘a key driver of the strategy, leveraging his contacts, knowledge and experience’. Patrick Liddy, who returned to Australia in July, continues as head of global sales, marketing and strategy. In addition, he will be responsible for business strategies and product development globally.

National Custodian Services recently launched its master custody & fund administration service in the UK and reports a number of new clients. The product is using the Eagle PACE platform.

AIB/BNY, which employs over 340 people in Dublin’s IFSC, provides fund administration services, including fund accounting, fund administration and transfer agency services together with related services including global custody, trustee services, credit, cash management, foreign exchange and securities lending.

‘As we launch two new funds and increase our exposure to global markets, we decided to streamline our operations and improve efficiencies,’ said Albert Jónsson, chief investment officer of The Pension Fund for State Employees. ‘We selected State Street as they are the clear market leader in multinational asset servicing with a strong track record of providing the highest quality service. We were also impressed with their team and commitment to this marketplace.’

Jordan's focus will be to continue the growth of the fund services business in Dublin. Since 2000, Northern Trust has moved up in Fitzrovia's annual rankings of Dublin administrators from #20 to #8 in terms of assets under administration. To support this expansion and promote future growth, Northern Trust Dublin moved into new, expanded office space in Dublin's George's Quay in 2001.

Wills will return to Northern Trust's headquarters in Chicago and assume a new management position in its global fund services practice.

The purchase price is based on the total value of managed assets transferred to Northern Trust. Based on assets under management as of June 30, 2002 of $120 billion, the purchase price would be approximately $260 million, subject to adjustments.

Bill Osborn, Northern’s chairman and CEO, said: ‘This acquisition highlights Northern Trust’s commitment to the global investment management business. Our assets under management will increase to approximately $447 billion from $327 billion (based on assets under management as of June 30, 2002), placing us among the ten largest investment managers in the US and among the top three US institutional index managers. We estimate that this transaction will be very slightly dilutive to earnings in the first year and very slightly accretive to our earnings thereafter.’

The UK branch starts with the transfer of about GBP5bn of assets under custody, with a further GBP40bn expected by early 2003. Volumes are expected to exceed 1 million transactions in the first year of activity. Services will include local clearing and custody of equity, fixed income and derivatives as well as back office outsourcing for member firms of the UK stock and derivatives exchanges. Alan Drake, who formerly ran State Street’s UK operation, is manager of the London-based business.

ABN AMRO Mellon will provide global record keeping for all assets in these plans, in addition to accounting, performance, analytics, attribution and compliance monitoring services. Siemens was advised by its in-house consultancy arm Pension Advisory, a provider of investment consulting services.

‘Our decision to aggregate our pension assets data in this way is prompted by the desire to make the performance of asset managers globally comparable and to improve the speed of data availability for better management and disclosure of pensions risk,’ said Peter Scherkamp, head of finance strategies for Siemens AG. ‘ABN AMRO Mellon was selected on the basis of its systems flexibility, global presence and proven track record in record keeping.’

Through its brokerage and clearing services sector, BNY will provide ING with correspondent clearing services and fully disclosed clearing services to proprietary and institutional customer agency businesses. The services provided will vary geographically, and will include the generation of trade confirmations and statements, settlements of trades, and in certain locations, maintaining ING’s books and records.

The agreement will include the transfer of approximately 100 ING staff, primarily in London, who will become BNY employees, adding to the bank’s existing institutional broker/dealer clearing operations in London as well as its correspondent clearing operations in Asia and the United States.

Announcing the agreement, Jeffrey Tessler, BNY’s general manager, Europe, said: ‘We are pleased to provide ING with an outsourcing solution that will help them meet the challenges of today’s highly competitive marketplace. We are also proud to align ourselves with a top-tier market leader like ING.’

No terms were disclosed for the transaction, thought to be the largest in Europe for sell-side outsourcing.

The bank has been appointed by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas to provide a full range of investment administration services for its $80bn investment portfolio. The conversion of the assets has been completed. State Street will provide custody, daily accounting, daily performance, analytics, attribution, board reporting, cash management and securities lending services. In addition, State Street will continue to provide foreign exchange services, as it has since 1999.

Before joining JPMorgan in 2000, Gilks was chief operating officer of AXA Investment Management, UK. Prior to that he was managing director responsible for operations, finance and IT at AXA.

No one has contributed more to securities industry working parties, with his involvement stretching back to the ETC and ISITC initiatives of the early nineties. He was a founder member of the executive board of GSTPA and a member of the SWIFT Securities Steering Council, as well as sitting on the Thomson ESG/Omgeo European governance and advisory boards.

Ramy Bourgi, business executive for JPMIS in EMEA, said: ‘David has made a significant contribution to the development and definition of our outsourcing products, as well as a positive contribution to the GSTPA cause. David intends to retain an active role in the financial services industry but has decided to make this move in an effort to change his work/life balance.’

JPMorgan is supporting this platform in three ways. JPMorgan Fundshub in the UK is providing the technology for the trading platform. The system has been adapted and expanded to meet the requirements of the German market. J.P. Morgan AG, the regulated entity in Germany, will provide depositary banking services, thus complying with the German Safe Custody Act and regulations on securities trading. JPMorgan FundsHub supports JPMorgan in Frankfurt in the execution and settlement of subscription and redemption of investment units and related services.

‘Germany is a key part of our European strategy and through this alliance with one of Germany’s most respected financial services companies, we are able to "deliver the firm" and make available our broad range of dedicated distribution solutions to the German retail sector in Germany for the first time,’ said Ramy Bourgi, business executive, JPMorgan Investor Services, Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Plexus Group will be a wholly owned subsidiary operating under JPMorgan Investor Services (JPMIS). Inalytics will provide distribution and servicing support for Plexus products across Europe. Integration will take place immediately.

Chris Parrish, Group Treasurer for Yorkshire Building Society comments: ‘While we were happy with the services of our incumbent provider, we were extremely impressed with ABN AMRO Mellon's global custody and securities lending offerings, and their ability to tailor these to meet our specific needs. We look forward to a long and fruitful working relationship.’

The recommendations issued by the International Securities Services Association in 2000 and by the BIS/IOSCO in 2001 will be considered as key benchmarks. Due for completion by the end of January 2003, Euroclear's recommendations will take into account the local practices of the Chinese financial markets and China's legal framework. Euroclear has previously provided advisory services to Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Peru and Uruguay.

Euroclear Bank and Euroclear plc shareholders have approved the necessary changes in the companies’ Articles of Association. These changes provide for the appointment of independent directors, a deputy chairman, and new board and user committees which reflect the new corporate governance regime of the combined entity.

