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Global Custody Pro - 7 May 2025

Global Custody Pro - 7 May 2025

A Wednesday news edition to clear the backlog of earnings release items

Global Custody Pro
May 06, 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. The audio version of this newsletter is read by an AI voice. Have feedback? Just reply to this email or connect with us on LinkedIn.

📠 Editor’s Comment
🌏 Global Custody News
🚀 Digital Asset News
- SEC Sets Tokenisation Roundtable Agenda, Panellist …

📠 Editor’s Comment

Over the weekend, I realised that the volume of earnings releases from last week and this week ahead warrants a mid-week news edition. Let me know if you think both emails being news updates is better than the current model by replying to this email.

🌏 Global Custody News

OCC appoints Stephen Luparello as Chairman

Driving the news: The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) appointed Public Director Stephen Luparello as Chairman, succeeding Craig Donohue who resigned. Luparello, previously chair of OCC's Compensation and Performance and Regulatory Committees, will serve the remainder of Donohue’s term through April 2026.
Why it matters: Luparello brings extensive experience from prior roles including Managing Director and General Counsel at Citadel Securities, Director of the SEC’s Division of Trading & Markets, and senior positions at FINRA, which OCC CEO Andrej Bolkovic noted allows Luparello "to bring a uniquely valuable perspective to our organisation."

Cboe reports record Q1 revenue

Why it matters: Cboe Global Markets reported record first-quarter 2025 net revenue of $565 million, a 13% year-on-year increase, and record adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.5, up 16%. The company attributed the results to strong derivatives volumes, particularly in proprietary index options (SPX ADV +13%, XSP ADV +61%, VIX options ADV +33%), robust cash and spot market performance, and continued growth in its DataVantage business (+8% organic net revenue). Cboe also announced Craig Donahue will become the new CEO effective May 7.
The results highlight continued investor demand for Cboe's index and volatility products to navigate market volatility, geopolitical events, and macroeconomic uncertainty, as stated by the company. Management also emphasised the resilience and reliability of its Cboe Titanium technology platform during recent market turbulence as critical for customers.

Standard Chartered Q1 Securities Services Income Rises 8%

Driving the news: Standard Chartered reported an 8 per cent constant currency (ccy) increase year-on-year in its Securities & Prime Services income for Q1 2025, reaching $151 million. This growth was attributed to "higher custody, funds and prime brokerage fees".
The result contributed to a 4 per cent ccy overall income increase in the Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) division, alongside a 14 per cent ccy rise in Global Markets income where market risk RWA increased $8.5 billion, reportedly "deployed to help clients capture market opportunities".

Broadridge posts strong Q3

Why it matters: Broadridge reported 8% recurring revenue growth (constant currency) and 9% adjusted EPS growth for Q3 FY25. The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance for 6-8% constant currency recurring revenue growth and adjusted EPS growth within the 8-12% range, underpinned by 94% recurring fees and a $450 million revenue backlog, despite revising its FY25 closed sales forecast down to $240M-$300M citing economic uncertainty lengthening client decision times.
The big picture: The results underscore the firm's stated operational resilience, with its technology platforms successfully handling record fixed income and doubled equity settlement volumes following market volatility in early April. Progress continues on its distributed ledger repo solution, now processing $100 billion in daily average volume and integrating with Finality, advancing capabilities towards real-time intraday repo settlement.
State of play: While client technology investment decisions face delays, described as an "elongation" in the sales process due to market uncertainty, Broadridge states the majority of its late-stage pipeline involves cost reduction and operational simplification projects. The company asserts this near-term sales cycle slowdown is not expected to impact its FY2026 revenue results, given its existing backlog of business to onboard.

ICE posts record Q1 revenue driven by exchange volumes

Driving the news: ICE reported record Q1 2025 results, with net revenue hitting $2.5 billion (up 8% year-on-year on constant currency), adjusted operating income reaching $1.5 billion (up 11%), and adjusted EPS growing 16% to $1.72, marking "the very best quarter in ICE's history," according to CEO Jeff Sprecher. Growth occurred across all three segments, notably record Exchange net revenues ($1.4 billion, +12%) propelled by record transaction revenues (+16%) from interest rates (+18%), energy (+23%), and NYSE cash equities and options (+21%). The company returned $519 million to shareholders via dividends and buybacks.
Increased market volatility and macroeconomic uncertainty were cited as drivers for heightened risk management demand, reflected in record Q1 futures average daily volumes (+23%), strong April volumes (Interest Rates +59%, Energy +39%), and rising open interest (+8% overall, +21% in global interest rates, +7% in energy). Credit Default Swap (CDS) clearing revenue rose 27%, with notional cleared up nearly 40%. ICE highlighted NYSE technology resilience, stating systems processed over 1 trillion messages daily "with a median processing time of roughly thirty microseconds" during volatile periods.

LSEG posts 7.8% organic growth in Q1 2025

Driving the news: London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) reported a 7.8% increase in organic total income for Q1 2025 (8.7% on a constant currency basis including M&A), citing broad-based growth across its subscription and market-driven businesses. Data & Analytics (D&A) saw organic growth accelerate slightly to 5.1%, while the Markets division grew 10.7%.
Key operational updates include the ongoing migration from Icon, which is on track for sunsetting in June 2025, continued progress on product development with Microsoft, including planned launches in H2 2025, and strong performance in Post Trade despite headwinds from the Euronext migration completion.
LSEG reconfirmed all financial guidance, highlighting the resilience of its diversified model. The company continued its £500 million share buyback program, completing £245 million by late April 2025, and executed a $250 million tender offer for its 2031 bond.

Robinhood Q1 Revenue +50%

Driving the news: Robinhood reported Q1 2025 revenue up 50% year-on-year to $US927 million, driven by double-digit trading volume growth across asset classes and record net deposits of $US18 billion. The company closed its acquisition of TradePMR, adding over $US40 billion in platform assets and entering the Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) servicing market.
The big picture: The TradePMR integration signals Robinhood's strategic expansion into B2B services, targeting the RIA segment initially, while the anticipated mid-year close of the Bitstamp acquisition will add institutional crypto capabilities and broaden its global footprint. This diversification aims to build resilience beyond retail trading, according to company statements.
Go deeper: Robinhood plans further product rollouts including Robinhood Banking (Q3 launch) and enhancing Robinhood Legend for active traders, while continuing international expansion in the UK and Asia. Management highlighted a focus on growing earnings per share and stated the Bitstamp acquisition provides a lever for institutional crypto services and potentially influences crypto order routing.

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🚀 Digital Asset News

SEC Sets Tokenisation Roundtable Agenda, Panellists

Driving the news: The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force has published the agenda and panellist list for its 12 May roundtable, "Tokenization — Moving Assets Onchain: Where TradFi and DeFi Meet," featuring representatives from firms including BlackRock, Fidelity, DTCC, Nasdaq, Franklin Templeton, Apollo, and Securitize. Tokenisation "could substantially change many aspects of our financial markets," according to Commissioner Hester M. Peirce.
The roundtable aims to explore how tokenisation could alter financial markets and gather perspectives to inform the SEC's regulatory approach, bringing together traditional finance, market infrastructure, and digital asset specialists.
Discussion topics include the "Evolution of Finance: Capital Markets 2.0" and "The Future of Tokenization," signalling a focus on future market structure; a separate DeFi roundtable date was also rescheduled to 9 June.