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Switzerland
Credit Suisse
This is an excellent performance, albeit one created by a small
number of clients. Valuing the counterparty is axiomatic for cli-
ents of Swiss universal banks, and nobody thinks Credit Suisse
will fail to make their clients whole if assets go missing. The
assessment of both client service and relationship management
is generous to the point at which the bank is seen as a marketing
tool by its clients. Across account management, asset servic-
ing, liquidity and risk management, compliance and even cash
management, FX and pricing, the only blips are either shared by
every other bank in the survey (such as poor corporate actions
notifications) or venial (such as resistance to passing on infra-
structural cost savings).
SIX
A new questionnaire makes it hard for SIX to maintain the
upward momentum of the last two years, but the outcome is
nevertheless both impressive and consistent. Only in relation-
ship management is there a hint of something less than excel-
lent, but the average owes less to individuals or relationships
than the inability of a financial market infrastructure to bespoke
its services. “Some of the pending items last too long, although
we understand this might be due to some factors within other
departments of SIX, or external ones,” as a client puts it.
Comments on the SIX people are flattering anyway. “Excellent
responding times,” says one client. “Very pro-active.” A second
avers that “our long-lasting business relationship is built around
trust and a high level of quality communication.”
BNP Paribas Securities Services
BNP Paribas has a substantial operation in Zurich, providing
global custody to Swiss institutions and fund administration
services to foreign fund managers distributing in Switzerland, as
well as supporting trades executed on the Swiss Exchange and
cleared via X-clear.
The bank enjoyed outstanding results here last year. Their 2018
equivalents compare well on the human side but, in addition to
raising survey-wide issues in banking, respondents are looking
for more, particularly across pricing and asset servicing and
even aspects of settlement.
UBS
A strong turnout by clients has not translated into persuasive
scores. Confidence in UBS as a counterparty is unquestioned.
Clients think the bank understands their sensitivity to asset safe-
ty and award UBS plaudits for helping them achieve the optimal
balance between segregated and omnibus accounts. The settle-
ment score is solid, but those for asset-servicing are not. “The
back office can still improve in delivering pro-active service,”
writes a client. “We often have to send a reminder in ongoing
cases.” A bank with a high profile in exploring the potential of
blockchain, APIs and AI will be disappointed not to have regis-
tered its investment in innovation with more clients. The RMs,
which UBS trains and incentivises to build strong relationships
with clients, are doing better than the average suggests. “They
are trying to do their best to service us” is the Delphic verdict of
one client.
WEIGHTED AVERAGE SCORES
Market Average Global Average
4.36 5.08 5.20
Credit Suisse SIX BNP Paribas UBS
Market share (% of responses) 15% 12% 32% 41%
Relationship management 5.92 5.02 6.00 Client service 5.61 5.46 5.70 4.82 5.15 5.40
Account management 5.81 5.61 5.94 4.58 5.30 5.44
Asset safety 6.20 6.32 6.19 5.20 5.67 5.68
Risk management 5.91 6.09 4.91 4.59 5.34 5.46
Liquidity management 5.76 6.25 4.87 4.05 4.82 4.89
Regulation and compliance 6.07 5.80 5.37 5.67 5.68 5.64
Innovation 5.45 6.44 5.60 3.53 4.83 5.18
Asset servicing 5.58 5.89 4.67 3.99 4.77 5.09
Pricing 5.27 5.61 4.75 3.70 4.58 4.82
Technology 5.49 6.31 5.19 4.46 4.99 5.28
Cash management and FX 5.33 6.22 3.75 3.93 4.32 4.25
Total 5.71 5.78 5.22 4.42 5.07 5.24
98
Global Custodian
Fall 2018