Completion of the merger is dependent upon meeting certain remaining conditions, including confirmation from the Office of Fair Trading in the UK that the merger is not to be referred to the UK Competition Commission.

Based in New York, Investec Ernst currently has more than 80 correspondent clearing relationships. As part of Fiserv Securities, this New York City facility and its 20 customer service personnel will continue to provide sales, marketing, client service and relationship management to the retail and institutional markets. Fiserv Securities will provide back-office clearing services and technology support.

Under the modified agreement, JPMorgan Chase will assume responsibility for the US-based investment accounting services that BNY currently provides. The Bank of New York will continue to service the London-based institutional investment management business of JPMorgan Chase – JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management. The final terms of the agreement will be determined at a later date.

That, however, is not quite the whole story. The US assets never transferred to BNY’s custody, and JPMorgan will now have to pay penalties because it is changing the agreement. Additionally, it appears that the scope of the UK agreement with BNY is likely to be broadened as an indication that JPMFAM is perfectly happy with the service it is getting.

The review covered administration and supporting IT systems but not any areas of customer contact, which will remain in-house. If a contract is agreed, all M&G’s administration service functions would transfer to IFDS and M&G would migrate onto IFDS’ FAST platform. Negotiations are expected to be concluded in the fourth quarter of 2002.

Under the Heads of Agreement, IFDS has committed to buy two M&G properties located in Chelmsford, Essex, and maximise career opportunities for M&G staff, creating jobs for the majority of staff transferring.

State Street will provide custody, accounting, expense budgeting and processing and financial reporting services for Columbia’s 40 Galaxy and 22 Columbia Funds. State Street has provided custody, fund accounting and financial reporting for Columbia’s Liberty Funds since 2000.

‘State Street's proven experience, technology and premier servicing team were key factors in our decision to appoint them to service our funds,’ said Joe Palombo, chief operating officer of Columbia Management Group. ‘We value the flexible solutions State Street offers, and our expanded arrangement should help us to advance our position as one of the world's 30 largest asset management firms.’

The decision to migrate from ISO 7775 to ISO 15022, taken by industry representatives in 1997, was based on the need for improved automation, increased risk mitigation and reduced operating costs.

All SWIFT securities users will automatically be registered for participation in the ISO 7775 MUG but will have the option to opt out at any point before or during its lifetime. Only users that are not ISO 15022-compliant will be charged for participation in the MUG. Charges will be based on a monthly non-compliance fee, which will increase over the lifetime of the MUG. Additionally, non-compliant users will incur a surcharge per ISO 7775 message sent. The level of compliance required will increase progressively during the lifetime of the MUG.

Jim joins IFDS from Cogent Investment Operations, where he was head of sales and relationship management for Cogent’s business in Europe for two years. Prior to this he was regional sales and relationship manager for Paribas Securities Services, based in Paris.

Ian Chimes, managing director of Credit Suisse Asset Management (UK Funds Limited) said: ‘We're delighted to further our existing relationship with Mellon. Our partnership over the last nine years meant that we were confident in knowing that Mellon could meet our requirements, merge some of the funds and have our operations up and running within six months of the acquisition.’

This new business expands on an existing relationship with Assante. Since 1997, State Street has acted as accounting agent and custodian for Assante's Artisan Funds and four of their Optima Strategy Funds with CAD $1.3bn in assets. In addition, State Street has been providing custody, accounting and fund administration services to Assante's SA Funds in the United States since 1999. Boston Financial Data Services, a jointly-owned subsidiary of State Street and DST Systems, Inc., also provides transfer agency services for these funds.

So far this year, State Street Canada has been awarded mandates totalling close to CAD$50bn.

JPMorgan says that the centralised repository, known as Global Market Reference Data (GMRD), is one of the first of its kind. GMRD works by centralising the capture, cleansing and delivery of asset indicative data, a composite of descriptive information that uniquely identifies a security and how it will operate over time. GMRD, which supports 4.5 million securities and actively maintains 1.2 million, uses 12 of the top automated data vendor products. While it currently supports only asset indicative data, GMRD will eventually support institutional information, prices, asset servicing notifications and client account data.

According to the Exchange, around £460m of this loss can be linked directly to problems identifying the securities involved in cross-border transactions. These include existing systems being unable to provide codes quickly enough for shortened settlement times, as well as difficulties providing codes for global securities or those with multiple listings.

As the UK’s national numbering agency, the Exchange is in discussions with data users and vendors to develop a solution that would be suitable for all global markets. If an appropriate solution can be found, it will be introduced as one of the Exchange’s new range of products. One proposal being considered is to change the SEDOL coding structure from a seven digit numeric to a seven digit alphanumeric code to create a hugely increased number of codes.

In practice, nothing much will change. Nadine Chakar, who has acted as managing director for the alliance since its inception, has been appointed as chief executive officer of the new company, and will head a managing board responsible for executive management. This will be overseen by a supervisory board consisting of four representatives from both ABN AMRO and Mellon.

Db Instruct is a component of db portfolio, Deutsche Bank’s integrated global securities services web platform. Its capabilities allow clients to access real-time information and monitor up-to-the minute progress of transactions.

‘The overall goal of SIA's earlier STP/T+1 programme to convert from T+3 to T+1 settlement by 2005 has been replaced by a set of challenging, straight-through processing goals to be accomplished over the next two years,’ said Allen Morgan, chairman of SIA's board and chairman and CEO of Morgan Keegan & Company. ‘This will result in significant benefits to firms and investors. The industry needs to focus on more effective straight-through processing before it is in a position to fully evaluate a conversion from T+3 to T+1 settlement,’ Morgan said. ‘We believe that the settlement period should be evaluated again in 2004.’

The SIA STP Steering Committee, made up of senior technology and operations executives drawn from the industry, will be chaired by Jeffrey C. Bernstein, senior managing director, Bear, Stearns and Co. Inc.

Hansard Financial has appointed BNY to provide transfer agency, depository, administration and custody services to its recently launched Open Ended Investment Company, Hansard Global Funds plc, valued at £450m.

Commenting on the appointment, Joe Kanarek, chairman of Hansard Development Services, the group distribution company, said: ‘With Hansard being a recognised leader in technology deployment in the financial sector, the technology of our servicing provider was key to this appointment. The Bank of New York was selected not only on the basis of its leadership in this field, but also on its leadership and specialist approach to fund servicing.’

