Standard Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chicago-headquartered financial services company Northern Trust, to partner on the delivery of transition management services across Southern Africa.
Under the partnership, Standard Bank’s clients will gain access to Northern Trust’s full suite of transition management services. Transition Management is a core offering at Northern Trust and a business that they have offered to institutional asset owners and asset managers for over thirty years.
Transition management is the process of efficiently shifting from one asset manager or investment strategy to another in a manner that mitigates risks and supports expense management.
“With heightened market volatility, the risks associated with portfolio restructuring, increases,” says Craig Blackbourn, Head of Transition Management for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific at Northern Trust.
“We look forward to partnering with Standard Bank and their clients, to create cost-effective strategies, supplemented with robust project management, to help mitigate these risks. Through the implementation of customised execution strategies, we manage the complexity attached to high volume asset transitions, supporting protection of the economic value of the portfolio,” Blackbourn adds.
“This partnership agreement expands Standard Bank’s longstanding relationship with Northern Trust,” says Charl Bruyns, Head of Investor Services and Financial Institutions at Standard Bank Group.
“By partnering with a global leader in this space, Standard Bank is further enhancing its transition management offering and strengthening its overall investor services business,” Bruyns adds.
“Transition management has become an increasingly complex undertaking in recent years, given that more investment managers, stakeholders and strategies are involved in the process,” says Bruyns. “Northern Trust’s proven capabilities in this space will allow us to better service our clients as they restructure their assets.”
The partnership will focus on the Southern Africa region, predominantly South Africa.