In this issue

• ACSA Video Learning Series
• Assets Under Custody 30 June 2023
• ACSA Member Events
• ACSA Thought Leadership Series
• New ACSA Associate Member – Perpetual Corporate Trust
• Collaboration with Blockchain Australia
• ASX CHESS Announcement
• ATO Certificate of Residency Requests
• Global Insight – Asset Owner Transformation
• In Focus – Aakanksha Bose (JP Morgan)
  

Introduction

In this month’s edition of the Industry Wrap we launch the ACSA Video Learning Series, update ACSA industry statistics, and share details of upcoming members events and ACSA Thought Leadership Series webinars. We include updates on new ASCSA members, ASX CHESS replacement and ATO Certificate of Residency discussions.

You will also find a connection to a global survey and we update you on asset owner transformation which has many interesting insights and opportunities for the industry.

And, this month we are also In Focus with Aakanksha Bose, from JP Morgan.

ACSA Video Learning Series

ACSA is excited to announce the launch of its Video Learning Series. This innovative initiative aims to provide industry professionals with a platform to access insights, trends, and expert knowledge within the custodial and financial services sector.

The ACSA Video Learning Series is designed to offer a dynamic and engaging learning experience, catering to professionals at all levels of their careers. Through a diverse range of video content, the series will cover a wide array of topics including industry overviews, custody operations, technology advancements, regulatory developments, market trends, risk management, and more. The first Video Leaning topic is an overview of Custody and Investment Services.

For more information about the ACSA Video Learning Series please visit here.  

If you have any suggestions for further learning topics, please send your thoughts to admin@acsa.com.au.

ACSA Assets under custody June 2023

ACSA recently released its six-monthly statistics on asset under custody and administration noting, assets under custody in Australia rose by 2% in June half in subdued market conditions.

Data released by ACSA noted a 2.1% rise in assets under custody to $4.4 trillion in the six months to 30 June 2023.

During a period of volatility in local and global markets, assets under custody in June 2023 rebounded to levels consistent with the prior quarter. Individual custodians experienced different performance outcomes throughout the year due to increased custody asset movements within the industry.

According to the latest ACSA data, Australian investors increased their allocation to overseas assets during the period by 9.7% to $1.5 trillion, and Australian-domiciled investments decreased by 1.5% to $2.9 trillion. Assets held in Australia on behalf of offshore investors (sub-custody assets) increased by 6.1% to $1.9 trillion.

Asset servicing providers in Australia had $5.2 trillion in assets under administration as at June 2023, up by 0.9% from $5.1 trillion, and settled 12 million trades in the six months to 30 June 2023, three per cent fewer than the previous six months. ACSA members on average settled approximately 91,600 trades per day on behalf of clients.

A full copy of the statistics can be found here.

Read the media release in full here.

ACSA Members Events

ACSA Next Generation of Leaders – September 14 in Sydney and September 21 in Melbourne.

ACSA’s Next Generation Working Group invites you to join them for an exciting discussion with leaders in the Custody and Investment Services industry to hear about their time in the industry and how to best prepare yourself for your own successful career.

The ACSA Next Generation Working Group is focused on attracting and retaining talented individuals to the Custody industry. They aim to increase awareness of the Custody industry and highlight that it is an industry where you can set yourself up for a successful career.

The events will be run in Sydney and Melbourne separately, you can register for each location here.

SAVE THE DATE - ACSA members Event – October 19, 2023.

ACSA next Members Event to be run concurrently between Sydney and Melbourne on 19 October 2023. ACSA’s Executive board invites you to join them for an industry update, a time to connect and network with your peer’s and colleagues from the industry.

When: 19th October 2023, 4.30pm – 6.30pm
Format: Industry update and guest speaker followed by networking cocktail event.

MELBOURNE: NAB Place - 395 Bourke St Melbourne
SYDNEY: State Street Corporation, Level 14, 420 George Street, Sydney

Please register here, choosing your preferred location to attend for Sydney or Melbourne.

Keep track of the announcements of the members events on LinkedIn or on the events page of the ACSA website.

ACSA Thought Leadership Series – Tokenisation in Asset Management

ACSA’s Thought Leadership Series continued in August with Calastone sharing insights into Tokenisation of Asset Management.

Calastone released a white paper “Practically applying tokenisation in asset management” where they noted, tokenisation in asset management is no longer a future trend but a fast-emerging reality. The pace and scale of this change raises important questions for the industry.

If you missed the webinar, you can catch the replay here.

