The role of financial services has become incredibly important to the UK economy over the years. The team at Sanne are regarded as the global leaders in servicing the alternative assets industry. As such, we took a closer look at the firm’s CEO, Martin Schnaier, whose work has seen the company become the pre-eminent FTSE 250 listed business in its sector, to understand how it has achieved such astonishing success.
Since being founded in 1988, Sanne has rapidly evolved as an organisation. What was once a small company, focused on local issues has grown into an international firm, which employs over 2,000 professionals across 22 locations globally. The group administers structures and funds in excess of £500 billion, delivering tailored professional services to a highly valued institutional client base.
Leading the company is Martin Schnaier. Having joined Sanne in 2011, it’s his dedication and focus that has guided the firm through a sustained period of success. The strategy is very simple, to focus on expertise and quality and build a superb reputation in the industry. Acquisitions and technology are also a core part of the growth strategy. Sanne have completed fourteen deals since its IPO in 2015 and have implemented innovative technology, disrupting the landscape for private fund administration.
Martin was appointed as the company’s CEO in 2019 and throughout his tenure, Sanne has experienced rapid change. Setting Martin apart, and in turn Sanne, is his capacity to lead and inspire a global firm. Martin’s ability and willingness to communicate with all levels of the company has created a community feel amongst employees based worldwide.
Sanne is a youthful and socially aware organisation that is passionate about the investment industry that it serves. This culture of responsibility manifests itself in many different ways that employees are immensely proud of. Sanne recruits and retains the very best talent in the industry, enabling teams with technical solutions that empower better decision making and quality of communications. They are delivering a sustainable growth business that exceeds expectations by providing tailored expertise to a higher standard than anyone else in their sector.
Sanne is defined by a culture of exceptional service, developing long term relationships to enable their clients’ success. They play an increasingly important role to the asset management community as it continues to evolve, standing for professionalism, innovation and quality. It is their commitment to service that means that they remain one step ahead for their clients and employees A culture of resilience underpins Sanne’s service model, which has been successfully tried and tested throughout the global pandemic.
Innovation lies at the heart of Sanne and Martin describes 2021 as ‘the year of innovation’. Celebrating fresh thinking and new ideas an entrepreneurial approach is welcome. High on energy and team spirit – Sanne are a professional, agile and connected business, using their expertise to be the best they can be.
One of the most recent successes is Sanne Spotlight. This is the brand name of the firm’s portfolio and data analytics platform developed in collaboration with their strategic partner, Colmore. This partnership has accelerated their ability to deliver real time access and insight to multiple alternative asset classes. Sanne are building the future technology of private markets for investors and fund managers.
Another strand of innovation that has been developed is Sanne’s first ever digital worker, Lucas. Rolled out in late 2019, the AI bot has been taught to work on credit control functions. Essentially, Lucas performs repetitive tasks and then presents results to Sanne’s human colleagues, who make value added judgements. Whilst still early on, clearly there is a tremendous opportunity here to further improve efficiency and mitigate operational risk in the business.
In short, Martin continues to lead Sanne during an extraordinary period of growth and expansion. His ambition is to be the very best they can be. It’s a credit to his leadership that Sanne’s employees have been able to deliver uninterrupted, quality client service under the most extraordinary conditions.
For further information, please contact Martin Schnaier or visit www.sannegroup.com