Meanwhile, The Sherwin-Williams Company has selected BNY as master trustee for its defined benefit pension assets. As part of this appointment, BNY will also provide performance measurement and analytics, compliance monitoring tools and benefit disbursement services.

Commenting on the announcement Antoinette Hunziker-Ebneter, virt-x’s CEO, said: ‘The launch of a pan-European CCP structure in March 2003 will complete virt-x’s integrated trading, clearing and settlement model and is consistent with our strategy of establishing virt-x as the pan-European blue chip market of choice. This integrated straight through processing environment will further simplify the process of trading securities cross border and deliver real operational, risk and cost benefits to members.’

State Street will provide custody and fund accounting, and Boston Financial Data Services (BFDS) will provide transfer agency and shareholder services. BFDS is a jointly-owned subsidiary of State Street and DST Systems.

Nuveen selected State Street and BFDS based on their combined abilities to service the broadest requirements of mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs), from shareholder servicing to custody and accounting. According to Steve Foy, vice president of Nuveen, ‘We chose State Street based on its proven expertise in supporting both closed-end ETFs and traditional mutual funds, as well as their ability to provide quality service to investors and financial advisors.’

Chapman left Brown Brothers Harriman last year to join Pershing, having spent 11 years at BBH, where he was head of investor services and managing director of trustee services. Pershing is widely assumed to be for sale.

The merged entity will be providing services to the Euronext exchanges, the London Stock Exchange, the Irish Stock Exchange and virt-x, among others, as well as to a number of over-the-counter markets. The existing clearing arrangements involving Clearnet (in relation to Euronext trades) and London Clearing House (in relation to London Stock Exchange trades) will be unaffected, with the new group continuing to support the clearing arrangements of both central counterparties.

Under the terms of the merger, CRESTCo shareholders will receive 30.15 Euroclear ordinary shares for each CRESTCo share held, representing in aggregate 19 per cent of the fully diluted equity share capital of Euroclear following completion of the merger.

By early 2005, the new group expects to deliver a single settlement engine allowing customers to work with a single securities account for all securities serviced by the new group. From 2008, the plan is for customers to be able to access all group securities through one securities account, with one interface, one payment relationship and a choice of service levels and tariffs.

Chris Tupker will remain as chairman of Euroclear and Euroclear Bank. Sir Nigel Wicks, currently chairman of CRESTCo, will become deputy chairman of Euroclear and Euroclear Bank. Pierre Francotte will remain as chief executive officer of Euroclear Bank. Hugh Simpson will continue as chief executive of CRESTCo and will become an executive director of the board of Euroclear Bank and a member of the management committee of the board of Euroclear Bank. His responsibilities will include overseeing the business development of equities products across the new group.

As one of the largest providers of alternative investment services, IFS services over 100 large asset management firms and private equity fund managers, representing more than 350 funds globally. IFS is headquartered in New York City, with operations centres in New York and Dublin, and approximately 500 employees.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the third quarter and to be neutral to earnings in 2002.

Pioneer Investments is owned by UniCredito Italiano S.p.A, the Italian banking group, and manages over €111 billion assets worldwide. The company employs a total of 1,200 employees internationally, with over 180 investment professionals based in the regional investment centres in Boston, Dublin, Milan and Singapore.

IFDS will offer a full outsourced administration service for Schroders’ UK institutional and retail unit trust fund ranges. The contract term is six years and will become effective in the first half of 2003. This will include the redeployment of a number of staff from Schroders to IFDS.

From 19 July 2002, all transactions in securities listed on Euronext Paris, netted and guaranteed by Clearnet, will be eligible for the new Euroclear Bank stock exchange settlement service. Once Euronext Paris trades are netted, Clearnet will transmit instructions on a straight-through basis to the settlement platform chosen by the trading counterparties or their clearing members. Book-entry DVP settlement will be offered in commercial bank money at Euroclear Bank and in central bank money at Euroclear France.

Under these agreements, Pershing will make its securities processing services and technology solutions available to approximately 30 of Deutsche Bank Securities' retail correspondent clearing customers and the retail investors they support as well as to Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown's investment representatives. With the conversion of this additional business, Pershing will provide services to nearly 800 financial institutions, adding to the 4.2 million retail customers and $410 billion in client assets the firm already holds in custody on behalf of its introducing broker-dealer customers.

Pershing was given a very strong endorsement by its ultimate chief within CSFB. ‘Pershing is a key component of CSFB's financial services division,’ said Jeff Peek, CSFB's vice chairman and head of the financial services division. ‘We are committed to extending its leadership position at a time that is particularly opportune for outsourcing in the financial services industry.’

John Silletto, senior vice president and chief investment officer for Old National, said, ‘We chose BISYS over a number of other providers because BISYS has the superior technology and cutting-edge services that support Old National's growth strategies. We feel we are gaining not just a vendor, but a provider and a team of professionals who truly understand our needs and will be able to meet our exacting standards.’

Old National Signature Group is part of a $9.1 billion bank holding company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, which operates throughout Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Old National has approximately $6.5 billion in assets under management.

Prior to joining BNY, O’Leary was co-head of the emerging markets group at UBS Warburg in London. He had previously spent seven years at Bankers Trust, where he was most recently managing director responsible for derivatives distribution to financial institutions across North America. Before that, he spent four years at Citibank. He is a graduate of the National University of Ireland at University College Cork.

The UK retail clearing service will offer a comprehensive suite of services to execution only, advisory and discretionary private client stockbrokers and investment managers on a model A and B basis. These services include multi-currency execution, settlement and accounting services, detailed client record keeping and client reporting and cash management.

Gerald L. Hassell, president, The Bank of New York, said, ‘This strategic move expands our capabilities and offers UK brokers the opportunity to benefit from the cost, control and efficiency of the leader in clearing and global securities servicing outsourcing. Pressure on margins and potential capital adequacy changes in Europe are leading an increasing number of brokers to review their current back-office and clearing arrangements.’

TowerGroup thinks that the benefits surrounding a shorter settlement cycle are not compelling enough to force the SEC to mandate T+1 and are particularly weak for the buy-side and the individual investor. ‘A T+1 mandate on STP spending will significantly alter the industry's IT spending priorities, as well as force firms to give up their current or planned STP efforts,’ said Dushyant Shahrawat, TowerGroup senior analyst and co-author of the report. ‘This reallocation would represent a forced change in spending priorities for the industry - all for a regulatory mandate that has very little support among industry participants in the first place.’

