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FLIPPING THE SCRIPT IN 2022 :
Much like institutional investors , avid runners and Spotify users , we are obsessed with data here at Global Custodian . Along with scouring through the scores in our own surveys for analytics , the other two data sets we track are : the assets under custody and administration ( AUC / A ) of the largest banks and our own web traffic . Interestingly , these two obsessions have entered into a fruitful marriage . It ’ s always good for us to understand what you – our readers – enjoy and value from a content perspective . Over the past 12 months , the most read stories have all been linked to the AUC / A theme , State Street ’ s acquisition of Brown Brothers Harriman and the custody league table which has sparked some fierce competition ( ask me about it over a drink ). The most-read among all those articles was our Game of Thrones feature , highlighting the two-horse race to the $ 50 trillion mark for AUC / A , as both BNY Mellon and State Street were within touching distance of the phenomenal milestone . For some years now we ’ ve seen nothing but increases in AUC / A , giving us little doubt that our preview of the upcoming $ 50 trillion milestone was just a matter of months away if history was instructive . However , nine months after publishing , a combination of external factors has flipped the script , as AUC / A have dropped significantly across the board , State Street ’ s BBH deal ( at the time of publishing ) had not completed and another – more positive – trend has emerged . Custodians are making money from custody !
Custodian banks can now measure success by revenues rather than assets
After years of focusing on the rising custody and fund administration assets figures of custodians , revenues are now taking the spotlight as securities services providers are making more money , despite seeing the total assets they service drop significantly , writes Jonathan Watkins .
A tough four years Now , of course , the tiniest of violins are brought out when pointing out that some units of major banks haven ’ t made a huge amount of profit in recent years , but custody really has been a flat sector . Low interest rates , thin margins and clients demanding more services for less money have all contributed to a challenging environment where the headwinds have outweighed the tailwinds . An unabating focus on regulation over the best part of a decade represented an additional dark cloud over the industry , while new avenues for revenue generation were few and far between . Coalition Greenwich is one of the best
20 Global Custodian Fall 2022