J.P. Morgan has announced the formation of a Prime-Custody Solutions Group, a team responsible for delivering the firms integrated prime brokerage and custody platform to clients.
Previously, Bear Stearns was one of the only prime brokers that had offered custody benefits to clients. J.P. Morgan bought Bear Stearns in March 2008.
The new unit will serve hedge funds and asset managers seeking a combination of prime brokerage capabilities and securities services. Challenging market conditions have underscored the importance of partnering with a prime brokerage that can safeguard assets in a separate depository, said Devon George-Eghdami, managing director and head of the new unit. Building on our industry-leading prime brokerage and custody businesses, we are expanding our product offering and delivering those shared benefits to clients in a more efficient manner, she said.
George-Eghdami, previously the head of Hybrid Capital Trading, is based in New York and will report jointly to Michael Minikes, CEO of J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp. within Prime Services, and Sandie OConnor, global head of Financing and Markets Products within Treasury & Securities Services.
J.P. Morgans creation of the Prime-Custody Solutions Group comes at a time when hedge funds are launching long-only funds and, mindful of the problems that stemmed from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, looking for secure safe-houses to keep assets under custody.