We chat to Tim Underwood about the evolution of the corporate services market across Asia – and cricket.
What is your current role and responsibilities? How has that evolved?
I’m the MD for Asia Pacific. That covers a wide territory, taking in the UAE to China; down to Indonesia and across to New Zealand.
My focus is working with trust and corporate services businesses, predominantly with M&A advisory support services. It can include being a sounding board on the buy-side at the deal origination phase, or working with clients on end-to-end sell-side mandates.
Originally, I supported Foulgers in the UK on wealth management and IFA mergers/acquisitions work. During that time the Singaporean corporate regulatory authority ACRA asked for a presentation on the European and UK market relating to M&A; this was 2009.
At that time, we didn’t understand the Asian market but were happy to present to them. During our discussions we learned that the professional services markets in the region weren’t as mature as in some European markets and were very fragmented.
We then spoke to their delegates in a presentation again in 2010. By that point we realised we wanted to be in the market, because we recognised the opportunity in southeast and Asian markets, which would include cross border transactions.
How do the Asian markets differ? And why the development of corporate services?
The ‘Venn Diagram’ of services offered by what we consider accountancy firms (CPA) and that of corporate services providers, has changed over the last 15 years with more and more services falling into the intersections of these two types of firms. However, corporate service providers still typically focus on broader admin, compliance and formation services and have tended to avoid audit/assurance.
Certainly, during the 2010s as private equity helped corporate services firms bulk up, they usually steered clear of the more highly regulated service lines.
This has now changed, to an extent, with some corporate services providers acquiring accountancy firms/CPAs. With so much consolidation among corporate services organisations they have started to look outside of their traditional focus areas for new opportunities.
Tell us a bit about your background prior to joining Foulger Underwood
I qualified as a financial planner but decided I didn’t want to do that… so I moved into Foulger Underwood with oversight on the wealth management side, which is now looked after by Stephen Tucker.
My wife got a job offer in Singapore around the time that we had our presentations in Singapore and I ended up taking four trips out to Asia to get a sense of what was going on. Corporate services firms had been formed from the Big Four accountants hiving off their outsourcing divisions and PE then threw capital at them and began rolling up the market. As with a lot in life, it was opportunistic and great timing for us!
What’s around the corner?
Post-Covid, the clients of corporate services providers want full service ‘one stop shop’ providers. Responding to this we have seen client bolt on new service lines such as IPO, advisory, IT and cyber security. Some of this work has inevitably been taken away from the larger accounting and CPA firms.
What is your life away from Foulger Underwood? Hobbies, interests, family etc.
The main one would be cricket – I’m captain of the British High Commission team here in Singapore. Some would say we spend as much time socialising after the game as we do actually playing. You meet great people through the team and among the wider cricketing enthusiasts in Singapore – it is a great community.
Then there’s squash, tennis and golf, and I coach an under-9s rugby team. I’d say it all keeps me busy, rather than fit.
If you’d like to chat to Tim about your business, or the Asian markets, then please get in touch by clicking here.