ISIS Asset Management, a UK fund manager, has reached a preliminary agreement with JP Morgan to outsource a number of its operational functions. The main aim, says ISIS, is to build an operational platform that is scaleable to support its ambitious growth plans.
“We are already one of the UK’s top ten asset managers,but our strategic goal is to become one of the top five by 2007,” says Howard Carter, Chief Executive Officer of ISIS Asset Management. “To help us achieve that goal, we reviewed our operational model to ensure that it is both scaleable and that it is flexible enough to respond to future regulatory and market changes. We are committed to delivering a business model which offers our clients the high service standards they both expect and deserve. Our review concluded that the way forward was to partner with a larger organisation that specialises in operational administration.”
ISIS reviewed a number of potential partners before selecting JP Morgan. CSTIM Ltd, the specialist London-based consultancy in the investment management industry, assisted ISIS in the selection process.
“This is a major development for ISIS, following on from the successful integration of Royal & Sun Alliance Investments,” says Carter. “It will enable us to focus our technology investment on our core activities and improve the way our costs are aligned to our revenues.”
A key aspect of the deal for ISIS is the fact that all the staff affected at the London and Edinburgh offices of the company will be offered jobs in their current location. Around 70 of the 500 staff at ISIS will transfer to JP Morgan.
“Staff affected by this major outsourcing project will become part of an organisation that has a strategic objective to develop as a premier investment services business,” says Ken Back, Chief Operating Officer of ISIS Asset Management. “This transaction not only provides our existing operations staff with job security, it should significantly enhance their prospects for career development.”
“We have had a long-standing relationship with ISIS and are delighted they have chosen to appoint us as their partner to support their operational platform going forward,” concludes Ramy Bourgi, Business Executive Investor Services Europe, Middle East and Africa. “The transfer of expertise from ISIS to JPMorgan will be a key foundation in developing a market leading administration proposition for the asset management community.”