Northern Trust is perceived as an organization that doesn’t take huge risks. But in response to this, the firm’s culture says your assets are safe with us. There’s also a leading-edge dimension to it, a willingness to push some envelopes, Wim van Ooijen and Gil Platteau of Northern Trust in Switzerland explain.
Northern Trust has been servicing large Swiss institutional investors for almost 30 years, why does it feel as if the firm is still so unknown in Switzerland?
As a 131-year-old global financial institution with $12.1 trillion of assets under custody/administration and $1.3 trillion assets under management (as of 30 June 2020), we are by reputation and culture a conservative, tightly-managed institution underpinned by a «fortress balance sheet» and count a diversified workforce as one of our strongest assets.
Very much aligned with Swiss corporate values, our vision is to be our clients’ most trusted financial partner and this is what our focus is on.
«We’ve undertaken an ambitious digitization effort across all our business lines»
We’re not an organization that aims to be all things to all clients. Instead, we take a highly focused approach to ensure the services – asset servicing, asset management and wealth management – we provide are relevant to our target clients. As a company, we invest approximately $3.4 billion in technology over rolling three-year periods, and in recent years we’ve undertaken an ambitious digitization effort across all our business lines.
Our reputation depends on our reliability and resilience and these come to the fore in difficult environments such as the current pandemic, where business resiliency plans have been put to the test.
«We have a significant client franchise which includes some of the world’s most sophisticated asset managers»
While it may not be glamorous, asset servicing is a very important part of the financial system that everyone relies on, and we can provide stability for institutional investors with platforms that are global, stable and secure.
How has Northern Trust’s asset servicing business in Switzerland evolved to-date?
There have been a number of milestones in our Swiss journey, the most visible being when we established our first office in Switzerland in Basel back in October 2017, following our acquisition of the fund administration units of UBS Asset Management.
What is the ambition of Northern Trust in Switzerland over time?
We have a significant client franchise which includes some of the world’s most sophisticated asset owners and managers. We want to build on this as a natural evolution of our business in this strategically important market.
«We provide a broad range of asset servicing solutions for our Swiss clients»
So we’re continuing to invest in our local team – for example, Gil Platteau joined our local senior leadership team just over a year ago – to ensure we have an intricate understanding of our Swiss clients’ unique needs and this enables us to evolve with our clients.
We provide a broad range of asset servicing solutions for our Swiss clients including fund administration, transfer agency, global custody, middle- and back-office outsourcing, and Integrated Trading Solutions and treasury solutions, and our intention is to continue building out our local service and solutions offering.
What are the main challenges for Asset Servicer providers in Switzerland?
It’s important the industry continues to maintain its global competitiveness. Switzerland’s asset servicing industry supports a comprehensive range of funds which historically looked for a provider that could offer depositary banking, custody, fund administration and management company services as a package.
«Fintechs have also in the last few years increased the pace of innovation in Switzerland»
Going forward, clients may look to break open this value chain and find the «best of breed solutions» for various components.
These trends and developments can be addressed by a focus on partnership models and joint solutions to bolster non-core elements and drive the Swiss asset servicing industry forward. A combination of local Swiss understanding of client needs plus a global asset servicing platform should benefit both clients and local and international asset servicing providers.
How are asset servicers responding to the boost in innovation and enhanced technology?
The material growth of the Swiss financial technology sector we have witnessed over the past years has increased the necessity for asset servicing providers to adopt these innovations for the benefit of their clients and the asset servicing industry as a whole.
Fintechs have also in the last few years increased the pace of innovation in Switzerland, which is bringing structural changes to the industry.
Northern Trust is perceived as an organization that doesn’t take huge risks, but in response to this what we’ve done is to show that a culture that says your assets are safe with us can also move quickly and change. Our organization is innovative, thinks strategically about technology and has to because that’s the way the world’s going.
Wim van Ooijen: As Country Head of Northern Trust’s business in Switzerland, he manages the Basel-based office and delivery of all asset servicing solutions for investment managers, asset owners and financial institutions in the market. He joined Northern Trust in 2004 from KAS Bank N.V. and served as Country Head of Northern Trust’s business in the Netherlands prior to his current role.
Gil Platteau: Currently Senior Vice President and a member of Northern Trust Switzerland’s senior leadership team, he manages key relationships with institutional investors in Switzerland and across EMEA. He joined Northern Trust in September 2019 and brings 20 years of industry experience including senior roles at Rothschild Asset Management, Barclays and Mercer Delegated Solutions in Zurich as Country Head.
