Corporate Service Providers
Trends & Challenges
- Corporate Service Providers are a dynamic and rapidly growing sector providing a wide range of administration and fiduciary sevices to investors and managers of funds, corporates and private wealth throughout the world. The sector is rapidly consolidating with multi-jurisdictional businesses operating across established and emerging finance centres both onshore and offshore.
- There are large public players, but private capital has been the driving force in the development of the sector, attracted by the long-term customer relationships, increasing demand for outsourcing, opportunities for economies of scale and potential benefits of automation and digitisation.
- The pace of consolidation is accelerating with the emergence of a small group of very large players. There are also public to private transactions and IPO activity.
- However, realising the potential benefits of consolidation has been more challenging than expected for some firms. The investment required in technology and integration needs to be matched with suitable skills and capability that are not readily available.
- In addition, the regulatory environment for these firms is complex. With a significant number of regulated activities in multiple regulated jurisdictions across the world, regulators have yet to formalise the lead regulator concept for the sector. Effectively managing risk, reputation and local responsiveness requires increasing sophistication from firms especially when they are responsible for very substantial assets under administration throughout the world.
- Key challenges faced by the sector include:
- Meeting and exceeding rapidly evolving customer demand for responsive, customised service which is digitally enabled.
- Demonstrating to regulators that increasingly stringent AML/CFT, ABC and sanctions requirements are met around the world, particularly when serving a highly international and privacy focussed clientele.
- Obtaining sufficient scale and breadth to service the most complex client needs whilst keeping costs down against a backdrop of fee pressure for clients.
- Managing risk and complexity across the business when a contentious matter in a single client structure can incur significant liability and consume management time.
- Creating a unifying culture across organisations rapidly assembled through acquisition where competition for talent is fierce.
- Delivering the scale of technology investment and implementation to enable leading edge performance and reduced cost to serve.
- Achieving the growth in revenue and particularly EBITDA to support the historically high multiple valuations paid by investors.
Case Studies
Regulatory response and Market Exit
- We supported a tier 1 bank in the remediation of its related trust company client base under intense regulatory scrutiny.
- Following a decision to exit the jurisdiction and certain client regulatory issues, the trust company was required to undertake a full remediation programme with limited management and team capacity.
- We established and ran the PMO reporting to the responsible country executive, line of business and regional leadership stakeholders. We resourced and delivered the review and remediation activity across the business under a high level of regulatory oversight. We developed the business’ wind down and liquidation plan.
- We provided support to the client throughout the remediation, wind down and closure process. We are currently liquidating the residual business under court supervision with a number of litigation matters and are continuing to engage with regulators and bank leadership.
Project management
- A regulated fund management company with a large number of corporate and unit trust fund structures which had reached the end of their lives. There was also a shortage of management resources and expertise to conclude the wind downs.
- We were approached to act as retained liquidators and restructuring advisors to project manage the wind down and liquidation of the portfolio.
- We reviewed the specific issues relating to each entity or structure and advised the client at each stage of the process on the most efficient means of winding it down. This included advice on a range of scenarios involving both solvent and insolvent entities, both with the local management team and with individuals in other parts of the group where necessary. We acted as liquidators to numerous Guernsey companies, coordinated liquidation of companies in the BVI and advised the directors on the steps required to terminate the trusts.
Investigations
- Following a change of management, a trustee identified certain concerns with historical record keeping and activities within administered trusts.
- We were appointed to support the trustee in investigating a number of trust structures spanning a number of decades.
- By forensically reconstructing the transaction history, we supported the trustee’s consideration of who should be considered the settlors of the trusts with related implications for tax status, reporting and liabilities, market manipulation and other potential financial crimes in multiple locales.
- Our work enabled the continuation of the business and for new management to maintain the confidence of the regulator while dealing with the multiple challenges arising from such issues.
- There are a number of continuing and potential regulatory and law enforcement activities drawing on the output of our work.
Key Contacts
Regulatory Information
Teneo refers to Teneo Holdings LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. Securities products and services are offered in the United States by Teneo Securities LLC, member of FINRA and SIPC.
Details of the entity providing services, legal and regulatory information in respect of the Teneo entity are also included in our engagement letters.
Teneo Financial Advisory (DIFC) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority for the provision of Advising on Financial Products or Credit and Arranging Credit or Deals in Investment services
Please see Terms of Use for full legal notices and further information.
Specific information relating to our regulated entities which provide services to clients is detailed below:
| Registered Name | Legal Form | Registration Location and Reference | Registered Office | Data Protection | Regulator(s) | Professional Indemnity Insurance |
| Teneo Financial Advisory Limited | Limited Company | England & Wales, 13192958 | 5th Floor, 6 More London Place, London, SE1 2DA | UK - ZA920639 | The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (“ICAEW”) C008873136. All insolvency practitioners are licenced by the ICAEW. ICAEW Designated Professional Body licence for a range of investment business activities. | Details of the professional indemnity insurer can be provided on request. |
| Teneo Securities LLC | Limited Liability Company | USA - Delaware | 280 Park Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10017 | N/A | Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) #151256. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). | Details of the professional indemnity insurer can be provided on request. |
Teneo Securities LLC’s Business Continuity Planning
Teneo Securities LLC has developed a Business Continuity Plan (“BCP”) on how we will respond to events that significantly disrupt our business. Since the timing and impact of disasters and disruptions is unpredictable, we will have to be flexible in responding to actual events as they occur. With that in mind, we are providing you with this information on our BCP.
The Firm has developed and installed a BCP in the case of any business disruption that causes the Firm to have limited or no communications with its employees or customers. Our plan anticipates two types of business disruptions, internal disruptions which affect only our Firm’s ability to do business (such as a fire in our building) and external disruptions that prevent the operation of securities markets or other firms (such as natural disasters or acts of war).
The Firm intends to stay in business during both internal and external disruptions due to the fact that the Firm employees can conduct Firm related business from alternate off-site physical locations and the Firm maintains an alternate location for the maintenance of its books and records. We anticipate that the Firm will recover from internal business disruptions within 24-48 hours. An outage due to an external business disruption may be longer and is beyond the control of the Firm. However, the Firm will endeavor to resume business as soon as it is possible for the Firm to establish business operations from alternate off-site physical locations.
The Firm’s BCP specifically addresses the following areas related to Firm operations:
- Data back-up and recovery (hard copy and electronic);
- All mission critical systems;
- Procedures to test and determine the Firm’s ability to do business (i.e., financial and operational assessments);
- Alternate communications between customers and the Firm;
- Alternate communications between the Firm and its employees;
- Alternate physical location of employees;
- Critical business constituent, bank, and counter-party impact;
- Regulatory reporting; and
- Communications with regulators.
If you have questions about our business continuity planning, you can contact us (212) 886-1600.
