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Global Custody Pro - 29 October 2025

Global Custody Pro - 29 October 2025

Banks, ASX, SS&C, Citi, Coinbase and more

Global Custody Pro
October 28, 2025 • Reading Time: 9 minutes

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📰 Welcome to the Newsletter

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.

🌏 Global Custody News
🚀 Digital Asset News
- Citi, Coinbase Partner on Digital Payments
- IBM launches digital asset platform

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🌏 Global Custody News

Banks invest in LSEG's Post Trade Solutions

LSEG announced that 11 leading global banks have agreed to invest £170 million for a 20% stake in its Post Trade Solutions business, which generated revenue of £96 million and normalised EBITDA of £16 million in 2024. The investing banks, which are major customers of LSEG's clearing services, will gain strategic input through three board seats, replicating the original LCH partnership model.

Alongside the investment, LSEG will acquire increased revenue share rights from SwapClear for total cash consideration of £1.15 billion, payable in instalments in 2025 and 2026. The founding members' entitlement to SwapClear's revenue surplus will reduce from approximately 30% to 15% in 2025 (applied retroactively from 1 January 2025) and 10% from 2026, with the arrangement now extended through 2045 rather than 2035. An additional payment of up to £200 million may be payable if certain future growth targets are met.

The transaction, expected to close in 2025, will improve EBITDA margins across LSEG's Markets division and the broader group. Daniel Maguire, Head of Markets at LSEG and CEO of LCH Group, stated the partnership builds on the successful SwapClear model established 25 years ago and aims to bring efficiencies across capital, risk and operations to the bilateral OTC derivatives market. The investing banks emphasised their commitment to infrastructure innovation and operational efficiency.

ASX acknowledges difficult year amid transformation and scrutiny

ASX Chair David Clarke acknowledged at the company's 2025 annual general meeting that the Australian exchange operator has experienced a difficult year in which confidence has been tested, though he emphasized the company has made notable progress in areas including technology modernization. Clarke told shareholders the board recognizes the company has not advanced as far or as fast across all areas of its business, particularly in operational risk management and resilience.

The company has launched an "Accelerate programme" to address the magnitude, breadth and speed of change required, which Clarke said was developed after it became clear "a different effort is required than what we initially anticipated". CEO Helen Lofthouse was scheduled to provide further details on the transformation programme streams. The transformation is focused on the strategic pillar related to business fundamentals, with Clarke noting the company's people face the challenge of driving necessary changes whilst continuing to operate critical market infrastructure.

The company highlighted that despite challenges it maintains strong global market positions, including being the top exchange worldwide for IPOs and capital raisings in metals and mining, and operating the world's fourth largest interest rate derivatives market and largest in Asia. The meeting also saw Anne Loveridge appointed to the board despite 16.8% of votes cast against her election, primarily from international investors concerned about her former connection to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's auditor, though she left the firm 10 years ago.

SS&C Technologies posts record Q3 results

SS&C Technologies reported record third-quarter results with adjusted revenue of $1.569 billion, up 7% year over year, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.57, representing a 17.2% increase, Chief Executive Officer Bill Stone said during the company's earnings call on 23 October 2025. The financial services software provider delivered adjusted consolidated EBITDA of $619 million, up 9.3%, with margins expanding 90 basis points to 39.5%. Chief Financial Officer Brian Schell noted that adjusted organic revenue growth on a constant currency basis was 5.2%, whilst diluted share count declined to 252.6 million from 254.1 million primarily due to share repurchases.

The company demonstrated strength across its alternative asset servicing businesses, with GlobeOp achieving 9.6% revenue growth and its Global Investor and Distribution Services segment posting 9% revenue growth. President and Chief Operating Officer Rahul Kanwar said the company successfully completed a large lift-out in Australia on 1 July and announced an additional lift-out for a U.S. life and pensions provider. For the nine months ended 30 September 2025, cash from operating activities reached $1.101 billion, up 22% from the prior year. The company returned $305 million to shareholders during Q3, including $240 million in share repurchases at an average price of $86.82 and $65.8 million in dividends, whilst raising its quarterly dividend by 8% to $1.08.

Looking ahead, SS&C raised its full-year 2025 revenue guidance by $37 million at the midpoint to a range of $6.21 billion to $6.25 billion, reflecting 4.6% revenue growth at the midpoint. The company also raised the midpoint of its full-year adjusted diluted EPS guidance by $0.11 to a range of $6.02 to $6.08. For Q4 2025, the company expects revenue between $1.59 billion and $1.63 billion with 4.5% organic revenue growth at the midpoint. The company closed its acquisition of Calastone on 14 October, adding capabilities in money markets, ETFs and digital assets, and announced the acquisition of Kural Fund Services, a South African fund administration business, in September. Chief Technology Officer Anthony Caiafa is scheduled to discuss the company's AI advancements at the annual Deliver Conference in Phoenix, with keynote speaker Victor Haghani, Founder and CIO of Elm Wealth and co-founder of Long-Term Capital Management.

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🚀 Digital Asset News

Citi, Coinbase Partner on Digital Payments

Citi and Coinbase announced their intention to collaborate on digital asset payment capabilities for Citi's institutional clients, with potential expansion to additional global clients in future. The initial phase focuses on fiat pay-ins and pay-outs, supporting Coinbase's on/off ramps that bridge traditional fiat and digital asset ecosystems, along with payments orchestration.

The collaboration builds on Citi's existing 24/7 digital money infrastructure and its presence across more than 300 payment clearing networks in 94 markets globally. Debopama Sen, Head of Payments at Citi Services, described the partnership as a natural extension of the bank's "network of networks" approach. Brian Foster, Global Head of Crypto as a Service at Coinbase, said the collaboration reflects the company's commitment to building infrastructure for next-generation financial services.

The companies said they will share details on specific initiatives in coming months, including exploration of alternative fiat to onchain stablecoin payout methods. The collaboration is subject to further exploration and appropriate regulatory considerations, according to the announcement.

IBM launches digital asset platform

IBM announced entry into the institutional digital asset custody market with IBM Digital Asset Haven, positioning the platform to capture revenue from financial institutions and governments modernising their product portfolios for tokenised assets and stablecoins. Tom McPherson, General Manager of IBM Z and LinuxONE, said clients have been requesting resilience and data governance capabilities to build next-generation financial services, presenting what the company characterised as a critical opportunity in the evolving digital asset economy.

The platform, developed in partnership with Dfns, provides transaction lifecycle management across more than 40 blockchains, governance frameworks with multi-party authorisations, and integrated third-party solutions designed to reduce deployment time. IBM said the security infrastructure—including Hardware Security Module-based signing, IBM Offline Signing Orchestrator for cold storage, and quantum-safe cryptography guidance—differentiates the offering for regulated institutions with jurisdictional compliance mandates. Dfns brings existing market presence with 15 million wallets across over 250 clients.

IBM plans to deliver the platform via SaaS and hybrid SaaS models in Q4 2025, with on-premises deployment planned for Q2 2026. Clarisse Hagège, CEO of Dfns, said the platform enables digital assets to transition from pilot programmes to production at global scale by meeting the same infrastructure standards as traditional financial systems. The company did not disclose pricing or revenue projections for the new platform.