Maitland speaks at first UK “financial services outsourcing to SA” event

London: Maitland, a specialist provider of outsourced fund and investor administration solutions to institutional and alternative fund managers, today spoke at the South African Department of Trade and Industry ‘Financial Services Outsourcing to South Africa’ seminar at the South African High Commission, London.

Maitland has an international footprint of 13 offices worldwide with an established Fund Services division based in Cape Town, South Africa.

The event is the first of its kind in the UK to focus on outsourcing financial services to South Africa and brings together speakers from the South African government and private sector, with real business case studies.

Dale Lippstreu (pictured), Managing Director of Maitland’s Fund Services division, talked about “South Africa as an established destination for third party administration services”. He provided an overview of the industry in South Africa, the operational environment and set out the relative advantages that South Africa enjoys compared to alternative destinations.

According to Lippstreu: “Third party administration is well established in South Africa with service providers who are well placed to compete internationally both on price and service. Established European administrators are experiencing capacity constraints due to the rapid growth of the fund management industry together with increasing acceptance of the benefits of outsourced and independent administration. This has impacted on the price and quality of services with the result that fund managers are increasingly casting their nets wider in search of capable service providers. While Maitland has benefited from these developments much still needs to be done to broaden awareness of South Africa as a highly qualified and respected financial centre”

“Fund managers looking to outsource their back office will find the service levels offered out of South Africa at the very least comparable to those offered in the main European centres. Information technology enables seamless service delivery and communication rendering the geographic removal irrelevant. Other positive factors such as an aligned time zone and a common language makes South Africa well placed to service the UK fund management industry but the primary advantage is the availability of skilled resources and a substantially lower cost operating environment.

Lippstreu also presented the Maitland “full solution” model which extends from legal advisory services relating to the establishment of funds through domiciliation and corporate secretarial services supporting the ongoing operation of funds.

Leon Campher, CEO of the newly-formed Association of Savings and Investments SA, also addressed the seminar.