Global Custody Pro - 4 June 2025

TP ICAP, BNY, Neptune, ICE, Citi, Northern Trust and more

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Global Custody Pro
June 03, 2025 • Reading Time: 10 minutes

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📰 Welcome to the Newsletter

Welcome to Global Custody Pro! I'm Brennan McDonald, Managing Editor. I write about the global custody industry after 12+ years in financial services, including working at a global custodian. An AI voice reads the audio version of this newsletter. Have feedback? Just reply to this email or connect with us on LinkedIn.

📠 Editor’s Comment

In today’s newsletter, we cover some industry news and a number of comments made by industry leaders speaking at the Bernstein 41st Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, which was held on May 29th.

Table of Contents

🌏 Global Custody News

TP ICAP Acquires Neptune, Partners with Banks

  • Driving the news: TP ICAP Group PLC has acquired Neptune Networks, a financial data company, and is partnering with nine global investment banks – Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Crédit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank, ING, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and UBS – to form a new global Dealer-to-Client (D2C) credit business. This new entity will combine Neptune’s pre-trade bond market data network with TP ICAP’s Liquidnet electronic credit trading platform.

  • The new business aims to integrate Neptune's real-time sell-side data with Liquidnet's buy-side client reach to create a full-service offering. The nine partner banks will hold a 30% stake, intended to ensure resources and incentives for growth. Nicolas Breteau, CEO of TP ICAP Group, stated, "By combining Liquidnet’s extensive client reach with leading liquidity providers, we can seamlessly and discreetly connect the sell-side and buy-side to unlock exciting potential."

  • This initiative seeks to enhance Neptune's data business and its utility for buy-side clients via Liquidnet's platform, responding to the increasing electronification of corporate bond markets. "The strategic integration of the Neptune and Liquidnet Credit complementary offerings is poised to improve competition and liquidity while delivering increased choice and improved value to both the buy side and the sell side," according to Nick Adragna, Co-Head of Global Investment Grade and Macro Credit Trading, J.P. Morgan.

BNY Details Platform Transformation

  • Driving the news: BNY CEO Robin Vince detailed the company's ongoing multi-year transformation, emphasising its shift to a platform-based operating model aimed at de-siloing the organisation and enhancing efficiency. Vince stated, "we are increasingly a platforms company, and 65% of our pretax income comes from businesses that would really be responsive to the definition of what is a platform." He noted that 2025 is the "first full year that we've had where all of those early initiatives that we started in 2022 have actually come into place." The platform’s operating model is currently crossing the 50% completion mark.

  • This transformation is explicitly intended to "deduplicate the company," addressing what Vince described as "duplication and waste everywhere," such as previously operating multiple clearing businesses and custody platforms. The aim is to improve the cost to serve, particularly in the Securities Services segment, where the stated goal for margin improvement to 30% is a target. Vince stated, "We're very much knocking on the door of that number now."

  • The full financial benefits of the platform's operating model are projected for the longer term, with Vince stating, "The full year, the first full year of value of the platform's operating model probably isn't until 2028." BNY also anticipates significant future benefits from artificial intelligence (AI), suggesting technology will be central to the next phases of its strategic execution and service evolution.

ICE CEO: NYSE Reports High Transaction Volumes

  • Driving the news: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) CEO Jeff Sprecher highlighted the New York Stock Exchange's (NYSE) substantial system scalability, stating that in April, "we were doing 1,300,000,000,000 transactions a day." Sprecher also noted ongoing strength in ICE's energy markets, with exchange volumes "up 18 year over year" month-to-date.

  • Sprecher emphasised the trend of US dollarisation in global financial markets, stating that global equity and commodity businesses are "all dollar-denominated and ubiquitous around the world." He identified this trend as a tailwind for ICE's predominantly US dollar-based exchange and clearing product suite, which is "largely globally distributed."

  • ICE continues to strategically evolve its exchange products, exemplified by the Brent crude oil contract, which Sprecher stated has been "reconstituted over time" to include US WTI and described its evolution "to becoming the global price of oil." Looking ahead, Sprecher indicated ICE is preparing its data centre and network infrastructure for potential future AI model co-location, as he anticipates AI will "become latency sensitive" for trading, a development for which they "realise like this is a likely outcome."

Citi Spotlights Services Growth, Blockchain Payment Solution

  • Why it matters: Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser underscored the Services business's consistent delivery of mid-20 per cent returns and revenue growth from $12 billion to $20 billion. Fraser stated that this performance stems from its deep integration with corporate clients for essential daily operations, including payroll, liquidity management, and receivables globally.

  • The big picture: A key Services innovation is its application of blockchain technology, which enables real-time, instant cross-border payments for corporate clients. Fraser explained that for clients, such as Procter & Gamble, transferring funds internationally, the benefit is that "it's cash to cash for them," which simplifies compliance. "The client loves it because it's cash to cash for them," Fraser stated.

  • Go deeper: Citigroup plans to "continue to innovate" in its Services business, especially with digital assets. Fraser affirmed the bank is urging regulators to "let us have that space because we can be the best use cases for digital assets out there at scale."

Northern Trust Appointed Custodian for Dutch BPF Beton

  • Why it matters: Northern Trust has been appointed by Dutch pension fund BPF Beton, which had approximately EUR 1.2 billion in assets as at 31 December 2024, to provide global custody, regulatory reporting, valuation and accounting, and performance analytics. Herman Prummel, country head, Netherlands, Northern Trust, stated, “Northern Trust has been servicing Dutch pension clients for four decades and is a long-term strategic partner to the pensions industry...This mandate showcases our regional commitment and expertise in ensuring a seamless, efficient transition to the new reporting standards.”

  • BPF Beton selected Northern Trust due to its "rapid response to the new legislation" and understanding of the requirements under the new 'Wet Toekomst Pensioenen' (Future of Pensions Act), as the fund sought a strategic service provider to "support us navigate this new landscape," according to Govert van der Peijl, president and chairman of BPF Beton. This appointment highlights Northern Trust's stated capability to manage the operational impacts of significant regulatory change for pension funds.

  • BPF Beton describes the transition to the new defined contribution system as “complex and large-scale.” Govert van der Peijl said Northern Trust is set to support the scheme as it “embarks on the next chapter of its journey to deliver the best possible outcomes for our members,” signalling a focus on navigating the evolving Dutch pension framework and its complexities.

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🚀 Digital Asset News

Broadridge Highlights DLT Repo Scale, AI Focus for GTO

  • Driving the news: Broadridge CEO Tim Gokey outlined the company's focus on its Global Technology and Operations (GTO) segment, emphasising platform development, significant Digital Ledger Technology (DLT) adoption with "$100,000,000,000 a day in repos on digital ledger technology today," and its strategy to be "a leader in AI within our space." This strategy includes integrating AI into existing products, creating new AI-driven offerings such as a global demand model for asset managers, and applying AI for internal operational efficiencies, with Gokey stating an aim for "zero headcount growth" potentially by 2027.

  • The big picture: According to Gokey, the company's platform strategy, featuring a "common data model across all of our solutions, a common API framework," aims to "make our solutions stickier...more cost effective for the client...easier to onboard" and establish a "much better foundation" for AI. This approach is designed to enhance client operational efficiency in capital markets and wealth management by integrating previously disparate solutions.

  • Go deeper: Broadridge anticipates further progress in capital markets through its "global platforms" and expects AI to drive "a really big change" over the next five years, as stated by its CEO. Gokey also noted that tokenisation, particularly with moves towards "24/7 trading," could be a real driver and become "a much bigger thing," with Broadridge positioned to be a "significant part of that."

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