(Pictured: Patrick Fanning)

JP Morgan has closed down its transition management (TM) business in Australia, following the lead of its US and European colleagues who shuttered their operations last May.

The Australian business, run by experienced TM manager Patrick Fanning, was given the extra time to support its local clients and discuss with them their likely future demands.

“We gave it a good shot but, in the end, there was just not enough revenue in it to justify the effort,” one JP Morgan executive said. Clients were advised of the closure last week.

For JP Morgan, TM, which has had its ups and downs as a business line for all the major banks around the world in recent years, the business was a non-core offering.

In Australia, Fanning moved across from Citi’s TM business in October 2011. He had spent more than 10 years in that department at Citi. The team reported through to JP Morgan’s Markets business, run by Jeff Herbert-Smith.

JP Morgan is working with the team to look at alternative roles within the bank.

TM has been very competitive in Australia in recent years and Australian investors will still have a range of service providers, using both broker and agency models, from which to choose.