Funds Europe’s annual survey of the funds administration sector shows that 2019 was a good year for the industry, but the covid crisis will make 2020 different from anything that has gone before.
Almost without exception, the nine large fund administrators that took part in our annual survey of the third-party fund administration sector saw healthy increases in their assets under administration as a decade-long bull market ran what turned out to be its final course.
With assets under custody/administration of US$37.1 trillion (€34.3 trillion) at the end of December 2019, BNY Mellon – by far the world’s largest custodian bank and asset servicing firm – remains at the head of the table in terms of the size of its assets, which rose 12.08% from $33.1 trillion at the end of 2018.
It was also a vintage year for JP Morgan, which saw its assets under administration rise 24.28% from US$9.16 trillion at the end of 2018 to US$11.39 trillion by the end of 2019.
Meanwhile, SGSS saw a small dip in its total assets under administration from US$719 billion at the end of 2018 to US$713 billion at the end of last year.
When it comes to assets under administration in Ucits funds in Europe, State Street, JP Morgan and BNY Mellon retained their top three places at the head of the table from 2018, while Caceis and Northern Trust remained in positions four and five respectively.
Since the end of 2019, the global business environment has of course changed markedly, with some economists warning that the world economy has entered its biggest slowdown since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
