Global Custodian Winter 2018 | Page 70

[ S U R V E Y | A G E N T B A N K S I N E M E R G I N G M A R K E T S ] India Standard Chartered Bank “The SCB Mumbai team are very friendly and helpful,” writes a client. He is not alone in this view, since, on an excellent turnout by clients, SCB has scored strongly and consistently across every area, and none better than client service. On this evidence, from a larger cohort of clients than any other provider, SCB can justly claim to be the custodian to beat in India. Citi These results are much less pleasing than those of 2017, but the overall outcome is dictated by less-than-stellar returns in a small number of areas, two of which are driven by pricing considera- tions rather than service issues. Deutsche Bank “Easy to approach and very pro-active in solving any require- ments,” is how one respondent sees Deutsche Bank in India, and the bank does receive some of its best scores for client service and relationship management. The averages, nevertheless, fall short of the exceptional levels achieved in 2016 and 2017. Im- portantly, Deutsche collects one of its best scores in regulation and compliance. “Deutsche Bank leads the market in advocacy initiatives and has demonstrated client interest at key market forums,” as a client puts it. HSBC A client says the bank provides a “good service,” but average scores down on last year speak of a service that is less-than-good in almost every area. Clients still believe in the balance sheet (and remain confident that the relationship is in good hands) but are arguing strongly for more investment in service quality and better value in core, banking and value-added services. BNP Paribas Securities Services A small number of respondents mark BNP Paribas either gener- ously or extremely generously across all but a handful of service areas. Predictably, the bank is seen as expensive. Less predicta- bly, for a bank with an obvious interest in developing new digital and data services, average scores also dip somewhat in technolo- gy and innovation. Edelweiss The securities services arm of the diversified Indian finan- cial services conglomerate services a sizeable group of mainly buy-side institutions, which award the firm exceptionally high average scores. Others Responses were received from clients of three indigenous pro- viders – ICICI Bank (which received exceptionally high scores), Kotak Mahindra Bank (whose rate of response was down last year too) and the Stockholding Corporation of India – but not in sufficient numbers to assess the quality of their services accu- rately. Respondents also assessed two global providers with local operations, J.P. Morgan and SGSS. WEIGHTED AVERAGE SCORES Edelweiss Deutsche Bank BNP Paribas Standard Chartered Bank Citi HSBC Share of validated responses (%) 35% 17% 6% 24% 6% 8% Relationship management 6.51 6.04 4.90 5.34 5.33 4.64 Market Average Global Average 5.46 5.30 Client service 6.68 5.84 6.90 5.50 5.67 5.12 5.62 5.56 Account management 6.55 5.60 5.45 5.32 5.10 4.71 5.30 5.14 Asset safety 6.54 5.89 6.00 5.35 n/a 3.91 5.40 4.60 Risk management 6.71 6.16 5.82 5.71 5.45 5.00 5.76 5.50 Liquidity management 6.50 5.60 3.83 5.33 5.08 4.76 5.29 5.14 Regulation and compliance 6.28 4.97 6.50 4.84 n/a 4.50 4.93 4.84 Innovation 6.44 5.96 5.50 5.03 4.00 4.11 5.26 4.75 Asset servicing 6.72 6.00 6.67 5.61 5.88 4.76 5.66 5.52 Pricing 6.31 6.15 5.24 5.45 4.83 5.19 5.51 5.28 Technology 6.53 5.97 5.38 5.58 5.25 4.86 5.63 5.41 Cash management and FX 6.40 5.92 5.00 5.40 5.91 4.92 5.60 5.42 Total 6.51 5.87 5.51 5.38 5.18 4.76 5.46 5.23 70 Global Custodian Winter 2018