When investment management giant Schroders unveiled its plans, at the turn of the century, to outsource the administration of its £75bn ($109.5bn) of UK custody and fund assets to JPMorgan, the lift-out deal, one of the largest of its kind at the time, was widely hailed as a landmark outsourcing arrangement. Five years later, however, it had become evident to all concerned that the arrangement was serving the needs of neither party and in 2005 the firm took the very public step of terminating the entire contract.
By the time that Matthew Oakeley, head of group IT at Schroders, joined the firm nearly three years ago, it was clear the back office needed a revamp. “The Schroders that we found had been trying to outsource its back office for five years. It clearly wasn’t going to work and our view was that Schroders needed a new approach,” says Mr Oakeley.
