At the annual NAPF conference in Manchester JP Morgan's managing director of worldwide securities services Benjie Fraser told Pension Funds Insider that the consultants the firm is working with are now turning into clients of the firm.

Talking about the changes in the industry and the changing role of the consultants as a result of that, Fraser said that consultants can not get away with not expanding their services anymore and need to offer a complete package to their clients.

"The firms have all merged together, they need scale as they are increasingly being challenged by pension funds. Schemes do a lot more in-house now and the consultants need to move along with where the money goes to," Fraser said.

Fraser said that as a result of the changes in the offering of consultants firms like JP Morgan now see the consultants returning on the other side of the spectrum; as fee-paying clients.

"They need to retain the trust that pension schemes have in them but can only do that by offering extended services, almost like a fiduciary manager, although I hate to use the term as it sounds like the responsibility for the scheme is no longer in the hands of the trustees."

Fraser said that nowadays the consultants had four tasks to manage; they need to provide tender services, become globalised, run money like a fund manager and be the delegated consultants schemes expect them to be.

As far as the relation between consultant and asset managers goes Fraser also explained that good personal relations were key for managers to obtain business, something made possible by the somewhat secretive business that is the private tender process.

"Relations are very important," Fraser said, "we have a special team looking inter-regionally after all the consultants we work with."

First published 20.10.2011

azeevalkink@wilmington.co.uk