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A G E N T
B A N K S
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M A J O R
M A R K E T S ]
Hong Kong
DBS
This is one of five Asian markets in which DBS provides a cus-
tody service, and other operations will struggle to match a per-
formance as outstanding as this. The AA credit rating obviously
helps (“Excellent credit rating is one of the main reasons to use
DBS,” says a client), but it is hard to find fault with the scoring of
the services or the people.
“DBS has an excellent client management team to understand
our needs and to update us on market developments,” writes
a respondent. “Compared to our other service providers, I am
pleased with DBS service.”
Deutsche Bank
“We find Deutsche Bank very easy to work with,” writes a client
“They are very responsive to our needs and requests.” But the
enthusiasm expressed about the client service officers and the
RMs (“very co-operative and helpful”) has not translated into
handsome averages in those fields or proved infectious on the
operational side of the business.
Respondents reserve their most confident judgments for a
narrow range of services: settlement, income collection and
especially asset safety.
HSBC
Considered by the average scores alone, this is not a vintage per-
formance by HSBC on what counts as home territory. But hidden
in the details is praise aplenty for the way the bank tries to avoid
burying clients in paper, settles their trades actively and efficient-
ly, keeps cash and securities safe, and even works hard to keep the
costs of cash, collateral and the services themselves under control.
Citi
The scoring of settlement and technology is impeccable –
though the bank could always do more to raise levels of auto-
mation – but asset-servicing attracts less admiring assessments.
Clients would also like to pay less, but their views are reasonable
except when it comes to the costs of the items that matter most
to the broker-dealers that use the bank: credit and collateral.
BNP Paribas Securities Services
It was 2009 when the French custodian acquired a banking
licence in Hong Kong – Beijing followed a year later – as part of
its expansion strategy in Asia. Nearly ten years on, a small group
of clients declare the services excellent in almost every respect.
The exceptions occur mostly in asset-servicing, but it is clear
that clients would also prefer to see less due diligence documen-
tation and more information about their cash and collateral.
Standard Chartered Bank
The scores are solid, not spectacular. Attentiveness is no-
ticed (“We appreciate that the bank pro-actively gives a lot of
guidance to clients on preparing documents,” says a client), but
client service has disappointed. A client says that “frequent staff
turnover” has affected the quality of the relationship as well as
the speed of turnaround times for queries.
WEIGHTED AVERAGE SCORES
DBS Bank Standard
Chartered Bank Deutsche Bank HSBC Citi BNP Paribas
Market share (% of responses) 21% 31% 17% 11% 10% 9%
Relationship management 6.34 5.19 4.20 4.79 5.33 Client service 6.12 5.18 4.52 5.48 Account management 6.14 5.47 5.68 5.55 Asset safety 6.61 5.80 5.64 Risk management 6.42 5.56 4.61 Liquidity management 5.83 5.34 Regulation and compliance 6.19 5.56 Innovation 5.81 Asset servicing 6.10 Pricing Technology Market Average Global Average
5.95 5.08 5.20
5.19 5.41 5.24 5.40
5.55 4.72 5.51 5.44
5.26 5.84 5.61 5.70 5.68
5.37 5.70 3.32 5.30 5.46
4.07 4.89 4.05 4.26 4.69 4.89
4.37 5.45 5.98 5.40 5.48 5.64
5.37 3.62 4.72 5.53 5.02 5.06 5.18
5.73 4.91 5.16 4.99 4.47 5.29 5.09
6.02 5.14 3.79 5.43 5.14 4.66 5.00 4.82
5.97 5.56 4.83 4.93 5.79 4.94 5.40 5.28
Cash management and FX 5.78 4.95 4.57 3.82 4.24 4.23 4.46 4.25
Total 6.17 5.42 4.54 5.13 5.28 4.89 5.21 5.24
84
Global Custodian
Fall 2018