Business stream 1: Custody
In February 2015, the overall value of assets under custody held on behalf of customers registered an increase of 9 percent to EUR 13.2 trillion (compared to EUR 12.1 trillion in February 2014).
Securities held under custody in Clearstream’s international business as international central securities depository (ICSD) increased by 9 percent from EUR 6.4 trillion in February 2014 to EUR 6.9 trillion in February 2015.
Securities held under custody in the German central securities depository (CSD) increased by 9 percent from EUR 5.7 trillion in February 2014 to EUR 6.2 trillion in February 2015.
For the period year-to-date February 2015, the combined value of assets under custody in the German domestic CSD and global ICSD business increased by 8 percent compared to the same period last year (YTD February 2015: EUR 13.0 trillion; YTD February 2014: EUR 12.0 trillion).
>Business stream 2: Settlement
In February 2015, 3.9 million international (ICSD) settlement transactions were processed, a 7 percent increase over February 2014 (3.7 million). Of all international transactions, 80 percent were OTC transactions and 20 percent were registered as stock exchange transactions.
On the German domestic market, CSD settlement transactions in February 2015 reached 7.8 million, 14 percent more than in February 2014 (6.8 million). Of these transactions, 65 percent were stock exchange transactions and 35 percent OTC transactions.
For the period year-to-date February 2015, the number of settlement transactions (OTC and stock exchange combined) processed for the German domestic CSD and global ICSD business combined increased by 7 percent compared to the same period last year (YTD February 2015: 23.5 million; YTD February 2014: 21.8 million). The Investment Funds Services business contributed to this growth in the ICSD business as its corresponding transactions registered a 11 percent increase.
Business stream 3: Global Securities Financing
For Global Securities Financing (GSF) services, the monthly average outstanding in February 2015 reached EUR 629.5 billion. The combined services, which include triparty repo, securities lending and collateral management, collectively experienced an increase of 8 percent over February 2014 (EUR 581.1 billion).
The GSF monthly average outstanding has grown by 7 percent from the period year-to-date February 2014 (EUR 576.5 billion) to the period year-to-date February 2015 (EUR 616.0 billion).
Business stream 4: Investment Fund Services
Investment Fund Services (IFS) processed 0.8 million transactions in February 2015, a 17 percent increase over February 2014 (0.7 million).
IFS transactions have grown by 11 percent from 1.5 million processed in the period year-to-date February 2014 to 1.7 million in the period year-to-date February 2015.
As of 3 October 2014 Clearstream owns CGSS Ltd in Cork, Ireland, providing hedge fund trade execution and fund custody processing services for financial institutions. Until Citco Bank’s financial institution customers have fully migrated to Clearstream (planned for Q3/2015), the involved asset volumes are still serviced on behalf of Citco Bank and will neither be fully included in Clearstream’s assets under custody volumes nor be included in the number of investment fund transactions.
Commentary:
“These record numbers are remarkable because they reflect healthy growth across all Clearstream service lines. This growth is clearly driven by new and existing customers bringing additional assets to Clearstream,” said Marc Robert-Nicoud, Member of the Executive Board responsible for strategy, pricing and communications.
He continued:
“Our attractiveness is grounded on a business model that combines the innovation power of a commercially driven organization and the reliability and stability of a financial infrastructure. The recent spike in our business drivers is also attributable to the offering we have developed around Target2-Securities. Customers have been very receptive to the way we have integrated settlement, custody, collateral management and CCP clearing services for all asset classes, including investment funds. It is very rewarding to see this materialize in business growth.”