Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) has completed combining its clearing, settlement, and custody services into a single service. The Trade reports that this move is intended to improve service delivery to financial intermediaries and enhance SGSS’s competitive position against rivals like BNP Paribas, Citi, and BNY Mellon Pershing.
The integrated model provides clients access to eight CCPs in Europe, facilitating settlement within the same value chain. Leveraging SGSS’s settlement technology, clients also gain access to global settlement services across 85 markets, supported by SGSS’s network of sub-custodians.
Out with the old
The Paral brand, previously a subsidiary of Societe Generale offering clearing services, has been retired in favour of SGSS’s “one-stop-shop” approach. Clients who require clearing, settlement and custody services previously had to be on Paral, work with multiple client service groups, and deal with technological integration. The harmonised solution allows clients to “go into one entity, one technological setup, one contract, one pricing, one client service team, and then be able to leverage that single point of entry,” says Steve Gutowski, head of financial intermediaries and banks coverage at SGSS.
The process of integrating existing clients into SGSS’s unified platform took a year, and the asset servicer is now set to extend this offering to new clients in 2024.
For sale
As PostTrade360° reported in August, Societe Generale may be contemplating selling its securities services unit. The Paris-based bank is said to be “exploring strategic options” for SGSS with Citigroup.