Citis Global Transaction Services is now offering direct custody and clearing (DCC) services to clients investing in Kuwait.
Citi is now open to service the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), taking its proprietary network to 59 markets globally, of which 33 are in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“Over the last couple of years we decided to move in aggressively in the Middle East across all securities and fund services,” Huda Al Mousa, vice president of Securities and Fund Services at Citi in Kuwait, told Global Custodian in 2010 for our special report on MENA. We reported that rival custodians were aiming to take business away from HSBC, which has the largest share of the local custody business in the region.
Services Citi will offer include: account management, settlements, safekeeping, pre-matching, registration, full asset servicing suite, income collection and payment of dividends and interest, market claims, handling post-trade issues, cash management, foreign exchange, reporting, market expertise and information services to clients.
We continue to respond swiftly to investor demands and this is a further step towards providing high quality custodial services and easier access to Kuwaits capital market, says Hamed Al-Saif, director general of the KSE. We welcome Citi, as one of the leading global custodians, on board to assist with the continued globalization of KSEs investor base and to help increase foreign investment in Kuwaits capital market.
Ziyad Akrouk, chief executive of Citi Kuwait, adds: “Providing direct custody and clearing services in Kuwait is an integral part of Citi’s plan to enhance its services in the country and falls in line with Citis long-stated objective of contributing to the meaningful development of the region’s financial markets in cooperation with solid partners such as KSE and KCC.”