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- Global Custody Pro - 10 October 2025
Global Custody Pro - 10 October 2025
T+1, AFME clearing proposals, US Bank lands Anchorage custody, and more
Global Custody Pro
October 09, 2025 • Reading Time: 7 minutes
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Welcome to Global Custody Pro, read by custody professionals like you. I'm Brennan McDonald, Managing Editor. I write about the global custody industry, having spent over 12 years in financial services, including working at a global custody bank. An AI voice reads the audio version of this newsletter. Reply to this email with feedback or connect with us on LinkedIn.
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🌏 Global Custody News
EU T+1 Committee Urges Urgent Preparation
The EU T+1 Industry Committee has intensified its push for market participants to prepare for mandatory one-day settlement, with Chair Giovanni Sabatini warning that firms face competitive and liquidity risks if they are not ready for the regulatory transition. Speaking following industry conferences at Sibos and AFME Optic, Sabatini said the committee will launch a preparation survey in January 2026 to monitor implementation progress, whilst ESMA is expected to publish regulatory technical standards on settlement discipline soon.
The committee published a high-level transition roadmap in under six months through a collaborative governance model involving the European Commission and ESMA. Sabatini emphasised alignment between the EU and UK markets, describing the relationship with Andrew Douglas, Chair of the UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce, as collaborative rather than competitive. He said the governance framework could serve as a blueprint for accelerating the broader Savings and Investments Union agenda and rethinking EU financial market architecture.
The committee chair said T+1 represents more than post-trade reform, characterising it as strategic infrastructure that removes market misalignment costs, reduces counterparty credit risk, and promotes automation and standardisation. Sabatini said firms must adopt straight-through processing not only for compliance but to remain competitive, noting that first movers face major business opportunities. He urged small asset managers to conduct immediate impact assessments rather than waiting for intermediaries, stating that supervisors will consider the committee's recommendations in their oversight activities.
AFME Proposes Reforms for European Equities Clearing
European cash equities clearing requires targeted reforms to improve efficiency and competition without consolidating into a single central counterparty, according to a paper published by AFME in October 2025. The paper finds that whilst competition has successfully reduced clearing fees, settlement costs remain high and market fragmentation persists due to preferred clearing arrangements that limit genuine user choice.
The paper identifies interoperability between CCPs as the most effective path forward, allowing clearing members to access multiple markets through a single CCP whilst preserving diversity and competition. However, current interoperability arrangements face challenges from additional margining requirements, which account for approximately 40% of total margin posted across interoperable CCPs, and inconsistent risk management frameworks that increase costs for participants.
AFME recommends mandating broader CCP interoperability, enhancing transparency of CSD settlement fees, and re-evaluating margin frameworks to reduce duplicative costs whilst maintaining robust risk safeguards. The forthcoming transition to T+1 settlement represents an opportunity to accelerate automation, harmonisation and alignment of CCP processes, with the paper explicitly stating that a single-CCP model would increase concentration risk and weaken competition.
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🚀 Digital Asset News
U.S Bank to custody Anchorage stablecoin reserves
U.S. Bank announced it has been selected as custodian for reserves backing payment stablecoins issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, the only federally chartered crypto-native bank in the United States. The arrangement pairs one of the nation's largest global custodians with a bank operating under direct OCC supervision to support stablecoin issuance under the recently passed GENIUS Act.
U.S. Bank has $11.7 trillion in assets under custody and administration as of 30 June 2025. The GENIUS Act requires payment stablecoins to be backed one-to-one by high-quality liquid assets and supported by robust Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering programmes. Anchorage Digital Bank launched its compliant stablecoin issuance platform in July 2025 immediately following the legislation's passage.
Nathan McCauley, CEO and co-founder of Anchorage Digital, said the partnership reflects growing alignment between digital finance and the traditional financial system. U.S. Bank's Stephen Philipson noted that payment stablecoins offer potential advantages including lower costs and faster settlement than some traditional payment methods, particularly for cross-border transactions where real-time movement and smart contract controls can facilitate foreign exchange and pricing features.
Fiserv launches North Dakota's first state stablecoin
Fiserv and the Bank of North Dakota announced the Roughrider coin, marking North Dakota as the first U.S. state to launch its own stablecoin. The digital currency, named after Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, will be fully backed by U.S. dollars and launch on the Fiserv digital asset platform in 2026. The companies said the stablecoin aims to increase bank-to-bank transactions, encourage global money movement, and drive merchant adoption.
The Roughrider coin will build on Fiserv's FIUSD digital asset platform, which the company unveiled in June alongside a white-label stablecoin offering. Fiserv processes 90 billion transactions annually across approximately 10,000 financial institution clients and six million merchant locations. Takis Georgakopoulos, chief operating officer at Fiserv, said the initiative brings together "the reliability of traditional finance and the innovation of blockchain to deliver faster and smarter digital payments."
The stablecoin will be available to banks and credit unions in North Dakota in 2026. Governor Kelly Armstrong said North Dakota is "taking a cutting-edge approach to creating a secure and efficient financial ecosystem" for residents. The Bank of North Dakota, the only state-owned bank in the United States with just over $10 billion in assets, said the development capitalises on recent changes in federal law and ensures the continued relevance of the North Dakota financial industry.
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