Ian Perkins, the founder of Morse Consulting and the driving force behind its expansion through Asia, has resigned from the company and sold his stake to the other partners. He will take a break and think about his next move, he said last week.

“For the last six months I’d been thinking that the business was running itself very well but that I wanted to do something new. Perhaps it was time for me to cash in my chips and leave completely,” he said. “I have been so attached to the Morse brand it would be hard for me to do something else in the industry while remaining a director or shareholder… Jason (Morrissey) is running Asia and Philip (Hope) is running Australia. I could have continued on doing consulting work but I’d rather do something else now.”

The move is not a complete surprise, since Perkins decided to become a non-executive director last year.

Morse Consulting, which he started in 2005 after a career in custody and asset servicing, provides services for financial institutions around operations and implementation. Philip Hope, who joined Perkins not long after the start, remains group chief executive, based in Australia. Jason Morrissey, who the company recruited in Hong Kong, runs the Asian business. There is also a Singapore office.

Perkins said: “I haven’t made a decision on what I’ll do next. I’m going to take my time and think about all the options. I’ll probably end up doing another new venture although I would consider working for a big company again too.”

Prior to starting Morse, which became a joint venture with Morse plc of the UK and then bought back by the partners in 2009, Perkins headed up client relations for the old Perpetual Fund Services and then RBC Global Services, which acquired the Perpetual business to spearhead expansion in the region.

Hope is also ex-Perpetual, as is Morse’s non-executive chairman, Trevor Howell.  Other senior consultants include Tim Worner, in the Melbourne office, Drew Kidner, Luke MacRedmond and Darren Binskin.