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ICSD
Once again , the three ICSDs are to be treated as their own individual market in this year ’ s Agent Banks in Major Markets survey . While ICSDs are not sub-custodians in the traditional sense , they do provide a range of similar services , both domestically and cross-border , throughout their servicing structures – earning them a write-up in our survey . Over the last five years , the ICSDs have maintained a tradition of high levels of service , sitting well above the global average and this year is no exception . With an average score of 6.06 , this represents a 16 basis point improvement on 2023 , and currently sits heads and shoulders above the global average ( 5.55 ). This uptick in rating suggests that perhaps for certain types of investors , they are seen as a viable alternative to local custodians . Euroclear states that its goal is to “ to provide the same ease of access and degree of asset protection expected by international investors in any well-established market ,” while SIX comments that “ in addition to the ICSDs ( Clearstream and Euroclear ), we also envisage our competition emerging primarily from local and regional custodians ”. When assessing the data , the ICSD triumvirate has beaten the global average for every category , with Relationship
Management ( 6.55 ) scoring the highest . It is worth noting that this category ranks third in the list of client priorities . Client Service is rated as the most important by our respondents ; something clearly recognised by the ICSDs , which collectively score an average of 6.39 within this category . Securities Lending , sits lowest on clients list of priorities . Despite this , the latter is rated as Very Good in this year ’ s survey , highlighting the firms ’ commitment to providing excellent service . Pricing ( 5.55 ) has the lowest score – something that will come as little surprise . Even then , this category has a
Respondent Priorities 1st Client Service 2nd Asset Servicing 3rd Relationship Management 4th Account Management 5th Pricing 6th Asset Safety and Risk Management 7th Regulation and Compliance 8th Technology 9th Cash Management and FX 10th Data Services 11th Liquidity Management 12th Service Innovation 13th Securities Lending
strong score of Good . Only one category has seen a downward shift since 2023 : Asset Servicing – which lists second in the top client priorities . But again this only fell by 0.04 to score 5.91 . Here might be an area where providers may need to focus some attention .
88 Global Custodian Fall 2024