Funds Industry – Rise of the Independents

The fund services industry has seen a lot of M&A Activity over the last 18 months with Apex Fund Services acquiring Deutsche Bank AFS & Equinoxe, SS&C acquiring Commonwealth & Confier, Sanne Group acquiring LIS, IDS & FLSV.

There has been a huge amount of consolidation in the fund industry space over the last 5 years and from speaking to people in the market many predict that there will only be 20 fund administrators in operation by 2020.

This is due to a lot of bank-owned administrators exiting the market and focusing on core business activities such as corporate and investment banking. Due to this strategic shift Independent, technology-focused service providers seem to be now leading the market.

Not all banks have decided to move away from industry and global players such as BNY Mellon, HSBC, Northern Trust, State Street and BNP Paribas remain the dominant bank-owned players.