Northern Trust has been appointed to provide fund accounting, transfer agency and global custody services to Fundsmith’s Luxembourg-domiciled umbrella, Fundsmith SICAV.
Headquartered in London,with offices in Mauritius and Connecticut, US, Fundsmith has more than £33 billion (approximately $45 billion) of assets under management as at 31 December 2020.
Fundsmith SICAV was launched in 2011 to enable investors to access the Fundsmith Equity Fund strategy through a Luxembourg-based Société d'Investissement à Capital Variable (SICAV) fund.
The fund currently has €6.4 billion of assets under management as at 1 June 2021. During March of this year a new strategy — Fundsmith Sustainable Equity Fund — was added to the Luxembourg Fund range.
In addition to its Luxembourg SICAV, Northern Trust acts as the fund administrator and global custodian to several of Fundsmith’s UK and US-based funds.
Across its fund range, Fundsmith is also using Northern Trust’s outsourced trading capability called Integrated Trading Solutions.
This solution combines worldwide trading expertise in equities and fixed income with access to global markets, extensive trading locations, high-quality liquidity and an integrated middle and back office service, according to Northern Trust.
Toby Glaysher, head of global fund services, international at Northern Trust, comments: “Northern Trust’s technology, investor servicing and trading capabilities make us well-placed to comprehensively support Fundsmith’s business planning and range of investment strategies – and this extension of our relationship reflects the strong synergies between our organisations.”
Simon Godwin, partner at Fundsmith, says: “Selecting Northern Trust aligns with our approach of working with leading service providers to deliver high-quality operations for our funds. As our clients invest with us, we are focused on providing them with high levels of support and efficient onboarding processes.”
“Northern Trust's ability to deliver these via its transfer agency services was therefore a particular factor in this appointment, along with its continuing investment in these capabilities,” adds Godwin.
Elsewhere, new business from large corporate and public retirement plans has boosted Northern Trust’s defined contribution global assets under custody and administration past $1 trillion.
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