The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has begun offering custody support services for Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) listed shares, according to a report in the Iraq Business News.
According to the report, the services will be offered through the banks 80%-held subsidiary Credit Bank of Iraq. The move follows the implementation of electronic trading in 2009.
The report said the bank received a letter of authorization to offer custody support services at the end of last year and just went live in January 2013. So far the business has focused on custodying shares from the Asiacell IPO but they are now set up to custody all the existing names as well, it said.
NBK will be an acceptable counterparty both for institutional investors and (as a subcustodian) for global custodians. With about $58 billion in assets, it is Kuwaits largest bank and also one of the largest in the Middle East.
In addition to Iraq, NBK’s custody services will also cover the GCC and Egyptian markets.
(JDC)