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Europe-Islands
COUNTRY SCORES Europe-Islands Cyprus Iceland
Account Management 5.68 5.84 4.75
Asset Safety 5.74 5.86 5.13
Asset Servicing 5.82 6.18 2.89
Cash Management and FX 5.20 5.55 4.25
Client Service 4.88 5.20 3.81
Innovation 5.47 5.93 3.73
Liquidity Management 5.97 6.06 5.40
Pricing 5.64 5.86 4.65
Regulation and Compliance 5.52 5.66 4.63
Relationship Management 5.26 5.38 4.67
Risk Management 5.58 5.71 5.00
Technology 5.82 5.98 4.25
T
opping and tailing the European
continent, Iceland and Cyprus
ostensibly have little in common other
than being surrounded by water. Both
have, however, emerged successfully
from financial crises with strengthened
financial sectors. One Icelandic service
provider, Arion Bank noted at its AGM in
March, as the global COVID-19 challenge
was gaining prominence, that, “As a
society, we benefit from the fact that the
financial system has been developed in
recent years to cope with shocks. Arion
Bank is no exception. The Bank is strong-
PROVIDER SCORES
(REGIONAL)
Europe-Islands
Eurobank Versus regional
average
Account Management 5.68 6.31 0.63
Asset Safety 5.74 6.36 0.62
Asset Servicing 5.82 6.38 0.56
Cash Management and FX 5.20 4.86 -0.34
Client Service 4.88 6.03 1.15
Innovation 5.47 6.10 0.63
Liquidity Management 5.97 6.22 0.25
Pricing 5.64 5.95 0.31
Regulation and Compliance 5.52 6.27 0.74
Relationship Management 5.26 6.28 1.01
Risk Management 5.58 6.39 0.81
Technology 5.82 5.94 0.12
ly capitalised and is ready to provide
support to its customers.”
Unlike Iceland, which is seen as an
investment destination in its own right,
Cyprus is carving out a niche as a funds
centre – a strategy reinforced by cooper-
ation between government and commer-
cial entities, including competitors. Both
Eurobank and Piraeus Bank from Greece
are active in supporting and promoting
this development.
As it does in Bulgaria, Eurobank shines
through as a provider in Cyprus amass-
ing an impressive set of category scores
above both market and regional averag-
es. “Excellent team with high quality”
notes one fund manager, while another
complements the bank for the fact that
“The information provided is always ac-
curate and they are effective in resolving
problems.”
Although results for Iceland as a whole
are on the sober side, one large global
custodian observes that, “The relation-
ship management provided by Lands-
bankinn has improved significantly over
the last year.”
PBZ (Intesa Sanpaolo) Versus regional
average Raiffeisen Bank
International Versus regional
average BRD/ Société Générale
Securities Services Versus regional
average UniCredit Group Versus regional
average
6.00 0.65 5.55 0.20 6.23 0.88 4.75 -0.60
5.90 0.39 5.43 -0.08 6.47 0.96 4.64 -0.87
5.76 0.38 5.21 -0.17 6.26 0.88 5.00 -0.38
4.75 0.83 5.67 1.75 5.00 1.08 5.13 1.21
6.19 1.95 5.50 1.26 5.67 1.43 4.44 0.20
4.78 -0.45 5.11 -0.12 4.71 -0.52 4.77 -0.46
6.00 1.74 5.50 1.24 7.00 2.74 4.93 0.67
4.67 -0.58 5.20 -0.05 5.85 0.60 5.08 -0.17
6.23 0.77 5.80 0.34 6.64 1.17 4.76 -0.70
5.21 0.13 5.31 0.23 5.96 0.88 4.71 -0.37
6.00 0.49 5.42 -0.10 6.67 1.15 4.93 -0.59
5.27 -0.28 5.14 -0.40 6.35 0.80 5.18 -0.37
Spring 2020
globalcustodian.com
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