As we come to the end of 2024 and look forward to the year ahead, it’s hard to believe we are already a quarter of the way through the 21st century. It’s safe to say the past 25 years have seen rapid developments, from a technological, societal, and geopolitical perspective.
It’s 25 years since people were worried about the ‘millennium bug’, Oasis and Coldplay were top of the charts, and Gladiator and Mission Impossible II were riding high at the box office.
With Gladiator II having just premiered, Mission Impossible 8 due to come out next year, and Oasis and Coldplay selling out arenas around the world next year, it might seem that not much has changed.
But in our world, the pace of change remains relentless. 2024 has been a year of continued evolution, as we have sought to respond to the increasingly fragile and uncertain world we operate in, whilst also maintaining a firm course aligned with our strategic growth objectives.
Geopolitical upheaval and economic turmoil will likely remain key drivers shaping our sector for the foreseeable but Suntera Global’s vision to empower investors and businesses through responsible growth – built around extending our international footprint, diversification, innovation, and collaboration – has and will continue to underpin our activities.
And we are doing that by investing heavily in our knowledge, our people and our offices to offer the very best service to our clients. Those efforts have paid dividends. Today, we are a global team of over 500 people across nine locations, managing and administering around £125bn of assets.
Global connections
It’s a solid platform that we continue to build on.
As we look to 2025, Suntera Global will be marking 45 years since its inception. In that time, Suntera has endeavoured to offer a personalised service while championing responsible ambition, and recent years have seen a proliferation of that message across the globe with the expansion of our international capabilities.
Following on from the acquisition of Guernsey-based fund and private wealth service provider Carey in 2023, and US-based fund administrator Socium in 2022, over the course of 2024 both companies have been fully integrated to sit under the Suntera Global brand.
This has been a pivotal piece of work, increasing our profile in our tier 1 jurisdictions and being transformational in terms of our capabilities in key growth markets.
We have also sought to embed our Private Office proposition, with a senior team of dedicated professionals ready to support our growing family office client base with tailored services in all corners of the globe.
And, just as significantly, in June this year, we established an additional footprint in the UK with the announcement of a new London office to provide clients and professional intermediaries with an on-the-ground point of access in the UK capital to the firm’s broad range of cross-border corporate, fund and private wealth services.
The new office is headed up by Client Services Director and Head of Intermediaries, Jade Fellowes, who having joined us in 2021 is an excellent example of how Suntera is a company that wants to grow with its people.
We understand that behind any of our successes is our people and supporting them with their ambitions will help us to realise ours.
That approach has drawn some incredible talent to our doors and over the past year we have seen a raft of promotions to reflect their dedication and achievements, with many also recommended in directories and by publications, from ‘nextgen leaders’ to top practitioners in wealth management.
These promotions – more than 50 over the course of the year – span all business areas, from the main service divisions of corporate, funds and private wealth to the crucial central functions such as IT, accounting and compliance.
The fact that we have grown to a global headcount of over 550 professionals is, I hope, in no small part due to our commitment to providing a supportive workplace environment that empowers our people to thrive.
This mindset is key and we will continue to enhance what we offer to nurture talent from within while also attracting the very best to our doors. To back that up, we launched a new careers hub at the end of 2024, intended to highlight our appeal as a responsible employer and highlight our commitment to supporting the ambitions of our people, whether they are looking to develop through professional qualifications, explore global opportunities or play a more active role in our community-led endeavours.
Recognition
Of course, excellence in client service is our raison d'être and in 2024 we were pleased to continue to receive recognition for our efforts and achievements.
Towards the end of the year we were thrilled to come highly commended in the fund administrator of the year category at the Alternative Credit Investor Awards 2024, which was a major success for our US team, while our sustained commitment to ESG was recognised at the Palatine ‘Pioneers in ESG’ Awards in the ‘Building on Success’ category.
Earlier in 2024, Suntera was also shortlisted in the fund administration (under $50bn AUA) at the Drawdown Awards and featured in October’s eprivateclient 2024 Top Trust Companies list while our expert staff have received accolades from CityWealth, STEP and Spears. It is wonderful to receive such plaudits, especially those awards hard-earned by our people who truly make Suntera what it is today.
We have come a long way in 45 years and our next chapter is likely to see even greater transformation, in terms of growth and service evolution, but also from a sustainability and technology perspective.
Our commitment to supporting our staff – maintaining the symbiosis between their and our ambitions – however will remain the same and I for one am excited to see where that journey takes us.
Author:
GROUP CEO