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A G E N T
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Qatar
HSBC
HSBC continues to attract the most responses here. The overall
average score is less favourable than a year ago, though it is hard
to pinpoint a particular factor at work. The details say HSBC has
not distinguished itself from other banks in corporate actions
notifications or proxy voting deadlines, or in dealing with the
tax authorities. They do say it has earned respect in its dealings
with regulators, though even in that field a client urges HSBC to
“work even more intensively with [the] authorities re[garding]
disclosure requirements for funds.”
Clients would also like more flexibility and creativity, especial-
ly if it could save them cash or capital. Price, the only issue for
respondents last year, remains one in 2018. In fact, it is joined
this year by a degree of disappointment over spreads in FX and
cash. But nobody thinks their transactions are at risk of failing to
settle, because they trust the bank to find the cash or securities.
Clients are grateful to HSBC, not only for keeping their assets
safe, but as a counterparty. The client service is admired too.
Standard Chartered Bank
SCB eclipses its network rival here in all but three service
areas. One of the most important is relationship management. A
client duly records that he has encountered nothing but “good
relationship management and approachability by our primary
contact. [He] works with us to provide solutions.” The scores for
client service are also flattering. More unusually, SCB wins plau-
dits for asset servicing and for openness and competitive pricing
in the money and foreign exchange markets.
SCB clients are less convinced that the bank has as much in-
fluence with the Qatari regulators as its rival. More importantly,
they do not believe they are getting good value in sourcing cash
or securities to meet their daily liquidity requirements. “Charges
for maintaining cash clearing accounts are prohibitively high,”
writes a client.
QNB Alahli
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)-controlled commercial
bank aims to compete for custody business on price and service.
Though an insufficient number of responses was received to
make firm judgments on either count, the data that was received
certainly indicates a high degree of satisfaction. “We are happy
with the service received,” says one client. The future of the cus-
todial ambitions of the bank hinges on the success of the efforts
by the Qatari authorities to turn the gas-producing Gulf state into
a diversified financial services entrepot. Since the QIA formed a
strategic partnership with NYSE Euronext and set about turning
the former Doha Securities Market (DSM) into a proper stock ex-
change, they have had some success in attracting foreign capital.
The transition of the rebranded Qatar Stock Market from the
MSCI frontier markets index to the emerging markets equiva-
lent in 2013 added indexed money. Since then, investors have en-
joyed a “Duke-of-York experience”. The market ran up to a peak
in late 2015 but has slid unsteadily downwards ever since, with
the additional impetus of the economic and diplomatic embargo
orchestrated by Saudi Arabia behind it.
WEIGHTED AVERAGE SCORES
Standard Chartered Bank
HSBC
QNB Alhali
Market Average Global Average
Share of validated responses (%) 33% 61% 8% Relationship management 6.00 5.30 n/a 5.54 5.30
Client service 6.17 5.60 n/a 5.92 5.56
Account management 6.17 5.14 n/a 5.60 5.14
Asset safety 5.84 4.26 n/a 5.09 4.60
Risk management 5.96 5.84 n/a 5.91 5.50
Liquidity management 6.10 4.71 n/a 5.31 5.14
Regulation and compliance 4.95 5.50 n/a 5.18 4.84
Innovation 5.90 4.22 n/a 5.10 4.75
Asset servicing 6.05 6.09 n/a 6.01 5.52
Pricing 5.79 5.30 n/a 5.55 5.28
Technology 6.19 4.67 n/a 5.36 5.41
Cash management and FX 6.50 5.29 n/a 5.74 5.42
Total 6.00 5.20 n/a 5.55 5.23
78
Global Custodian
Winter 2018