Clearstream has seen a 25 percent increase in its custody business for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over the last 12 months, with ETF assets under custody passing the €300 billion mark for the first time in May.
According to Clearstream, this increase is partly down to the emergence of products like its Vestima cross-border fund processing platform, designed to simplify cross-border ETF transactions while improving liquidity and reducing costs.
ETFs were added to the Vestima fund platform in 2014.
Clearstream Banking co-CEO Philippe Seyll, said: “Our system takes care of the complexity.”
He added: “It is low on cost and it is automated. This means that a French investor can buy into a German-listed ETF and sell it on the UK stock exchange seamlessly.”
Clearstream’s total assets under custody for May saw a 3 percent increase to €13.46 trillion compared to the same month last year, when assets under custody reached €13.04 trillion.
The investment funds services business saw an almost 50 percent increase in the number of transactions, and a 19 percent increase in the value of securities deposits.
Transactions increased from 1.4 million in May 2016 to 2 million in May 2017, with securities deposits increasing from €1.84 trillion to €2.2 trillion.
In its international central securities depository (ICSD) business, clearstream saw a 37 percent increase in the number of transactions, from 2.9 million in May last year to 4 million this year. However, securities deposits dipped by 2 percent, falling from €6.81 trillion to €6.7 trillion.
Similarly, in the CSD business, transactions jumped from 6.2 million to 8.3 million, marking a 35 percent increase. This did not translate to securities deposits figures, however, which saw a 4 percent increase from €4.39 trillion in May 2016 to €4.56 trillion in May 2017.
Finally, Clearstream’s global securities financing business reported a 14 percent drop in volume outstanding, from €522.8 billion in May last year to €451.5 billion in the same month this year.
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