BNP Paribas Securities Services has begun processing transactions for UK securities in London. This marks the launch of domestic UK securities clearing and custody as part of the Multi-Direct Clearing and Custody (MDCC) service the French bank offers in Western Europe.
The BNP Paribas Securities Services’ European network now covers thirteen markets. “The UK MDCC team will offer on-the-ground, local market expertise in line with the services already offered across BNP Paribas Securities Services’ locations in Europe,” explains the bank.
The UK branch has commenced with the transfer of close to 5 billion of assets under custody, with a further 40 billion expected by early 2003. Staff is in place to process expanding volumes, estimated to exceed 1 million transactions in the first year of activity.
“Clients of MDCC UK will benefit from working with an institution offering optimised back-to-back processing, integrated liquidity management solutions, aggressive cut-off times, automated securities lending fail coverage and optimal management of stamp duty,” says Alan Drake, Manager of the London-based domestic clearing and custody activity. “Leveraging our pan-European infrastructure, the domestic UK service offer will benefit from the same cost and operational efficiencies as our other ‘Top-Rated’ locations across Europe.”
Services will include local clearing and custody of equity, fixed income and derivatives plus back office insourcing for member firms of the UK stock and derivatives exchanges. A fully automated link with CREST and the London Clearing House will ensure real time processing and account management.
BNP Paribas Securities Services holds Euro 2 trillion Euro in assets under custody and processes over 22 million transactions a year.