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Global Securities Services: Dancing On Both Sides Of The Ballroom - Frances Maguire Profiles JPMorgan Chase's ITS Division. Newly Renamed And Empowered In 2001, It Is Set To Grow Organically And Inorganically. Peter Lighte, Head Of Europe And Asia, Believ.

Article Excerpt
JPMorgan Chase's Institutional Trust Services division (ITS), perhaps best described as trust and issuer services, breaks the mould in terms of offering operating services for debt and equity issuances. Part of JPMorgan's Treasury and Securities Services division, the innovation and creativity of ITS' issuer services springs from inclusion in the process of crafting deal structures for other parts of the bank at an early stage, as well as being a major component of the deal itself. Through early involvement, ITS can save issuers from onerous tax or payment structures, making a sophisticated collateralised debt obligation more appealing to an issuer's investors, for example. ITS provides this service alongside the more traditional trustee, paying agent and portfolio administration services.

The firm's current position dates back to the efforts of several predecessor firms. After Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company's merger with Chemical Bank in the early 1990s, significant resources were dedicated to varied trust products spread among the new firm's business lines. That trend of increased resourcing, and ultimately consolidation of the business' diffuse efforts, was dramatically enhanced in the Chemical/Chase Manhattan merger later in the decade. When Chase bought JPMorgan in 2001, ITS was reborn under the JPMorgan banner. The firm's board of directors signalled its support for the thriving business...