Mellon usurped the top spot from Citigroup in the annual R&M survey of Dublin trustee services in the Irish market.
State Street stood in second place having last year not received enough responses to qualify for entry. Citigroup fell to the third spot.
The number of responses received increased by nearly 50% to 59. The total value of assets covered in the survey was in excess of EUR 156 billion, although many respondents didn’t reveal the size of assets they had with their trustee.
The other bank to have significantly increased its score was AIB / BNY with a gain over its performance in 2004 and a move from last place to fourth.
“This year the overall average score declined,” said Richard Hogsflesh, CEO, R&M Surveys. “There may be several explanations for this, not the least of which is the strains of expansion in the Dublin market putting pressure on continuity and availability of staff,”
There was also a change in the way respondents ranked the importance of different aspects of the service. The survey found that in 2005, ongoing trustee monitoring of such things as investment and borrowing powers, breaches and pricing checks was considered the most important followed by the provision of regulatory and technical advice. The quality of personnel, last year’s most important aspect of service, was third in the 2005 list.
The survey was conducted during October and November 2005 and was aimed at fund promoters using Dublin as their chosen domicile for retail and institutional funds. It does not cover hedge funds which may be administered in Dublin but are domiciled elsewhere.