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UAE
Standard Chartered Bank
This is a fine performance by SCB, with average scores touching
excellence on nearly two out of three questions, and only one
service area displaying any sustained vulnerability. Respond-
ents reckon their assets and entitlements are safe, the fees and
spreads are fair, and the RMs and CSOs are responsive.
First Abu Dhabi Bank
Since National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) merged with First
Gulf Bank (FGB) in April 2017, creating the largest bank in the
UAE and the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) brand, expectations
have risen. Scores have not, but then the benchmark NBAD set
in 2017 was demanding. A sizeable group of clients value the
AA-rated FAB as a safe place to keep assets and think its services
keenly priced. They have confidence in its ability to settle trades
(contractually, as it happens) across the GCC (they like its cash
forecasts and the ready provision of liquidity).
But if the bank is to fulfil its ambitions, it will take note of the
brickbats as well as the compliments. Clients are looking to FAB
to provide information not documents, communicate more, train
staff, re-think asset servicing, tighten spreads, increase open-
ness, enhance regulatory compliance and invest in technology. A
client furnishes a neat summary of how FAB can get from here
to there. “FAB is nimble and understands our requirements,” he
writes. “They lack an integrated client system support.”
HSBC
The bank scores well on the human side, as it did in 2017, and is
respected for its fortress balance sheet and access to liquidity,
but the overall outcome is lower than it was a year ago. In the
core services, settlement and liquidity are admired, while the
scores for asset servicing exhibit a familiar combination of satis-
faction with the simple and unhappiness with the complex.
Deutsche Bank
A handful of clients record a bifurcated verdict here. They
are confident their assets are safe and safekept perfectly by
Deutsche, and that their trades will always settle on time. They
also value the client service and see Deutsche as an innovative
custodian bank. But, like most respondents to the survey, they
are also seeking a price reduction. They want better value from
treasury services – cash and FX – and in cash and stock borrow-
ing too. The detailed scores underline how respondents now
expect RMs to work with them to achieve economies in their
own operations.
Citi
MSCI upgraded UAE to membership of its emerging market
index in 2014, following efforts by the Dubai Financial Mar-
ket (DFM, which is also the majority shareholder in NASDAQ
Dubai) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) as well
as the Emirates regulator (the Securities and Commodities
Authority) to qualify. Citi supports clients active on ADX, DFM
and NASDAQ Dubai, but not enough of them responded to make
confident judgments about the quality of the services.
WEIGHTED AVERAGE SCORES
Standard
Chartered
Deutsche Bank
First Abu Dhabi
Bank
HSBC
Citi
Share of validated responses (%) 0.20 0.13 0.33 0.30 0.05
Relationship management 6.06 6.92 5.55 5.24 n/a
Market Average Global Average
5.61 5.30
Client service 6.25 7.00 6.15 5.48 n/a 6.00 5.56
Account management 5.87 7.00 5.73 4.91 n/a 5.53 5.14
Asset safety 5.78 4.81 4.85 4.14 n/a 4.89 4.60
Risk management 6.04 6.50 5.86 5.71 n/a 5.88 5.50
Liquidity management 6.03 6.73 5.67 4.72 n/a 5.46 5.14
Regulation and compliance 4.95 5.27 5.43 5.50 n/a 5.28 4.84
Innovation 5.87 5.04 6.29 4.13 n/a 5.24 4.75
Asset servicing 5.98 5.35 5.72 6.02 n/a 5.84 5.52
Pricing 5.82 4.86 5.78 5.29 n/a 5.49 5.28
Technology 5.93 6.56 5.60 4.76 n/a 5.49 5.41
Cash management and FX 6.38 6.67 5.03 5.26 n/a 5.60 5.42
Total 5.93 5.84 5.71 5.11 n/a 5.55 5.23
Winter 2018
globalcustodian.com
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