The office, at 11 Old Jewry, will offer ABCP conduit programme administration services – a specialist area of securitisation administration that until now has only been provided by banks and their affiliates.

Leading the team in the new office is Geoff Simms, an experienced investment banker who was previously head of securitisation and structured products at Danske Bank.

Richard Gerwat, a director of Bedell Trust Company and head of the Securitisation and Structured Finance practice area of the law firm’s Financial Services Group, whose clients are likely to benefit most from the new service, says the decision to open the London office came about in response to client demand and a perceived gap in the marketplace.

“This is a very exciting move for us. Securitisation already forms a large part of the work undertaken by the Bedell Group as a whole and the decision to set up the London office grew out of that success. Bedell Trust is a leading name in the administration of SPVs and has been extending the depth of that service outside Jersey. The provision of programme administration to CP conduits is a natural progression and something that our clients have been asking us to do,” he says.

“CP conduit programme administration is a job traditionally carried out by the conduit sponsoring banks and is a departure for Bedell Trust. However, we recognised that we have the necessary skills and that there was a niche opening in the market to provide these from London in conjunction with Jersey and Dublin, if required.”

Richard explains that some banks are looking to outsource programme administration because they need to reduce overheads and because of forthcoming changes in international banking codes, such as ‘Basel II’, as well as the impact of international accounting standards. “It may also be important for the banks to be able to give their administration business to a third party who is not in competition with them in the new business origination arena,” he adds.