NB wins securities services award

 In Banks, News

The international magazine Global Finance has voted Novo Banco as the best bank in Portugal when it comes to securities custodian services as ‘Best Sub-Custodian Bank 2022”.

According to the magazine: “The team at Global Finance based its decision on the contributions of specialists in this activity area, on specialised research on markets, and the opinions of users of custodian services, and on the information supplied by various banks when selecting the best custodian service providers in seven regions of the world and 80 countries.
In a statement, Novobanco said, “This nomination is international recognition of the bank’s knowledge and performance in this important business area which is essential for the financial market to function”.
A custodian bank, or simply custodian, is a specialised financial institution, or part of one, responsible for providing securities services. It safeguards assets of asset managers, insurance companies, hedge funds, and is not engaged in “traditional” commercial or consumer/retail banking like lending. The role of a custodian in such a case would be to:

hold in safekeeping assets/securities such as stocks, bonds, commodities such as precious metals and currency (cash), domestic and foreign
arrange settlement of any purchases and sales and deliveries in/out of such securities and currency
collect information on and income from such assets (dividends in the case of stocks/equities and coupons (interest payments) in the case of bonds) and administer related tax withholding documents and foreign tax reclamation
administer voluntary and involuntary corporate actions on securities held such as stock dividends, stock splits, business combinations (mergers), tender offers, bond calls, etc.
provide information on the securities and their issuers such as annual general meetings and related proxies
maintain currency/cash bank accounts, effect deposits and withdrawals and manage other cash transactions
perform foreign exchange transactions
often perform additional services for particular clients such as mutual funds; examples include fund accounting, administration, legal, compliance and tax support services.

A sub-custodian is an institution that provides custody services, with respect to securities traded in a particular market or jurisdiction, on behalf of another custodian who may not have an operation/office in that jurisdiction.