ConBrio Fund Partners has appointed Cooper Wood & Associates to manage the search and selection process for a new UK custodian, depositary and administrator.
The provider will be responsible for ConBrio’s approaching £2 billion fund complex, following the withdrawal of services for regulated UK funds by their existing provider, Societe Generale Securities Services.
Launched in June last year, Cooper Wood & Associates specialises in asset servicing, with a proposition of using senior practitioners with direct industry experience to assist both buy and sell-side firms manage their commercial and operational challenges.
Tim Wood and Rod Cooper founded the firm and have a combined experience of over 50 years and have spent this period working at the epicentre of asset servicing, both as suppliers and clients.
Mark Friend, senior associate at Cooper Wood & Associates, states: “We are delighted to be able to assist ConBrio, and use our direct experience of asset servicing procurement and delivery to ensure that they achieve the optimum outcome from a vendor selection process.”
He says: “Not only do our team have direct experience of working in senior positions at a number of custodian banks and know the market landscape extremely well, but we also have extensive experience as COO’s of fund and asset management companies in procuring services."
Friend, who joined the consultancy in September last year, suggests there will be further rationalisation in the UK funds servicing arena.
John Eckersley, managing partner and co-owner of ConBrio, explains: “We are a fast growing and dynamic firm and it’s important for both ConBrio and our investors that we can find asset servicing solution that meets our exacting standards for current and future needs, but without allowing any search to distract us from our day to day priority of servicing our clients.”
“Cooper Wood & Associates have hit the ground running, and through their expertise we are confident we will find the right combination of price and capability which will help take our business to the next level,” Eckersley adds.
The asset servicing consultancy firm recently expanded its team with the addition of Nick Emmins, a market practitioner and non-executive director of Lazards Fund Managers.
With more than 35 years of experience, Emmins joined after working for a combination of insurance companies, asset managers, asset servicing firms and an international fund platform.