‘We don't believe that the industry will green-light T+1 given the magnitude of the technology changes and technology risk factors, versus the soft benefit quantification from reducing the settlement period. These overlying concerns will become the focus of the industry when considering the immediate value of T+1,’ said Tim Lind, TowerGroup senior analyst and co-author of the report. ‘The only wild card in this analysis is the SEC, whose role will be a vital factor in determining if the industry will embrace T+1. While we believe the SEC will not mandate this project, it is difficult to tell how they will eventually react.’

Belo is a major US media company with a diversified group of television, newspaper, cable and interactive media assets.

State Street will service approximately $65 billion in custody and master recordkeeping assets and provide securities lending, transition management, daily valuation and performance measurement, cash management and FX trading services.

Minnesota State Board of Investment

State Street has expanded its 19-year relationship with the Minnesota State Board of Investment to service approximately $41 billion in assets. In winning the business, which was competitively re-bid through the RFP process last year, State Street will now provide US and global custody, accounting and securities lending, plan unitisation and accounting, cash management services, performance measurement and analysis, commission recapture services and FX trading to the state's investment portfolio.

State of Hawaii

State Street has also been retained by the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawaii to provide custody, securities lending, performance and analytics, and cash management services for the state's investment portfolio, valued at over $8 billion in assets.

This follows a review of the suppliers to Credit Suisse Asset Management Funds (UK) Limited following the acquisition of the investment management arm of Sun Life Financial of Canada’s UK business last year.

Hertfordshire County Council has appointed ABN AMRO Mellon to provide securities lending for the £1.7 billion Hertfordshire Pension Scheme, which covers all council employees. Hymans Robertson acted as consultant for the mandate. ABN AMRO Mellon continues to provide core custody, investment accounting and consolidated reporting, since its original appointment in February last year.

The University of Manchester has appointed ABN AMRO Mellon to provide core custody, cash investment vehicles and foreign exchange services for its administrative staff pension fund, the University of Manchester Superannuation Scheme. The mandate covers 22 global equity markets and assets valued at US$100 million. William Mercer acted as consultant.

Ascot Underwriting Limited, a new managing agency at Lloyd's backed by AIG capital, has appointed ABN AMRO Mellon to provide global custody and fund accounting services. The mandate covers US fixed income assets of approximately US$50 million.

The product bundles frequently required information into a simple Q&A format for ready access by investment managers. This capability then allows plan sponsors and other institutional investors to drill down and view daily performance, exposure, transaction, and asset information on all of their accounts.

State Street has had a relationship with Seligman for more than 14 years, providing fund accounting, fund administration and custody for Seligman's US-based and offshore investment companies and other collective investment products, totalling nearly $16 billion in assets. The expanded relationship will include trade support and settlement, portfolio record keeping, custodian communications for settlements, and systems network and applications support, all provided through State Street's Investment Manager Solutions business. In addition, State Street will provide administrative support to Seligman's managed account programme through its Wealth Manager Services business.

State Street intends to offer positions to Seligman staff assigned to operations that are scheduled to be outsourced. Seligman will retain all functions that involve client service and contact.

Meanwhile Standard Insurance Company has selected BNY Western Trust Company, an affiliate of The Bank of New York, as master custodian for the company’s financial assets. BNY Western Trust will provide custody and securities lending services for $2.5 billion in assets managed and administered by The Standard. The Standard is a provider of group disability, life and dental insurance products, serving more than 32,000 employer groups covering 5.5 million employees.

AMP acquired the asset administration business now known as Cogent as part of its purchase of Henderson in 1998 As at 31 December 2001, Cogent administered assets of more than euros229 billion (A$389 billion) for over 70 clients. Both Henderson Global Investors and AMP have undertaken to continue to use Cogent on similar terms for the next five years.

They succeed DTCC directors Jeffrey C. Bernstein of Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc.; Frank J. DeCongelio of Credit Suisse First Boston; Melvin B. Taub of Citigroup; and Edward A. Kwalwasser of the New York Stock Exchange. All four have retired from the board.

DML entered the private equity marketplace in 1993, and today, through relationships with 40 sponsors, administers more than 200 funds with aggregate committed capital of more than $24 billion. Its worldwide clients include many of the leading private equity fund sponsors. DML supports a broad range of private equity funds, including buy-out, venture, real estate, mezzanine debt, fund of funds, co-investment, employee plans, and carrier interest plans.

Norman Leben and Steven Millner, founders and co-managing partners of DML, will now serve as managing directors of the resulting BISYS business unit.

Information and analysis for Market View is gathered by BBH's network management group. The product suite is accessible over the Internet and through email in real-time, daily, monthly, and annual reports.

SIA will assess the industry’s projected costs and benefits of more efficient trade-processing systems over the next few months. At its July meeting, the SIA board of directors will examine the credit-risk benefits and the trade-offs between credit and operational risks if the clearing and settlement cycle were to be compressed to one day from three. The board will also study the goals and implementation strategy for straight-through processing, with and without a conversion to T+1.

Kittell said there are other policy issues that need to be addressed within the next few months, particularly the role of the regulatory agencies in the move to T+1. ‘Straight-Through Processing/T+1 has to date been an industry-driven initiative,’ said Kittell. ‘There are some in the industry who feel that this must be mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.’

Day, 55, has broad business experience and is a qualified accountant. He holds a number of other non-executive directorships and is chairman of Anglia Polytechnic University. He worked for many years at Henderson Global Investors, a major City investment manager, developing its presence in institutional fund management in the UK and internationally. He was a director between 1981 and 1996.

The global custody database will sit alongside Mercer’s web-based global investment manager database, which contains data on more than 8,800 investment strategies offered by some 1,700 management firms. Since its launch in 2000, it has been used in more than 1,500 manager searches, resulting in assets exceeding US$100 billion placed.

Milani was vice president of offshore product sales at The Bank of New York in London. Prior to that, she worked in State Street’s Canada office, where she was an account manager responsible for fund conversions between Luxembourg and Toronto markets. She also worked as a mutual fund accountant and senior fund accountant.

William Johnson, managing director of Aon Advisors (UK) Limited, said: ‘AIB/BNY Fund Management’s expertise and commitment to fund servicing was critical to our selection of a custodian and fund administrator.’

‘After a thorough analysis, it was judged that The Bank of New York’s proposal was the best overall proposal,’ said Rick Dubray, director of accounting for the State of Tennessee Department of Treasury. ‘We were very impressed with the bank’s risk management services, the strength of its client service team, and the robust functionality of its technology platform, INFORM, as well as its competitive pricing, all of which distinguish The Bank of New York as a leader in the securities servicing industry.’

