Telstra Super hired J.P. Morgan Investor Services to provide master custody and investment reporting services for the A$17 billion ($12.6 billion) retirement fund for employees of Australia's biggest telecommunication company.
J.P. Morgan will replace National Australia Bank Asset Servicing, effective in the first half of 2016, after what Melbourne-based Telstra Super called in a news release Tuesday a successful relationship over the past 25 years.
A National Australia Bank spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
In the news release, Telstra executives cited the “increased demands” associated with the fund's in-house investment management activities as one factor leading to the hiring of J.P. Morgan.
Paul Curtin, Telstra Super's chief financial officer, said in an interview that the internally managed portion of the fund's portfolio has doubled over the past five years to roughly 30% of the total. Over that span, Telstra's investment team has continued to bring in-house more of the management of Australian equities and fixed income, as well as cash, and more recently adding some of its real estate and infrastructure investments, Mr. Curtin said.
The continued growth of Telstra's investment portfolio has opened the way for economies of scale that allow the investment team to opt for the best mix of internal and external management, said Miles Mallick, Telstra Super's head of investment operations, in the same interview.
