Global custodian BNY Mellon said the acquisition of  tech vendor Milestone Group would help enhance the provision of net asset value (NAV) services.

BNY Mellon announced the acquisition of Milestone Group last week, just over a year since the two companies formed an alliance to develop a suite of NAV support services, including independent oversight and backup NAV capabilities.  

There has been an increased focus on independent NAV oversight since the pandemic. Recent research from Funds Europe and tech vendor Temenos published in June found that 70% of fund managers expected there to be stronger demand for independent oversight of fund accounting and related outsourced services. Fear of reputational damage and regulatory penalties for poor standards of oversight were cited as the main reasons for the increased demand.

Financial terms of the Milestone acquisition were not disclosed and the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021.

According to Roman Regelman, BNY Mellon’s CEO of asset servicing and head of digital, the Milestone acquisition is a demonstration of BNY Mellon’s “commitment to support clients across the investment lifecycle and provide clients with open and flexible digital solutions that enable them to optimize, scale and grow their businesses”.

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