Custodians and Client Facing Technology
Finadium
April 2019
The global custody business is becoming digitized, and custodians have adopted innovative strategies in delivering data, widgets and APIs to their global, diverse client bases. The idea of the custodian as safekeeper of assets is still relevant, but along with that comes an expanding toolkit of applications designed to help clients manage their business better, extending into the front office.
In this report, Finadium conducted interviews with digital and data managers at Brown Brothers Harriman, BNY Mellon, Citi and State Street to hear their views on how client-facing technology has evolved and where it is heading. The four major custodians profiled each have slightly different views on the business, but commonalities include: a use of data for both client facing and internal purposes; the requirement that data access must be customizable for user needs; and an expectation that data will drive the future of the industry.
This report has been written for capital markets professionals with an interest in custody-linked services for large institutions and money managers. It is a competitive analysis of what custodians are doing and a benchmark on their successes versus their peers. It should also be useful for non-custody technology providers and regulators considering what the next opportunities are in the complex and critical custodial-linked marketplace.
Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- A Change in Custodian Strategy
- – What is a Custodian Today?
- Case Studies
- – Brown Brothers Harriman
- – BNY Mellon
- – Citi
- – State Street
- Lessons for Custodians and Competitors
- About the Author
- About Finadium LLC