Mellon now supports all of TCW's investment operations, including trade communication, reconciliation, valuation services and client reporting. In addition, Russell/Mellon Analytical Services provides performance measurement and attribution services across all TCW client accounts.

Meanwhile Jean Sheridan, executive vice president and currently WWOT group head, will join the bank’s corporate and institutional services (C&IS) business unit to manage a new group, the C&IS core services and strategy group, reporting to Peter Rossiter, C&IS president. In her new role, Sheridan will have responsibility for risk management & compliance, financial management, and the C&IS product, sales and marketing areas.

Frei was head of global custody marketing and sales for Pictet & Cie, based in Zurich. His prior experience also includes head of global custody marketing and sales at Swiss Banking Corporation and head of securities trust and information services at JP Morgan.

Fortis has custody assets of some €400bn. SAMS is a European provider of software solutions and services to investment management organisations. Clients include Allianz, Bank of Ireland, Capital, HSBC, KBC, Old Mutual, Scottish Widows, Threadneedle and UBS.

‘Several of Citibank's key investor clients who deal on the FX Connect platform have expressed their desire for a dealing relationship with us through this channel,’ said Richard Moore, head of global foreign exchange for Citibank. ‘This has been the driving force in our decision to offer liquidity through FX Connect and we look forward to participating actively.’

The FIA Foundation is a newly established charity, registered in the United Kingdom, with an endowment of $300 million made by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of world motor sport and the international association of motoring organisations.

The official explanation for these moves was pretty pathetic. ‘This decision of the GSTP AG Supervisory Board reflects the dynamics of the marketplace and the state of the economy as it has impacted our participants,’ said Jürgen Marziniak, the largely invisible CEO of GSTP AG. ‘axion4 has fulfilled its task of developing the GSTP solution. The restructuring provides an outstanding opportunity for a powerful launch of GSTP AG by linking concentrators and participants' communities and we believe this is in the best interest of the industry and our shareholders!’ So that’s all right, then.

The National Pensions Reserve Fund was established in October 2001 to meet part of the escalating cost of social welfare and public service pensions, arising from the projected ageing of the population. Ireland's ratio of working age population to pensioners currently stands at 4:1. By the year 2040, this will decrease to 2:1 - a pattern repeated to various degrees throughout Europe. There is a mandatory commitment to a funding rate of one per cent of gross national product annually and money accumulating in the Fund can not be withdrawn until 2025.

In its recent 'Pension Reform Barometer', Merrill Lynch identified Ireland as the most advanced EU member state in terms of the overall progress that it has made in reforming its public retirement system. Ireland scored highly due to low public debt, best performance in debt reduction and the highest living standard for pensioners.

Smollen will be based in London with Martocci and Boyd in New York. They will report to Thomas Röder, global head of interest rate derivatives and Roselly Ramseyer-Torres, deputy head of global equities.

The plan is to make better use of the Allianz Group asset pool, creating further yield enhancement for the respective asset holders within the Allianz Group and for external third-party clients.

Andrew Pisker, head of global debt, said: ‘These senior appointments reflect our ambition to create a substantial and market leading agency securities lending business. This initiative will increase the performance of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and further enhance our synergies with the Allianz Group.’

‘Bank of Communications is the fifth largest bank by assets and one of the five approved custodian banks to funds for domestic investors in China. This agreement will enable Northern Trust to gain valuable insights into the rapid developments in China in the pensions, insurance, mutual funds, and wealth management markets,’ said Peter Rossiter, president of corporate & institutional services at Northern.

• MetLife Investors has selected it to provide a full range of services including custody, fund accounting, fund administration and securities lending to its $2.5 billion Met Investors Series Trust. In addition, State Street will also serve as transfer agent for the trust. The trust currently comprises 23 portfolios.
• Credit Suisse Funds, advised by Credit Suisse Asset Management LLC, is expanding its five-year custody relationship to incorporate accounting and fund administration services for approximately 50 funds, representing close to $8 billion in assets.
• State Street will provide custody and accounting services to 48 ING Funds, formerly known as the Aetna Funds, with total assets of $18 billion. As with Credit Suisse Funds, this is an extension of an existing relationship; State Street is custodian to 56 ING Funds (initially called the Pilgrim Funds). The consolidation of ING's domestic fund accounting and custody services will increase ING's total assets under custody at State Street to approximately $29 billion.

TradeS.T.A.R.R. is a web-based application that measures, analyses and statistically ranks the settlement efficiency among broker-dealers, within and across markets. It is designed to help asset managers and broker-dealers analyse trade settlements and failures so they can better manage risks and contain costs.

"This is the tool that has been missing from our tool kit, complementing the traditional confirmation performance metrics used for measuring broker performance," said Domenic Costanza, BGI’s head of trade operations in Europe. "JPMorgan's TradeS.T.A.R.R. is a cost effective product that will help us improve our decision making process and alleviate operational risk due to trade failure - a capability of utmost importance especially with today's market volatility."

Using its proprietary RUFUS platform, BNY European Fund Services will support BGI’s newly created OEIC, comprised of 10 actively managed funds and one passive fund. The OEIC was launched on 4^th March and is available via IFAs and Fidelity FundsNetwork. BGI’s OEIC/unit trust assets under management total approximately GBP4 billion, positioning BGI as the 20^th largest OEIC/unit trust manager in the UK, according to the latest figures from the Investment Managers’ Association.

Hallman has worked for ABN AMRO Mellon since its inception in 1998, and previously headed the sales and marketing support team. He has worked with Mellon Financial Corporation for over 16 years, in a variety of sales and client relationship management positions.

ABN AMRO Mellon has also appointed Nina Clayton as product information manager. Reporting to Hallman, she will manage a team responsible for providing effective information to support new business generation. Clayton moved to London from her native Australia in early 2001, working for Beaumont Capital as marketing manager. Prior to this, she worked for Colonial First State, Australia's largest fund manager from 1997 until early 2001.

Additionally, it has been selected as custodian of the capital project funds for The Nature Conservancy. Mellon will provide custody and securities lending services, while Russell/Mellon Analytical Services, Inc. will provide performance measurement and analytics for the $1 billion endowment.

The bank’s responsibilities will include investing the assets, selecting and monitoring plan investment managers and selecting and monitoring funds offered as investment options under the savings plan. State Street will represent the plans' interests in the bankruptcy proceedings and in any lawsuits which relate to the plans. State Street will also coordinate with Enron's plan service providers.

