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Colombia
Citi
These scores add up to an overall performance which matches
almost exactly what happened last year. Even in the details, it is
noticeable that in 2018 Citi Bogota does best (settlement, client
service and relationship management) and worst (notably pric-
ing) in exactly the same service areas as it did in 2017. Though
the giant American bank has long used its Tampa operations
centre to support its Latin American custody and clearing busi-
nesses, Citi has entrenched itself locally through trade finance,
offshore investment products and FX and cash management
products. These last two services do not attract rave reviews
from direct custody and clearing clients, though they are judging
Citi on a global rather than a local basis, and the clients do clear-
ly see value in Citi as a source of credit and as a counterparty.
BNP Paribas Securities Services
The French bank received an exceptional set of scores in this
market a year ago. In 2018 it has received a relatively small num-
ber of responses, and the average scores are not as high. They,
nevertheless, indicate clients are delighted with everything
except the safekeeping fees and the spreads charged on cash
deposits and foreign exchange transactions – and even on those
fronts, the scores place BNP Paribas ahead of the local and glob-
al benchmarks.
It is a fine record by the Bogota arm of what one Colombian
client calls the “supranational” BNP Paribas network, especially
since it opened as recently as 2012, which is only two years after
the bank embarked on its aggressive expansion strategy in Latin
America with the launch of a custody service in then-booming
Brazil. The idea was to service outbound as well as inbound Co-
lombian business, and the logic was impeccable. The Colombian
government had recently passed a law obliging all Colombian
investors to appoint an independent custodian. BNP Paribas had
good reason to believe network managers at the major global
custodian and investment banks would be less inclined to give
their Colombian business to a global competitor, and the in-
house investment banking and asset management arms of BNP
Paribas were active in the Colombian securities markets.
One additional hope at the time was that the Mercado Integra-
do Latino-Americano (MILA), which in 2011 brought together
the stock exchanges and central securities depositories (CSDs)
of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, would drive intra-region-
al capital flows. Though the four countries are united in their
ambition to create a free trade area, the four exchanges offer in-
vestors access to more than 750 stocks, and several MILA-track-
ing funds exist, trading volumes have not increased as fast as the
MILA progenitors had initially hoped.
Itaú Securities Services Colombia S.A.
The Colombian arm of Itaú has not attracted enough respons-
es to be assessed properly, but it garners a meaningful share
of inbound custody as well as supporting Colombian investors
abroad. The scores suggest Itaú has client-friendly staff and is
getting the basic services right, but there is room for improve-
ment in cash, credit and FX.
WEIGHTED AVERAGE SCORES
BNP Paribas
Citi
Itaú Colombia
Market Average Global Average
Share of validated responses (%) 33% 58% 8% Relationship management 6.08 4.39 n/a 5.22 5.30
Client service 6.24 5.71 n/a 5.98 5.56
Account management 6.10 5.24 n/a 5.69 5.14
Asset safety 6.06 4.42 n/a 5.23 4.60
Risk management 6.28 4.93 n/a 5.68 5.50
Liquidity management 6.15 4.48 n/a 5.26 5.14
Regulation and compliance 5.83 4.88 n/a 5.24 4.84
Innovation 5.60 4.04 n/a 4.90 4.75
Asset servicing 6.39 4.93 n/a 5.67 5.52
Pricing 6.23 4.65 n/a 5.45 5.28
Technology 6.11 5.00 n/a 5.54 5.41
Cash management and FX 6.00 5.31 n/a 5.66 5.42
Total 6.09 4.81 n/a 5.47 5.23
Winter 2018
globalcustodian.com
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