Global Custodian Winter 2018 | Page 6

[ I N S I D E V I E W | J O N AT H A N W AT K I N S ] globalcustodian.com Your completely unreliable - yet honest - guide to 2019 A nnual predictions are a wonderful thing, aren’t they? A free pass to stand on a soapbox and wax lyrical about a topic of your choice, throwing out wild claims left, right and centre with very little chance of being held accountable for it a year later. For example, if I said right here that I predict I will be the UK’s Prime Minister by the end of 2019, will any of you write to me in December to hold me accountable for this fallacy should it not come true? Probably not. Though given the current situation I wouldn’t say it’s that much of an outlandish ambition. I’d put my chances somewhere between the country being led by Piers Morgan and Theresa May returning for a sec- ond term. But anyway, I digress; the point is we rarely see any revisiting of the annual industry crystal ball forecasts whether they are right or wrong. But I guess that’s the beauty of these predictions, you get honest, forward-looking, unrestricted and bold assertions about the year ahead. Yes, there’s a hint of agenda, but we always push for an indus- try-wide trend as opposed to ‘custodian x says we’ll be extra awesome next year’. It’s a great chance to hear what’s on the minds of the top executives across the securities services industry about technology trends, client demands, burgeoning asset classes and more. It’s an opportunity for the countries on the brink of major developments to shout ‘this will be our year’, or those who banked on the growth of a new asset class to say ‘our time has finally come’. I think a nod should go to those who predicted the blockchain developments many years ago before it was cool to do so, the few who saw an uptick in private equity out- sourcing and that one guy who said the Bitcoin price would collapse towards the end of 2018. Personally, I would say 2018 was defined by the following themes: data, technology, geopolitical uncertainty, the rise of new asset classes, consolidation across providers and clients, and finally changes at the top - with a swathe of chief executive changes at major firms during the year rumbling the securities services ecosystem. Yes, business models and services have also changed across the industry but most will be as a result of at least one of the factors above. Kudos should, therefore, go to Francis Jackson of RBC, Stephan Pouyat of Euroclear, Valerio Roncone of SIX Securities Services, Patrick Colle of BNP Paribas and Jay Peller of Citco Fund Services for your predictions at the end of 2017, which fell in line with my observations of what occurred over the past 12 months. You’ll find this year’s set of prophecies on page 42, so take note, and in a year’s time let’s see who we are heralding as our top time-travellers. The rest of this issue covers some of the themes we believe will be big in 2019: the to- kenisation of new and existing asset classes (page 22), cyber-attacks in securities (page 20) and an evolving emerging markets scene (page 30). If any of these don’t come to fruition over the next year then we will be fully answer- able to these claims and welcome you standing outside our headquarters with pitch- forks demanding retribution. Though we will respond with ‘Happy New Year’ just as we wish you at this moment. We look forward to another year of you being part of our community whether it’s through the mediums of print, online, research or events in 2019. Jonathan Watkins Managing Editor Global Custodian 6 Global Custodian Winter 2018 EDITORIAL Managing Editor JONATHAN WATKINS Tel: [phone] [email protected] Deputy Editor JOE PARSONS Tel: [phone] [email protected] Special Projects Editor RICHARD SCHWARTZ Tel: [phone] [email protected] Subscriptions Manager HOPE SETCHELL Tel: [phone] [email protected] Head of Operations KAREN DELAHOY Tel: [phone] [email protected] Contibutors CHARLES GUBERT DESIGN & PRODUCTION Art Director OLIVIA ROSZKOWSKA Tel: [phone] [email protected] ADVERTISING Advertising Director DALJIT SOKHI Tel: [phone] [email protected] Senior Account Manager MATT ALDRED [phone] [email protected] ADDRESS 20 Little Britain London, UK EC1A 7DH Tel: [phone] Printed by: Warners Midlands PLC SUBSCRIPTION RATES Global Custodian magazine publishes five issues per year. GlobalCustodian.com publishes daily. Annual subscription: $565 - magazine only; $715 - web only; $890 – package. For more information contact [email protected]. Global Custodian is owned and produced by Tungsten Publishing Ltd. ©Tungsten Publishing 2018 No part of this publication may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without written permission from the publisher.