Global Finance honors the financial institutions modernizing sub-custody.
Asia-Pacific
DBS BANK
The winner in the Asia-Pacific region as well as the country winner in India, Indonesia, and Singapore is DBS Bank, reflecting the bank’s strong market leadership, consistent service quality, and deep range of solutions and execution capabilities in traditional and developing asset classes. The bank’s custody platform is supported by scalable architecture, an integrated risk and compliance framework, and a focus on operational resilience and service reliability. Comprehensive solutions are delivered via the DBS IDEAL system, a unified platform that combines traditional and digital custody capabilities to provide clients with real-time access to their securities information. This portal allows a client to toggle between custody and cash accounts to view holdings, review transaction status with visibility on unmatched or failed trades, and efficiently distribute portfolio data via a report-scheduler feature.
DBS Bank is a leader in servicing exchange-traded funds (ETFs); its fully integrated ETF solution offers custody, fund administration, distribution, cash management, and FX services. The bank has supported a significant share of new ETF launches on the Singapore Exchange and is expanding its ETF service offerings in regional markets.
In China, DBS Bank offers its clients cross-border market connectivity, facilitating seamless access to the ETF market through SZSE-SGX Connect, a collaboration between the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Singapore Exchange to enhance crossborder investment opportunities for institutional investors by facilitating the trading of ETFs. Additionally, DBS was the first foreign bank to obtain Chinese central bank approval to serve as a renminbi clearing bank and to operate in the onshore over-the-counter bond market. This provides clients with simplified access to the Chinese bond markets through quicker onboarding and easier trade execution. DBS continues to expand its offerings for digital assets through its alliance with Franklin Templeton, which offers trading and lending solutions utilizing tokenized money market funds, and Ripple’s U.S. dollar-linked stablecoin. With its exceptional regional franchise, it continues to advance the sub-custody sector through participation in regulatory initiatives and as an advocate for its clients’ interests.
