Global Custody Pro - 12 November 2025

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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.

Table of Contents

• 🌏 Global Custody News

  • Asian Asset Owners Remain Positive on ESG

  • ESMA quantifies total EU fund costs

• 🚀 Digital Asset News

  • Episode Six, Fireblocks Launch Unified Payments So …

  • Mantle Gains Institutional Custody Through Anchora …

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🌏 Global Custody News

Asian Asset Owners Remain Positive on ESG

ASIFMA reported that Asian institutional investors maintain strong commitment to sustainable investing despite global headwinds, with 85% expressing positive sentiment in a survey conducted between June and September 2025. The survey of 55 asset owners across eight Asian jurisdictions - including insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices - found that risk management considerations drive sustainable investing strategies for two-thirds of respondents, whilst 75% have integrated ESG factors into their investment processes.

The survey revealed significant implementation challenges, with limited investment opportunities and insufficient ESG data cited as the primary barriers. These challenges prove more acute for Asian investments, where corporate sustainability disclosures remain inconsistent beyond major companies. Survey respondents indicated that 60% find sustainable investment labels only moderately or slightly useful, with some preferring to develop internal frameworks rather than rely on European-centric classification systems.

Looking ahead, all surveyed asset owners expect to maintain or increase their sustainable investing allocations over the next 12-24 months, with 33% planning to increase focus on private assets including infrastructure and real estate. Survey participants expect sustainable investments to generate similar or superior returns compared to conventional strategies over the long term, though 27% anticipate lower returns in the short term due to higher compliance costs and emerging technology investments.

ESMA quantifies total EU fund costs

ESMA released a one-off market report quantifying total investor costs for UCITS and AIFs across the EEA for the 2023 calendar year. The dataset covers UCITS with approximately EUR 7.2 trillion in assets, representing 66% of the EU UCITS market, and AIFs with EUR 2.6 trillion, or 40% of the EU AIF market, subject to first-time collection caveats. For a EUR 10,000 one-year investment, retail UCITS costs range from roughly EUR 50 for passive bond funds to EUR 200 for active equity funds, whilst retail AIFs range from EUR 144 for "Other" strategies to EUR 280 for real estate funds.

The report found that distribution is a major component of the investor burden, averaging 48% of total UCITS costs and 27% for AIFs. For UCITS that pay inducements, the authority reported that inducements represent 45% of ongoing costs on average, with a representative EUR 10,000 one-year UCITS investment entailing median ongoing costs of EUR 127, of which EUR 62 goes to the distributor and EUR 65 is retained by the manufacturer.

ESMA noted that distribution remains dominated by credit institutions and investment firms, with 86% of UCITS assets distributed indirectly and more than 60% of that channel share attributable to traditional intermediaries, whilst actual one-off fees charged by manufacturers are between 38% and 96% below the maxima disclosed in PRIIPs Key Information Documents.

The report stated that distribution cost information is not fully harmonised across EU rules and that PRIIPs and MiFID II disclosures provide complementary but fragmented views. The authority emphasised that without comprehensive distribution cost reporting, an exhaustive analysis of total investor-borne costs is not possible and highlighted the ad-hoc, one-time nature of the collection and resulting limitations, including the absence of national breakdowns and potential under-representation of certain distribution channels.

🚀 Digital Asset News

Episode Six, Fireblocks Launch Unified Payments Solution

Episode Six and Fireblocks announced the co-development of a unified payments solution that bridges traditional and digital finance, the companies said at Singapore Fintech Festival. The platform enables financial institutions to issue, fund, and process fiat, stablecoins, loyalty points, and other digital assets from a single system.

The solution combines Episode Six's enterprise-grade card issuing and ledger infrastructure with Fireblocks' digital asset custody and blockchain connectivity. Through the Fireblocks Network, which is used by more than 2,400 institutional counterparties, the platform connects 120+ blockchains, 35+ digital asset exchanges, and global card networks. The system supports both pre-funded and credit-based payment options, allowing institutions to configure products ranging from instantly funded digital wallets to traditional credit offerings.

"Financial institutions are increasingly looking for ways to connect the worlds of fiat and digital assets without the complexity of running parallel systems," said John Mitchell, CEO and Co-Founder of Episode Six. The companies positioned the solution as addressing growing demand for interoperable infrastructure to support tokenised deposits, stablecoins, and other digital assets. The platform can operate as a standalone system or integrate with existing core banking infrastructure whilst introducing capabilities including instant virtual card generation, programmable stablecoin issuance, and cross-network connectivity.

Mantle Gains Institutional Custody Through Anchorage Digital

Mantle, a distribution and liquidity layer for real-world assets built on Ethereum Layer 2 network, announced that its native token $MNT on Ethereum is now supported by Anchorage Digital's custody platform. Anchorage Digital, which operates the first and only federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, will provide secure custody through its platform and self-custody wallet Porto for regulated institutions seeking to hold the token.

The partnership enables financial institutions to hold $MNT on Ethereum as a treasury asset whilst accessing Anchorage Digital's custody services. $MNT serves as the governance and utility token powering the Mantle network, which manages over $4 billion in community-owned assets. The ecosystem includes partnerships with issuers and protocols including Ethena USDe, Ondo USDY, OP-Succinct and EigenLayer.

Nathan McCauley, Co-Founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, said the company was built to give institutions a secure, regulated way to participate in blockchain networks. The partnership reinforces Mantle's strategy to enhance liquidity, market depth and institutional adoption whilst strengthening its position as a gateway for traditional finance institutions to access on-chain liquidity and real-world assets.

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