Global Custodian is pleased to reveal the four nominees who have been shortlisted for the annual Industry Person of the Year award 2025, recognising individuals who have gone above and beyond in their role over the past 12 months, impacting both their own organisation and the wider sector.
After months of reducing a significant amount of candidates down to a longlist of 10, the decision on the final four nominees was made this week, with performances in Global Custodian’s agent bank’s surveys having a major impact this year for three of the candidates.
The other factors taken into consideration were mandate wins, innovation, personal additions and team expansions, leadership, advocacy and contribution to the broader industry through working groups and collaboration.
Now in its ninth year, the accolade will be handed out following a live vote on the night during the Leaders in Custody awards to be held on 15 May at The Savoy, London.
The honour is now handed out three times a year, with the London award recognising outstanding achievements within the custody, market infrastructure and technology sphere.
Last year’s winner of the accolade was Valerie Urbain, CEO of Euroclear.
Previous winners of the award have hailed from JP Morgan, BNY Mellon, Northern Trust, Citi, Deutsche Bank, and Digital Asset, among others.
Given the many, many thousands of senior executives across the securities and fund services industry, just making the shortlist is an incredible accomplishment, so Global Custodian would like to congratulate all of this year’s nominees who are listed below.
Margaret Harwood-Jones
Standard Chartered has had a standout year by so many measures, evidenced by the custodian’s 10 nominations this evening. Behind the stellar year as a sub-custodian across markets throughout the world, behind the innovation, and behind the new launches, has been industry stalwart Margaret Harwood-Jones. 
As global head, financing and securities services (FSS) at Standard Chartered, Harwood-Jones has taken the custodian to new heights this year – achieving notable wins across the business.
Mandates have flooded in from the likes of ChinaAMC, OKX, and Fuh Hwa SITE Asset Management, among others. Standard Chartered was named as JP Morgan’s sub-custodian in Taiwan, and partnered with Clearstream, SIX and TP ICAP on other projects.
The bank launched a direct custody service in Saudi Arabia, a digital asset custody service in the UAE, and set up an entity in Luxembourg.
A previous recipient of Global Custodian’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2018, Harwood-Jones has operated for many years now with the dual aim of furthering Standard Chartered’s custody business and improving the industry alike.
This is underscored by her work across industry panels, working groups and in her role as chair of the International Securities Services Association (ISSA).
With stellar ratings across Global Custodian’s survey this year, Standard Chartered is the only organisation nominated for Agent Bank of the Year across Major, Emerging and Frontier Markets – not to mention the ‘Overall’ category.
Fiona Horsewill
Joining HSBC as global head of securities services in March 2023, Fiona Horsewill set out to reset the strategy and the vision of the business through a wide-reaching modernisation programme – with infrastructure upgrades and digitalisation at the heart of that strategy.
The driving force of that vision has come in the shape of a multi-year strategy – now entering its second year – centred on two core pillars: infrastructure build-out and digitalisation.
The success on these fronts, evidenced through a range of new products and services, has been a major reason for Horsewill’s inclusion this year.
The bank is pushing the boundaries with innovation across digital assets, private markets and its servicing – particularly in emerging markets.
The wins have also backed up the strategy, with HSBC appointed as a sub-custodian by U.S. Bank in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, while JP Morgan opted for the bank in Hong Kong. There was also a recent win for HSBC’s securities services business in being appointed as custodian and fund administrator for Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB)’s inaugural Ireland-domiciled ESG ETFs.
Additionally, a major success for the securities service unit over the past 12 months was obtaining a domestic fund custody licence from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, expanding its portfolio of custody services in mainland China.
Elsewhere, HSBC is leading from the front in innovation, partaking in three tokenisation POCs within HKMA’s Project Ensemble, being highly commended for its Orion platform, and facilitating the issuance of European Investment Bank’s (EIB) first bond as part of Eurosystem’s exploration of new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement.
Paul Maley
The resurgence of Deutsche Bank in the securities services world has been on display for all to see. A well put together and consistent team, a clear vision of what it wanted to be, and a focus on its strength in emerging markets has been widely commended throughout the industry.
One of the drivers behind this purple patch has been Paul Maley, who – just days before this profile was produced – was named head of Deutsche Bank’s newly integrated trust and securities services unit. 
Under Maley’s leadership, the custodian has this year delivered one of its strongest performances in recent years across Global Custodian’s agent bank surveys – with exceptional service, consistency and innovation – a common theme throughout the client feedback.
A key indicator of Deutsche Bank’s success under Maley has been the glowing review of its services from major global custodians, who continue to transition more of their business in Asia to the sub-custodian.
Elsewhere, the bank has been a major proponent of technological advancement and innovation within the market. Maley’s role as former chair of Deutsche’s tech innovation arm, Breaking Wave, has enabled the bank to develop tools and technologies in a flexible environment outside of the bank’s traditional infrastructure.
Partnerships and projects have positioned the organisation well to take advantage of opportunities in the digital asset sphere, while upgrades to infrastructure and service platforms have taken the client experience to the next level.
The commitment to innovation has also seen a pair of standout initiatives. Firstly, the custodian has been integrating real-time data via APIs, going live with FX Approval Status APIs last year for key clients, integrating directly into their workflows.
In addition, Deutsche Bank has been pioneering an open architecture pilot MVP for multi-network digital asset/fund issuance, distribution and servicing.
James Wright
We’ve measured success in a variety of ways for each of our Industry Person of the Year candidates in 2025, but by sheer volume of wins, few have more to boast about over the past 12 months than James Wright, head of asset owners, EMEA at Northern Trust.
The custodian is on a spectacular run of form with asset owners across the world, but in particular, within Wright’s remit throughout EMEA markets.
One of the biggest came in the form of the Nest scheme – which is forecast to pass £100 billion AUM by 2030 – but elsewhere the custodian has been appointed by the £60 billion Border To Coast Pensions Partnership, South Yorkshire Pensions Authority (SYPA) – for its £11 billion fund and the £4.6 billion Cadent Gas Pension scheme.
There were also renewals for the £11.5 billion Lancashire County Pension Fund and £46.9 billion defined benefit pension scheme manager Brightwell.
Wright himself has over 35 years of experience in the asset servicing industry. Prior to joining Northern Trust in 2016, he spent 29 years at JP Morgan where he held a variety of leadership roles in its investor services division, latterly with responsibility for major global asset management relationships with highly complex service models.
When interviewed by Global Custodian earlier this year, he was quick to namecheck the rest of his team for any success, distributing credit and commending the work that went into each mandate win and long-standing relationship. True leadership qualities.