Margaret Harwood-Jones, global head, financing and securities services, Standard Chartered was voted as Global Custodian’s Industry Person of the Year by her peers during the Leaders in Custody awards last night. 
Already a Global Custodian Hall of Famer and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement award, Harwood-Jones won a close vote by a room full of around 300 industry representatives.
Walking on stage to a standing ovation, Harwood-Jones’ acceptance speech saw her thank and credit Standard Chartered’s global team and commend their outstanding work.
The award caps off a standout year for both Harwood-Jones and Standard Chartered, which has been defined by outstanding sub-custody performance in Global Custodian’s surveys, innovation, new product launches and new locations for the asset servicer.
The custodian was nominated 10 other times across the rest of the Leaders in Custody awards, picking up three wins.
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).
The other nominees were Fiona Horsewill, global head of securities services, HSBC; Paul Maley, head of trust and securities services, Deutsche Bank; and James Wright, head of asset owners, EMEA at Northern Trust.
Now in its ninth year, the honour recognises 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, Northern Trust, Citi, Deutsche Bank, and Digital Asset, among others.