In October 2000, SWIP appointed State Street to provide custody, trustee and investment administration services for its entire range of life, pensions and investment products. As part of the agreement, State Street integrated the investment administration functions of SWIP’s four component businesses: Lloyds TSB Life, Pensions and Investments (Andover), Scottish Widows (Edinburgh), Abbey Life (Bournemouth), and the former Hill Samuel Asset Management (London). Conversion began in the first quarter of 2001. State Street now generates over 500 unitised prices daily on behalf of the Scottish Widows funds.

ABF offers a range of equity, fixed income, and diversified products to domestic and international markets. The company has approximately $2.3 billion (EUR2.6 billion) under management. ABF Capital Management is a subsidiary of Credit Lyonnais Asset Management.

Separately, BISYS has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Hemisphere companies, a leading provider of outsourcing services for the rapidly growing hedge fund market. Hemisphere is the largest hedge fund administrator in Europe and the third largest globally. BISYS is acquiring Hemisphere from Mutual Risk Management Ltd. for approximately $130 million. Following regulatory approvals, this transaction should be completed by March 31, 2002.

Hemisphere provides an extensive range of outsourcing services, including fund administration, record keeping, regulatory and tax services, and corporate secretary and director services. Bermuda-based Hemisphere currently services funds with approximately $50 billion in assets under management from service centres in Bermuda, Boston and Dublin.

Over the past decade, ING has developed a reputation as a leading provider of custody services in Eastern and Central Europe. Assets under custody in the region amount to approximately $24 billion. ING’s custody services are available in Russia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Ukraine. Clients can access them directly through the local offices or via Amsterdam.

Capco has also appointed Bill Irving as President. Based in New York, he will be responsible for directing the company's overall business strategy and growth through solutions development and client relations. Irving was formerly global leader of the Capital Markets practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Additionally, Michael Enthoven has been appointed vice chairman. Enthoven will be responsible for leading Capco's banking segment practice, as well as key client relations in Europe and North America.

Mike Parsons, Cambridgeshire County Council director of resources, said: ‘I believe there are many advantages to be gained from the appointment of a global custodian, and I look forward to the improvements in accounting and reporting which this appointment will provide.’

Deutsche Bank and Cambridgeshire County Council already have an existing relationship. Deutsche Bank acts as custodian for the council portfolio managed by Deutsche Asset Management. The council also uses Deutsche’s securities lending services and performance measurement services from the WM Company.

Cormac Kelly, chief executive officer of Synetix, commented: ‘The recent research conducted by Reuters, Capco and TowerGroup confirmed that financial institutions consider reliable reference data as a key to achieving STP. Poor data management is costly to the financial services industry as a whole so it is now time to focus on the standardisation and accuracy of reference data. Moreover, participants need to ensure the consistency of that data across their organisations, and throughout the lifecycle of their transactions.’

This mandate is in addition to the $20 billion of assets for which Royal London Mutual Insurance Society appointed JPMorgan as custodian in April 2001, and the existing trust and custody services supplied to the $3 billion Scottish Life Unit Trust range.

Royal London moved its unit trust assets to State Street after Lloyds TSB withdrew from the business, and then went on to Deutsche through its connection with Bankers Trust.

‘While we welcome the contribution of the Group, which provides valuable insights into the underlying causes of the clearing and settlement problem in Europe, we believe that the challenge to provide appropriate infrastructure for a single European capital market is even more serious than the Group concludes and that there are additional causes of the problem that merit separate attention,’ the LSE says. ‘In our previous analysis of the extra costs incurred in Europe, we concluded that Europe's users would have saved €1.6 billion in 2000 if the markets were served by a European clearing and settlement system operating at the same efficiency as is achieved by the DTCC in the US. Our new analysis supports that conclusion. We calculate that users in Europe pay on average around six times per transaction more for clearing and settlement services than in the US. These differences arise from two sources - higher operating costs per transaction (around two-thirds of the total additional cost) and higher margins (in Europe currently an average of 29% compared with 0% by the DTCC).’

Those parties are thought to include RBC Global Services – formerly Royal Trust – and Mellon, both of which are keen to expand their UK fund administration franchises. RBC may have an advantage through its ownership of Perpetual Fund Services, the Australian custody, investment administration and unit registry business that it bought last year for AUD30 million, giving it a local presence to handle AMP’s administration and custody business.

Cogent has built up a good reputation as a fund administrator, scoring one of the first successes in the UK outsourcing market when it took over the back office of Aberdeen Asset Management in 1997. One very interested onlooker to the negotiations will be JPMorgan, which is Cogent’s preferred custodian.

Wolfgang Beynio, vice president corporate finance, Henkel Group, said: ‘Having been involved in the development of the Global Employee Share Programme right from the beginning, Deutsche Bank was the best fit for the custody and brokerage mandate.’

Since launching in April 2000, the company has scored three major successes:

• In June 2001 FundsHub’s first UK customer, Charcol Online, launched its internet-based funds supermarket, using infrastructure provided by FundsHub
• In May 2001 FundsHub announced its first German customer, the insurance group Gothaer, one of Germany’s most-respected financial services companies
• This was followed in November by the launch of Old Mutual’s new fund multi-manager Selestia, with the technology and operations solution provided by FundsHub

The business will now live in JPMorgan Investor Services, and the service will become one of its lead products in continental Europe for opening the door to relationships with fund companies. JPMIS has long maintained that distribution support is one of the key services required by fund companies, and now it has put its money where its mouth is.

Mark Tennant, JPMIS senior vice president, commented: ‘This additional commitment to FundsHub is evidence of our continuing belief in the increasingly important role that funds supermarkets will play in Europe as open architecture becomes the norm. Estimates from leading industry research companies suggest that funds supermarkets will be a very important method of fund distribution. One such survey, suggests that as much as 25% of net European inflow to funds will be via funds supermarkets by 2004.’

Evans was senior vice president at JPMorgan Investor Services, responsible for global business development, internal and external marketing, and communications. At present JPMorgan has no plans to replace him directly.

McGonagle joins Citibank from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where for the last three years she was a partner responsible for the strategic business consulting practice with the investment management industry sector. She has also held a number of senior positions at John Hancock Financial Services, including director of strategic planning.

McGonagle is chair of The National Investment Company Service Association International Committee and serves as a board member on the National Defined Contribution Council. She holds a BA degree in Economics from Regis College, a MSc degree in Finance from Boston College, and a MSc degree in International Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.

