Two London-based firms have formed a joint venture that will offer outsourced accounting, financial reporting, and administration services to the U.K. financial services industry.

IMS, a compliance consultancy, and Buzzacott, an accountancy firm, say their new firm, IMS Buzzacott, focuses on providing compliance related services to clients in the asset management and securities industries, with a strong focus on the hedge fund and private equity sectors.

“We are seeing a noticeable trend among asset management firms who are increasingly looking to outsource more of their business operations,” said Scott Wilson, CEO of IMS Consulting. “We identified few high quality providers of these services and feel that the market will benefit from more choice.”