GLOBAL – AXA Investment Managers says it remains committed to its €300bn outsourcing deal with State Street - despite the occasional “bad day” between the two firms.
At stake is an outsourcing deal covering 1,500 portfolios and more than 300 staff.
AXA was responding to talk that all was not well at the client relationship management end of the deal. The situation may be complicated by State Street’s recruitment of AXA IM’s former global operations chief Steve Wisson in October.
Another factor may be the departure of the Boston firm’s UK asset servicing chief Jeff Conway, who is set to return to HQ at the end of this year.
“We’ve made a long-term commitment,” said an AXA spokesman. “It’s like a marriage – you have to compromise on certain issues. You have good days and you have bad days.”
He stressed that AXA would still choose the same provider if it had to do so again.
Several large outsourcing projects have foundered recently. In November F&C ended its project with Mellon Financial Corp. And in July Schroders pulled a similar deal with JP Morgan.
AXA and State Street announced a year ago that the first of more than 300 staff had transferred to the provider. The deal - covering middle office, fund accounting, performance measurement, fund administration and investment support – was first announced in March 2004.
State Street spokeswoman Hannah Grove declined to comment.
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