The offer will value Clearstream at €3.2 billion (US$2.76 billion). Cedel shareholders will receive €1.6 billion plus an amount representing the net asset value of Cedel's other assets, estimated at no less than €150 million. Shareholders of Cedel will have the choice to receive either cash or shares in Deutsche Börse, subject to an overall limit on the number of new Deutsche Börse shares to be issued. The offer is expected to be initiated no later than 28 February, 2002 and will extend for six weeks.

There are no plans for any compulsory staff reductions. In the longer term Deutsche Börse expects that the number of employees at Clearstream in Luxembourg will increase due to the anticipated growth of Clearstream. Luxembourg will remain Clearstream's headquarters location as well as the primary location for Clearstream´s operations. The construction and relocation to Clearstream´s new headquarters building will continue as planned.

The management of Deutsche Börse and Clearstream will be integrated in a combined management team. André Roelants will remain CEO of Clearstream and will also join the management board of Deutsche Börse as its deputy CEO. A further member of Clearstream's group executive management will be appointed to Deutsche Börse's management board. Robert Douglass will continue as chairman of Clearstream´s board of directors and it is anticipated that he will play a significant role in the new organisation. As soon as practicable, Deutsche Börse will recommend two new directors, to be agreed upon with Cedel and representing significant Clearstream customers, for election to Deutsche Börse's supervisory board.

Werner Seifert, CEO of Deutsche Börse, said: ‘When we announced the merger between Deutsche Börse Clearing and Cedel in 1999, we were on the threshold of creating something unique. Clearstream became the first clearinghouse of truly European scope. Today's transaction puts us on an equally exciting threshold. By seamless cooperation between all our businesses, we can create the most efficient, lowest cost securities processing chain. Our service levels will increase and we will accelerate the introduction of new products and services across all our businesses.

‘This is not the last step in the consolidation of European securities trading, clearing and settlement. Deutsche Börse is eager to consider cooperations, ventures, partnerships and acquisitions all along the chain: with other exchanges, CCPs, CSDs, ICSDs and even ventures with customers.

‘From its inception, Clearstream has recognised the importance of customer input and corporate governance structures that build confidence for our market participants. As consolidation accelerates through the European securities industry, Deutsche Börse will continue to respect the importance of market participants and will operate in a manner that gives them the loudest voice in determining the future direction of the market's development.’

Clearstream CEO André Roelants added: ‘I have been strongly encouraged by the backing for this exciting, new stage in the development of Clearstream that has come from major users like Barclays, Citigroup and ING. This deal will enable Clearstream to extend its strong growth record and to make even bigger improvements to its highly competitive service offerings to the market. The quality and skills of our people are complementary to Deutsche Börse and will be very much needed to deliver the full benefits of this deal to our customers.’

The acquisition will result in CIBC Mellon increasing its custodial assets under administration by approximately C$75 billion, bringing its total assets under administration to about C$560 billion.

In conjunction with CIBC Mellon's acquisition of TD Bank Financial Group's custody business, AGF Management Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary, AdminSource, has acquired TD Bank Financial Group's third party fund valuation and shareholder record keeping business. AGF is one of Canada's premier mutual fund and wealth management companies.

Saville has led CREST since the project's inception in 1993, and became chief executive in 1994. Sir Nigel Wicks, CRESTCo chairman, said: ‘Iain has been CREST's leader for the last eight years, during which period he has presided over the development of a world-leading settlement infrastructure based in London. He has also been a major force in stimulating open debate on the future structure of European markets. CRESTCo will miss him greatly, and I will be very sorry to lose his wise counsel and his wide experience. But he has now decided to move on to new challenges at Computershare. The Board thank him, and wish him every success.’

CRESTCo intends to undertake a formal recruitment process for the post of chief executive over the months ahead. Both internal and external candidates will be considered.

Including his time as chairman of Gartmore, one of Europe’s leading investment management firms, Myners has spent 32 years in various management positions including executive director of N. M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd and NatWest Wealth Management. Recently, he completed a review of the fund management industry for the British Government, reporting directly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Tom Renyi, BNY chairman and chief executive officer, said: ‘It is a pleasure to welcome Paul Myners to our board. He is a recognised leader in the financial services industry and his knowledge and advice will be indispensable as we continue to move forward with our strategic plan for our company.’

Kirby (43), who was once infamously described as a teddy bear on speed, joins from bolero.net, the trade finance portal that is a joint venture between SWIFT and the Through Transport Club, where he had been chief strategy officer since 2000. Before that he was executive director of the Global Straight Through Processing Association (GSTPA) for 18 months, and spent five years as director of securities, commodity and treasury markets at SWIFT. He first made his name in the securities industry as a business manager at Reuters, responsible for marketing commodities, treasury and equities products worldwide, as well as working as marketing manager for Instinet from 1991-1993.

Reuters has been relatively quiet on the STP front since it lost out as a joint bidder, with IBM and Equant, for the GSTPA contract to build the Transaction Flow Manager at the end of 1999.

Now UBS, the Swiss giant, has made precisely the same point. ‘UBS AG supports the horizontal approach to European capital markets including separation of ownership and control of clearing and settlement from exchanges,’ it said in a statement issued yesterday. ‘We were disappointed that the board of Clearstream decided to terminate merger discussions with Euroclear and pursue exclusive merger talks with Deutsche Börse AG. Thus, UBS has indicated to Clearstream and Deutsche Börse that it intends to move some of its assets. UBS action is dependant in part on the outcome of the Clearstream/Deutsche Börse talks. UBS believes this strategic decision is in the best interest of our customers, of our group, and of the capital markets in Europe.’

The exclusive period of negotiation between Clearstream and Deutsche Börse expires at the end of January.

• The ESF will enlarge its membership to reflect more fully the nationalities of the EU, and will invite the other major investment banks in Europe to join.
• It plans to recruit a successor to Pen Kent as executive chairman by April this year and will review its location with that person.
• Major policy decisions will be endorsed by a new advisory council of up to 10 very senior individuals from ESF members to maximise their strategic impact.

Pen Kent, executive chairman of the ESF, said: ‘I very much welcome these steps. Although we believe we have largely won the intellectual argument for a more efficient infrastructure for the pan-European capital market, there is still a long way to go to make it a reality.’

The joint venture, to be called Deutsche Börse Computershare GmbH, will be located in Frankfurt and will take over Deutsche Börse's IAB share registration bureau, which serves about 6 million accounts in Germany, or about 60% of the market. The joint venture will also use Computershare's proprietary SCRIP global registry management system to offer issuers additional products and services. The JV will be 51% owned by Deutsche Börse and 49% by Computershare and is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2002.

