[ S U R V E Y
|
A G E N T
B A N K S
I N
M A J O R
M A R K E T S ]
Denmark
SEB
No bank received more responses in Copenhagen than SEB.
There are good scores for client service and, in the details at
least, for settlement and technology – which is reassuring in
a country that remains the only Nordic market to have transi-
tioned successfully to TARGET2-Securities (T2S). Like most
banks in most markets in this survey, SEB could do better in
helping its clients trim costs, especially of cash, capital and col-
lateral, but also of the core operational services. Only asset ser-
vicing looks problematic. “SEB are becoming very disappointing
in the corporate action area,” writes a client that uses the bank
on a regional basis. “Everything is black and white with them. It
can be challenging to get them to action anything that does not
conform to market practice.”
Nordea
The inheritor of the Unibank franchise in Denmark has collect-
ed an ordinary set of scores in which appreciation of the client
service, confidence in the quality of a AA-rated bank, a belief in
the long-term future of the relationship and satisfaction with
the core services of settlement and asset servicing are offset
by concerns about the details of asset safety, the pricing of the
services and the costs of capital and collateral. There is one
curious finding. Nordea has embarked on a well-advertised but
nevertheless daring journey to digitise all of its operations and is
investing heavily to make a reality of this ambition. Yet this does
not show up in the scoring of the bank for either innovation or
technology.
Handelsbanken Securities Services
The Swedish bank has rededicated itself to Nordic custody,
replacing a hotchpotch of 13 systems with a new, integrated and
pan-Nordic technology system, settling on a combination of cen-
tralised transaction processing in Helsinki and local asset-ser-
vicing off a joint regional platform.
Unlike the other Nordic markets, where Handelsbanken seeks
domestic as well as in-bound business, the bank is focusing for
now on sub-custody only in Copenhagen. That proportion of a
relatively small client base in Denmark that responded to the
survey are happy with the settlement service and the asset ser-
vicing, and clearly think their relationship with Handelsbanken
has a mutually rewarding future, though there were not enough
to pass a comprehensive verdict on progress towards fulfilling
renewed ambitions.
Danske Bank
The Danish universal bank has long defied the odds against
single market providers, though a substantial domestic client
base willing to outsource their operations to a domestic bank
certainly helps. There were just enough responses from inter-
national clients to gauge the quality of the sub-custody services
Danske continues to supply. Clients evinced few doubts about
the quality of the (single A-rated) bank as a counterparty. Clearly
they love the people that they work with in client service and
relationship management and have confirmed a reputation
Danske has earned elsewhere for providing excellent services in
cash management.
WEIGHTED AVERAGE SCORES
Market Average Global Average
4.09 5.07 5.20
SEB Nordea Bank Danske Bank Handelsbanken
Market share (% of responses) 44% 29% 15% 12%
Relationship management 5.61 4.83 5.20 Client service 6.02 5.54 6.18 4.09 5.55 5.40
Account management 5.90 5.63 5.43 5.40 5.69 5.44
Asset safety 5.89 5.47 5.41 4.56 5.65 5.68
Risk management 5.58 5.40 5.56 2.88 5.34 5.46
Liquidity management 4.55 4.14 4.47 n/a 4.38 4.89
Regulation and compliance 5.44 5.89 5.71 4.63 5.60 5.64
Innovation 5.47 4.74 5.35 4.45 5.07 5.18
Asset servicing 4.99 5.11 5.49 3.73 5.01 5.09
Pricing 4.51 5.03 4.04 n/a 4.62 4.82
Technology 5.61 5.01 4.67 4.80 5.22 5.28
Cash management and FX 4.21 4.34 3.95 4.44 4.22 4.25
Total 5.39 5.19 5.15 4.23 5.21 5.24
80
Global Custodian
Fall 2018