SALTGATE was established in Jersey in 2007. Back then we were just four people working in a small home office, not unlike some of the set-ups we’ve seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past 13 years we have grown to employ over 200 people internationally, with three quarters of them based in Jersey. Today our group administers over $100bn of assets for our clients and are proud to work with some of the world’s leading alternative assets fund managers.
What have you enjoyed the most?
I am proud to be part of an organisation that celebrates and embraces diversity in all its forms and that is committed to supporting each and every team member to fulfil their potential. All of our employees, from our most recent joiners to the original team members, contribute to our success and I enjoy learning from them with each interaction.
And what has been the hardest part of the journey?
The two periods during which it felt like we were facing insurmountable tasks were both times when our business continuity procedures were invoked. In 2015 our offices were flooded and our entire team had to work from our disaster recovery site for six weeks. This year, with the global pandemic, our teams, like others all over the world, have been pushed to work in new and unprecedented circumstances. In both of those cases the pillars that we have built our business upon – a robust and dynamic IT environment, our outstanding client base, and our engaged and committed teams – allowed us to navigate all of the challenges presented and I believe we are even stronger as an organisation as we come out of lockdown.
What has been behind Saltgate’s success?
I believe that consistency is key. In 2007 we set out to build a business offering long-term career opportunities to talented professionals. High-quality service delivery provided by an engaged and dynamic team, and building long-term partnerships with our clients, were our main focus. Building a Saltgate culture around our core values was key to achieving our goals. In 2020 our key focus remains unchanged, and our now deeply embedded values, that have evolved with our business rather than having been created to look good on paper, remain at the heart of our operating framework. When your strategy is led by what is best for your people and is driven by your values, it is difficult to see how there will be anything but positive outcomes.
What are Saltgate’s values and what do they mean to your team?
Our core values are engagement, partnership, integrity and commitment. They are built on experience, embodied by our employees and embedded within our culture. For this reason, they resonate in different ways for each of our team members. For me, engagement defines our interaction with our teams, supporting their growth and fostering their development; partnership defines our relationships with our clients, working as an extension of their team to deliver service excellence; integrity flows through all of our operations, holding ourselves to the highest ethical standards, always acting with openness, honesty and transparency; and commitment is the thread that runs through it all, our commitment to our teams, and their commitment to our clients, continually striving to provide the highest level of service.
What do you feel differentiates Saltgate from your competitors?
As a people-centric organisation, our core values have both our people and our clients in mind. We feel our strongest differentiator is the alignment of our two most important stakeholders and the level of engagement and intrinsic motivation that this brings to the workplace. Our team is committed to performing with excellence and they embrace our culture of true partnership with our clients. Everyone at Saltgate goes the extra mile. Our people and our clients are all huge beneficiaries of our people-first culture.
And what’s next for Saltgate?
The people at Saltgate make the organisation what it is today and drive us forward to the firm we want to be tomorrow. Maintaining excellence in client service delivery and putting our people first continue to be at the heart of our strategy. The impact of the opportunities arising from the challenges that the world has faced in recent months is yet to be seen. I am excited to see how the strides being taken in digital transformation and working practices shape our professional and personal environments for the future.
