Asset servicing stands out as one of the most complex aspects of post-trade operations with the potential to become a key differentiator. With the compression of settlement timelines, increasing demand for heightened efficiencies, and the move towards real-time services, there is a need to improve, automate, and standardise asset servicing workflows throughout the chain of custody. Rebekah Button, director of Asset Servicing Transformation, Investor Services at Citi will elaborate on this topic in a session titled “The future of corporate actions and proxy voting: collaboration and innovation for a more efficient ecosystem” at the upcoming PostTrade 360° 2025 conference.
The importance of automation and standardisation will apply to issuers, intermediaries, asset managers and ultimately, beneficial owners, explains Button.
“The post-trade ecosystem has always been linear in flow and all parties need to come together to drive progress to remove the duplication and friction which adds latency,” she says. “This holistic approach is critical to providing beneficial owners the transparency and time required for better decision making.”
Band together
In addition to accelerated settlement cycles, Button observes that the evolving regulatory landscape and the introduction of new asset types have intensified industry fragmentation – making it imperative that the industry comes together to drive improvement and efficiency.
“T+1 in Europe and the UK is a huge driver for the industry to see how the corporate action process can be improved and harmonised to remove any delays in information flow through the chain of custody,” she adds. “There is also a need to look to features that we have completed manually – such as buyer protections – to see how these can be systemically passed through the intermediaries and CSDs and ensure that the correct beneficial owner can make the required election in the tighter timelines.”
Button observes that understanding what each level of the custody chain is looking to do to help the flow of information and expedite the availability of event notification, payment, and instructions is key. “With tighter deadlines, transparency is key to the way forward for the post-trade community,” she concludes.
Have you signed up yet to be in Stockholm for PostTrade 360° 2025 on 3–4 September? It’s free for securities operations pros, both trading and investor sides! (Vendor firm representatives need a sponsorship agreement.) The powerful event website lets you register, see all other delegates, schedule sessions and meetings, and message. Find all related articles, including loads of teaser interviews, here.
