The winners of the Asset Servicing Leadership Awards 2020 reflect highly dynamic trends in the industry that have blossomed in recent years in response to challenging market forces.
These trends include the rapid growth of global and intra-regional investment flows, the gradual opening of the China market to overseas investments, the importance of market advocacy in asset servicing, and the heavy reliance on technology even before the coronavirus pandemic.
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Honoured as “Custodian Banker of the Year, Asia” is David Bone, head of global custody, Asia at Citi. With Asian institutional investors increasingly investing outside of their home markets to the US, Europe, and neighbouring Asian markets, Bone’s role in developing Citi’s global custody offering has become an essential component of Citi’s asset servicing.
Global custody used to be a small component of Citi’s direct custody services. But since moving to Hong Kong in 2007, Bone was instrumental in developing Citi’s regional capability, particularly the rollout of global and regionalized enhancement for the global custody product within the bank’s custody and fund services unit. Key areas of development for the group included integrated custody development, foreign exchange, tax services, collective investment services, cash and liquidity management, and reporting system enhancement.
Honoured as “Custodian Banker of the Year, China” is Sophia Chung, head of securities services, HSBC (China). Chung, who joined HSBC China in 2007, has been instrumental in the bank’s development as a powerhouse in China’s cross-border investment market. During her tenure, HSBC has become the dominant player in the Stock Connect, Bond Connect, QFII, RQFII, as well as the MRF.
Representing one of the leading foreign banks in China, Chung and her team are often consulted by the country’s regulators and industry bodies in formulating policies and guidelines for the development of the funds industry. Overall, their inputs have been crucial for the development and steady opening of China’s capital markets to the rest of the world.
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Honoured with the “Market Advocacy Leadership Award” is Boon-Hiong Chan, global head of market advocacy securities services at Deutsche Bank. In recent years, the importance of market advocacy as a component of asset servicing has been magnified. But among the top asset servicing executives, Chan is the only banker who focuses exclusively on market advocacy.
Chan, who began his market advocacy work in 2011 as head of market advocacy for Asia Pacific and MENA, now represents Deutsche Bank globally as an advocate on regulatory matters for the securities market and digital technology. He has participated in the APEC and the World Economic Forum Digital ASEAN forums, in digital assets/DLT, cryptocurrency and dark web discussions, and served in industry associations like the Association of Global Custodians, ASIFMA, ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum and the APAC CSD Group.
Honoured with the “Digital Leadership Award” is Ryan Cuthbertson, head of product management, securities services, at Standard Chartered. Although he joined Standard Chartered only in 2017, Cuthbertson has been instrumental in fast-tracking the development of the bank’s technology asset servicing capability, allowing it to win significant mandates from institutions that were scrambling to upgrade their own technology capabilities in the wake of market changes. In hindsight, their enhanced capabilities made these clients better prepared when Covid-19 struck.
In his current role, Cuthbertson has a focus on technological enablement for global banks, broker dealers and asset managers and the variants that can lead to efficiencies and scalability. Before Standard Chartered, Cuthbertson also worked for other international banks and equities brokers in many operational and client-facing roles.
To see Asset Servicing Leadership Awards 2020, please click here.
For more details about the awards, please click here.
For more information about receiving the awards, please contact events@theasset.com.