Based in Australia, Computershare manages more than 68 million shareholder accounts for over 7,500 corporations in nine countries on five continents. In the UK, it took over the combined RBS/NatWest share registration business when RBS started its retreat from securities services.

In a white paper that will be released later this month - Straight-Through Processing: A New Model for Settlement - DTCC will propose a new vision for settlement that would redesign the current system to provide customers with more centralised methods of controlling their securities transaction processing earlier in the settlement cycle. In addition to a new approach to transaction inventory management, the new model also puts forward new solutions for managing the central settlement system.

‘Our vision for transforming settlement will result in a more streamlined, safer and cheaper settlement system – one that will be ready for STP and T+1 and for greater integration with other settlement systems around the world,"’ said Don Donahue, managing director, Customer Marketing & Development Group. ‘It will also prepare the industry for increasing volumes ahead.’

Meserve, 40, will now be responsible for directing Westminster’s daily operations. Meserve has over 12 years’ experience in global public and private offerings and securities processing services, and was senior vice president at BNY for over 10 years, coordinating sales and marketing for the worldwide depositary receipts and securities processing businesses. Prior to that, he was a vice president at Citicorp/Citibank, where he was responsible for building the company’s depositary receipts client base.

‘Of the four very qualified candidates that we reviewed, The Bank of New York clearly offered the winning combination of a strong commitment to endowments and foundations clients, a pioneering technology platform, and a demonstrated leadership position in the custody business,’ said John L. Samuelson, vice president and chief financial officer of The Colorado Trust. ‘Furthermore, we were impressed by the strength and experience of the bank’s client service team and its ability to provide additional value-added services, including index fund management.’

‘Norwich Union, as the UK's number one insurer, is already a major force in the financial services industry, and we are keen to utilise technology advances to enhance our customer offerings,’ said Rob Davies, brand manager, norwichunion.com. ‘Our choice of administration partner is crucial to the achievement of this goal, and we selected Mellon on the basis of its proven track record, professionalism and ability in supporting a fund supermarket.’

Bizarrely, Jeremy Hester, head of UK business development for Northern and usually a pretty level-headed sort of person, said: ‘This is an extremely pleasing appointment for us so early in the new year’. Would it not have been quite as pleasing if it had come at some other time?

The first customer to sign up CitiConnect for Securities in Asia is the Fubon Group of Taiwan. Fubon said: ‘CitiConnect for Securities is a promising tool to market retail investors' international investments. It combines the functionality to meet the requirements of demanding investors with the performance needed to offer appropriate efficiency rates.’

CitiConnect for Securities offers clients end-to-end capabilities, including order routing, straight-through trading execution, settlement, and safekeeping of assets. To maximise efficiency, banks with retail securities customers can plug in additional Citigroup services as needed, such as foreign exchange, treasury, research and cash management. CitiConnect for Securities is currently in live operation with approximately 10 European clients.

The OCC charters, regulates and examines approximately 2,200 national banks and 52 federal branches of foreign banks in the US, accounting for more than 54 percent of the nation’s banking assets. Its mission is to ensure a safe and sound and competitive national banking system that supports the citizens, communities and economy of the United States.

EquiLend has come under fire recently for its apparent lack of progress, but it has also announced that it has completed the development of its global platform. This is currently undergoing testing with EquiLend's ten founding firms and remains on track to go live with Phase I in the first half of 2002, following receipt of applicable regulatory approvals. Phase I functionality will include availability, auto-borrow, one-to-one negotiations and comparisons in contract, billing and mark-to-market.

Ian Gunner has been appointed as Mellon's London-based head of foreign exchange research. He was formerly senior foreign exchange strategist at ABN AMRO. Gunner will focus on technical analysis and the assessment of positional and event risk in the near term, and overriding capital flow trends in the long term.

Peter Cera is named chief portfolio strategist for Mellon Global Foreign Exchange, based in Boston. Cera joins Mellon after four years as senior strategist at State Street Corporation. Cera will work alongside Russell/Mellon Analytical Services, providing clients with analysis of global investor risk positioning and related capital flows to identify investment patterns likely to influence asset prices and currency exchange rates.

Meanwhile in Ireland, Mellon Fund Administration (Dublin) Limited has appointed John Maguire as chief operating officer, responsible for fund accounting and transfer agency. Prior to joining Mellon, he was general manager of Clydesdale's trustee business in Dublin.

Bilbé has developed a reputation as one of the industry’s top rainmakers, having transformed State Street’s UK custody business into a major force. He led the team that won the Scottish Widows outsourcing mandate, and oversaw dramatic asset growth as well as strategic initiatives such as the joint ventures with the Bank of Ireland and Nedbank. But he was moved from his job as managing director of the investor services business in UK, Middle East, Netherlands and Scandinavia to a more strategic role, where he had far less client contact and involvement in the mainstream business.

Bilbé, who will work for Andrew Tucker, a partner based in New York, will be responsible for both relationship management and business development for clients serviced by BBH London.

Founded in 1980, Autranet is one of the largest providers of independently originated research services in the US, and maintains relationships with over 500 institutional investment managers. The company provides a full range of services covering every aspect of the third party research process including trade execution, operational and administrative support, research selection and procurement services and regulatory support.

Brady Dougan, managing director and global head of Credit Suisse First Boston's Securities Division, said, ‘CSFB is delighted that its successful and profitable Autranet subsidiary will join a company that provides it a strong strategic fit. In that sense, The Bank of New York represents the ideal positioning for Autranet, which can enhance the Bank's already successful platform in third-party investment services. This divestiture is consistent with CSFB's program of strategic business rationalisation.’

Under the terms of the agreement, State Street will outsource several existing development projects to the new Technology Centre. The Centre will serve as a research hub for State Street, where it can facilitate information services and technology initiatives in the region. The agreement marks the culmination of a multi-year relationship between State Street IT management and the University, including a six-month program in which several associate professors worked with professionals at State Street's headquarters in Boston to understand the business and technology. These professors and 15 research students are dedicated to the Technology Centre.

In June 2000, State Street entered into an alliance with the Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest state-owned commercial bank in China, that solidified a four-year collaboration in which ICBC officials participated in numerous State Street sponsored training programs and seminars in Boston and Hong Kong. State Street's investment management arm, SSgA, serves as the bank's external asset manager, and the parties cooperate with each other on custody and securities lending businesses, as well as exchange information on the latest market trends. State Street also advises ICBC on custody services, including process review and IT support.