Every year asset managers and other financial services clients take part in the R&M Investor Services Survey to score their service provider out of seven, rating them on performance in categories such as corporate actions, reporting, settlement and safekeeping, and client service and account management.
This year’s survey also included feedback from participants about the level of regulatory support offered by providers, a topic that has been pretty much the theme for this decade.
Commentary from survey participants revealed that the investor services industry is doing well with communicating and supporting clients along their regulatory journey.
Comments suggested firms were providing a “very good service” and giving “continuous updates”. Other respondents said that one service provider’s support “meets and exceeds our requirements for regulatory support” while another suggested that organised webinars were “informative”.
Overall scores
Keeping the top spot on the overall score table in the survey was Swiss asset manager Pictet. Although Pictet scored the highest at 6.24, its score decreased by 0.17 from its 2018 result of 6.41. One respondent revealed that Pictet’s service has been “terrific” while another described them as an “excellent operator”. One of the comments suggested that the “interaction with humans, not computers” adds a “personal touch” to its service.
RBC Investor & Treasury Services (I&TS) sits in second place with an overall score of 6.23. Participants were impressed with the “excellent services” provided by RBC. Others suggested that although “costs could always be lower”, the “quality of service is paramount” and “wouldn’t opt for a less expensive product that impacted negatively on that”.
Last year there were “too few responses” received for HSBC to appear in the overall table. However this year, HSBC jumped straight into third, with 5.99. Survey participants said: “HSBC has improved noticeably in many areas during 2018 and has shown a commitment/intent to maintain this.”
Another client explained that the service received from HSBC has “always been very good as is the relationship we have with them. Any issues raised are listened to and acted upon quickly to resolve the issue”.
In fourth place stood Northern Trust, who scored 5.91, the same score as the previous year.
Following Northern Trust was BNY Mellon, dropping 0.02 to an overall score of 5.46 while J.P. Morgan came in sixth scoring 5.45, a decrease of 0.15 from last year.
At the other end of the table was BNP Paribas in seventh. Although it only dropped 0.01 from its score last year, clients were concerned by the lack of a “centralised point of contact for all relationships”.
Citi, another newcomer to the table, was placed in ninth receiving an overall score of 5.16. Although the service provider made the table this year, survey participants suggested that there could be “improvement in client service experience with increased familiarity with our accounts”. However, others noted that there have been “very few issues with Citi as custodian”.
Top 200 asset managers
The survey also looks at how the top 200 global asset managers rank. Taking the top spot was HSBC, who moved from fourth, knocking Northern Trust down a place. Clients suggested that HSBC “consistently provides a high level of service” while another explained that “client service and relationship management has shown improvements [over the last year]”.
Experiencing the biggest loss was Northern Trust scoring 5.43, leaving them in second place. Although the firm dropped a place, respondents said that Northern Trust provides them “excellent reporting regarding trade settlements, and has provided extra resources when necessary to ensure high priority settlements”.
J.P. Morgan and BNP Paribas also dropped a place to third and
fourth, respectively.
At the bottom half of the table, State Street and BNY Mellon came joint fifth. However, both companies experienced an increase in their score from last year.
Those surveyed noted that they had “delays in resolving issues” while others said they have “seen an increase in quality and timeliness around reporting”.
Although Citi took the last place, it saw the biggest score increase of 0.33. The firm’s score jumped from 4.69 last year to 5.02 this year. Comments from respondents noted that although there is an “excellent network, regulatory updates could be
communicated better”.
The experts
When it comes to ‘the experts’ results, that is, results from respondents that work with five or more providers, BNP Paribas jumped 0.23 to top place.
One expert explained that BNP Paribas is the only custodian which “process[es] manual proxy votes with us, and they are extremely flexible with deadlines, and demonstrate good ability to tackle complex events”.
Meanwhile, experts noted that J.P. Morgan, which came in second place, noted that the “custody service is strong” and “engagement continues to be very good, frequent and progressive in approach”.
BNY Mellon moved into third, while Northern Trust dropped a place to fourth. Citi jumped from its seventh spot last year to fifth also
scoring 5.08.
State Street scored lower down the table in sixth. Comments from survey participants suggested that State Street’s “services controls have declined in several areas” while another said that there has been a “continual decline in service quality, accuracy, and increase in errors”.
Although HSBC sits in seventh, the bank did see an increase of 0.28 from its 2018 score. However, respondents suggest that its HSBCNet “is very clunky compared to new systems launched over the past three to five years” and “is not the easiest online portal
to use”.
Geographical outlook
Sitting top of the ranks in the UK and North America is RBC. It also ranked second in Mainland Europe and the rest of the world.
Although RBC knocked Pictet off the top spot for the UK and North America, it held its place at the top for the rest of the world ranking. Pictet ranked second for the UK, Switzerland and North America, while coming in third for Mainland Europe.
HSBC jumped from the bottom of the table to third in the UK, and was a newcomer to the rest of the world rankings. J.P. Morgan secured a place in the UK, Mainland Europe, North America and the rest of the world while Credit Suisse topped the ranks in Switzerland as well as Mainland Europe.
