The teams within this Division cover a very broad remit providing operational support services to SWIP and include:
Legal
Our legal team work in close partnership with many areas of the business, acting as a truly valued source of advice, and making sure our legal interests are always protected. In the widest sense, it’s this team’s role to provide, or obtain, legal advice across the whole spectrum of our business, including project-related work and ‘business as usual’ activities.
Risk Management
Everyone at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, in their day-to-day jobs, deals with some element of risk management. So, the main purpose of our specific risk management function is to make sure that the way people manage risk is co-ordinated across the business. It’s also their job to get everybody involved in identifying areas where risk management could be improved, and then to help people implement those improvements.
Compliance
This is an industry that’s governed by many regulations and standards – so it’s vital we have a focused Compliance team to make sure every area of our business – and our company as a whole - meets all the appropriate regulatory requirements and industry best practice standards. It’s a complex area, which is why you’ll find this team working closely with areas right across our business.
Corporate Development
Where we take Scottish Widows Investment Partnership in the future depends on a whole range of factors: developments in the industry, moves taken by our competitors, opportunities in the market… the list goes on. It’s the job of our Corporate Development team to formulate a compelling and competitive business strategy from all the information available, brief the Executive team and then develop initiatives that will change and drive our business forward accordingly – reporting on their progress all the time.
Finance
Clearly, this is a business driven by figures – so our Finance team enjoy a wide range of responsibility. As well as looking after statutory financial and regulatory reporting, our Finance team provide comprehensive finance support, reporting on the funds under our management, our overall income and our expenses against budget and forecast.
Investment Services
We’re investing impressively across all the major asset classes – including UK and overseas equities, property, bonds and cash – as well as managing a diverse range of specialist funds for our other UK and international clients, including large pension schemes, charities and local governments. So, our Investment Services teams ensure that in each case, the investment process is completed in terms of trades, cash and verification of valuations/prices. They’re also responsible for maintaining all financial records for the assets we manage, and making sure the portfolio data used by Fund Managers is absolutely accurate.
Corporate Services
This area within SWIP looks after Reception, Mailroom, Helpdesk and Catering and Conferencing facilities which all provide vital support services to our clients and divisional areas. Often this team are the first people our clients meet and it is vital they create the right impression.
HR
In many ways, HR is what ties every part of our business together. It’s this team that are responsible for recruiting the right people, then helping to create the environment they need to develop their skills and expertise – and to thrive. So, HR’s remit covers everything from developing employee policies to creating training and development initiatives, to offering advice on employment law and legislation.
IT
This team is responsible for the development and implementation of the IT & Data Strategy that supports our business aims and objectives and includes systems analysis, development, testing implementation, operational support, vendor management and data management activities. Working closely with Business Users, the IT team also ensures the provision of well defined, flexible, efficient and effective technologies with data quality that receives a high level of customer service to meet business requirements.
Performance Measurement & Risk
Our Performance Measurement teams provide valuable performance analysis across all actively managed assets. As well as offering in-depth analysis for our clients, they are also responsible for SWIP’s adherence to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®); support Sales & Marketing through involvement in RFP’s, new pitches and product development; calculate Equity and Fixed Income attribution analysis daily for greater accuracy; maintain benchmark data at all levels across all funds; and are an integrated part of the investment process through regular portfolio review meetings.
The portfolio risk team is responsible for investment risk analysis of SWIP funds. Their responsibilities are wide-ranging - including investment risk forecasting, investment risk decomposition, portfolio construction and review, optimisation, new product development, quantitative consultancy, and fund risk rating service.
