In a year in which uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical forces unravelled financial markets, the important roles of depositary receipts (DRs) as an investment option, corporate trust, and escrow services made their way to the forefront in The Asset Triple A Asset Servicing Awards 2020.

Citi takes the honour as Best DR Bank as it, over the last year, continued to be the leader in the DR space by leveraging its existing advantage in the DR business and capitalizing on new opportunities.

Over the last year, DRs continued to play an important role in Asia’s capital markets, which were buoyed by deals coming from China, despite trade tensions with the US, and volatile markets in general. The urge by companies in the region to go global by attracting overseas investors is the main driver of DRs.

As the market leader for Asia-Pacific DR initial public offerings (IPOs), Citi supported issuers like Huatai Securities, Ruhnn, 9F, Bizlink, ECMOHO and Jiayin to raise capital in the form of American depositary receipts (ADRs) and global depositary receipts (GDRs).

In 2019, Citi was the first DR bank to implement a GDR offering on the London Stock Exchange via the Shanghai-London Stock Connect with the Huatai Securities’ GDR programme. It continues to be the only DR bank with implementation experience in Shanghai-London Stock Connect GDR programmes.

Earlier this year, Citi also won the Best DR Mandate Award in The Asset Triple A Asset Servicing Awards 2020 for its Huatai Securities mandate.

This year, Deutsche Bank wins the Best in Corporate Trust Award  in a highly competitive market for its proven strength in the corporate trust business. The strength of Deutsche Bank’s Asian corporate trust team was displayed when it won the China Merchants Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (CMC REIT) mandate, which also previously won the Best Corporate Trust Mandate Award in The Asset Triple A Asset Servicing Awards 2020. 

Deutsche Bank’s corporate trust team has over a decade of experience and product-specific expertise in acting as a trustee for Hong Kong-listed REIT transactions. The bank has been appointed on all REIT IPOs listed in Hong Kong since 2007. It secured this mandate on the strength of its leading market position for this product in Hong Kong, excellent client services, and strong recognition by market players.

The CMC REIT is the first REIT to list in Hong Kong since 2013, the first Hong Kong-listed REIT backed by a Chinese central government-controlled enterprise, and the first REIT that includes commercial properties from Shenzhen and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

This year, HSBC wins the Best in Agency Escrow Award, a new award category resulting from Asian institutional investors' increasing demand for this service, which has largely been driven by the exponential growth in capital market transactions, particularly those involving private equity and real estate deals.

Over the awards period, HSBC has quietly built up its escrow business in Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Mauritius, and Vietnam, becoming one of the region’s dominant players. Its initiatives include digitizing the escrow business, particularly in India.

In 2019, HSBC’s escrow business posted its best year-on-year record as it serviced a host of new bond issues, including green bonds, loans, syndicated structures, and structured products.

More recently, HSBC installed a senior executive to lead the escrow business by appointing industry veteran Simon Field as global head of escrow, issuer services. The appointment of Field, who is based in Singapore, indicates the important role the bank sees Asia playing in the escrow market.

The Asset will announce more regional winners of Asset Servicing Awards 2020 soon. Please let us know who you think should win these awards by voting here.

To see the complete list of nominees, please click here.

To see the first batch of regional winners of Asset Servicing Awards 2020, please click here.

For more details about the awards, please click here.

For more information about receiving the awards, please contact [email protected].