Brown Brothers Harriman
In May this year, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) was appointed as custodian and fund administration provider to Dublin-based Merrill Lynch Global Selects Programme. It has to utilise seven of its global offices to service the programme, which consists of 82 share classes with investment advisers in six countries across three continents.
The win is significant because Merrill offers full transparency and choice to its customers. It therefore needs to make available customised portfolio information, such as geographic, sectoral and specific stock exposure information, via a web-based reporting platform. It is this approach to open architecture, enabling connectivity and communication that lies at the heart of BBH’s award.
In 2002, BBH launched its Infomediary platform to address its clients’ back and middle-office pain points. Infomediary simplifies connectivity issues: communicating with multiple providers, translating between un-interoperable formats, maintaining industry standards, normalising disparate data and automating manual processes to improve straight-through processing. It cuts costs, streamlines post-trade communications and enhances service.
Jeffrey Holland, managing director, says: “Technologically, we are very strong. We are a privately held company and so have the almost unique advantage to be able to invest more in technological advancement rather than be forced to reduce our spending to improve short-term figures.”
Mr Holland believes that it is the firm’s technological architecture that enables it to push client services. “We operate on a single platform worldwide, therefore a significant percentage of our spend can be concentrated on client-focused applications and services. We are able to build interrogation and enquiry tools that provide clients with a real advantage,” he says.