ACSA Thought Leadership Series – Demystifying CPS230

Next up, ACSA is excited to bring forward looking insights into changing regulations impacting our industry. APRA has released its much-anticipated final Prudential Standard CPS 230 – Operational Risk Management, alongside draft supporting Guidance CPG 230.

ACSA will welcome Ashurst in early October to share insights and help the custody and investment services industry understand the implications of the prudential standard and guidance.

APRA’s Prudential Standard CPS 230 – Operational Risk Management, bolsters operational risk management practices across the Financial Services sector. While the final standard contains few changes to APRA’s earlier draft, the new accompanying draft Prudential Practice Guide (CPG) provides materially more detail around expectations across Operational Risk Management, Business Continuity Planning, and the Management of Service Providers.

Keep an eye out for the details on how to register for this webinar.

If you have any suggestions for further Thought Leadership topics, please send your thoughts to admin@acsa.com.au.

Collaboration with Blockchain Australia

As the crypto custody industry continues to mature, there is an opportunity for proactive collaboration between Blockchain Australia Crypto Custodian Members and the Australian Custodial Services Association (“ACSA”) Members.

This collaboration will foster an environment where stakeholders collaboratively inform and engage on proposed regulations that not only support the growth of responsible and secure crypto custodianship practices but align to the current regulatory frameworks of traditional asset custodians (ACSA’s members).

Blockchain Australia and ACSA recognise the need for a robust and informed regulatory framework for the alignment of crypto and traditional asset custodianship. Through collaboration, Blockchain Australia and ACSA can establish a platform for discussion, information exchange, and data sharing.

Blockchain Australia, in the pre-eminent association for blockchain and ACSA, the pre-eminent body representing traditional custodians in Australia. This collaboration leverages the collective expertise and insights to drive productive discussions and dialogue.

If you are interested in joining the discussions please contact admin@acsa.com.au by 22 September 2023.

New (but original) ACSA Associate Member - Perpetual Corporate Trust

ACSA is delighted to announce that Perpetual Corporate Trust has joined ACSA as an Associate Member. Perpetual Corporate Trust is a leading fiduciary, custody and digital business operating in Australia and Singapore with five business divisions offering a unique range of products and services.

Domestic and global financial institutions leverage their corporate strength, best-of-breed risk and compliance management systems, local on-the-ground expertise, and service excellence with our flexible and commercial approach across debt markets, managed funds and digital solutions.

And now for a history lesson from ACSA, Perpetual was one of the original signatories to the ACSA constitution in February 1996 along with ANZ Custodians, NAB, AMP Custodians and HSBC. How the industry has changed, ACSA welcomes back Perpetual.

ASX CHESS Announcements

On August 17th 2023, ASX released its full-year results for 2023 which detailed the financial performance of the group and included updates on its priority areas of regulatory commitments and technology modernisation. Highlights from the presentation included:

• ASX reported revenues of $1.01 billion for the year ended 30 June 2023, down 1.2%.
• Statutory net profit of $317.3 million was significantly lower than a year ago, following impacts from several one-off events including the CHESS replacement project derecognition charge and costs associated with the CHESS replacement Partnership Program.
• ASX confirmed it continues to work towards announcing the new solution design for CHESS replacement in the December quarter, subject to regulatory expectations and industry input.

Separately, ASX also published its special report on the Response to recommendations made in the CHESS Program External Review. This special report was provided to ASIC under a notice issued earlier in the year. It was prepared as at 30 June 2023 and reflects ASX’s progress up to that point in time. ASX confirms its intention to have implemented all 45 recommendations by June 2024.

You can view the 2023 ASX financial presentation here with the relevant information on CHESS replacement on pages 5-8.

The media release on the special report is available here.

ATO – Certificates of Residency (COR) Requests

ACSA continues discussions with the ATO on the current processes and increasing numbers of requests for Certificate of Residency (COR) for Australian clients invested in offshore markets.

The ATO have been experiencing an increase in requests for Certificate of Residency which are being received through a range of channels, including online submission, fax, and mail.

The ATO is engaged with ASCA’s Tax Working Group COR Subgroup to identify best practice approaches to streamline the processing of Certificate of Residence requests, with the ATO confirming the fastest way to submit a request being through the ATO’s online portal.

Please refer to the ATO website for further information on Certificate of Residency requests, and contact admin@acsa.com,au to be connected to the ACSA Tax Working Group if you require further information.

Global Insight – Asset owner transformations

How are the world’s asset owners executing on transformation in 2023? Global consulting group, the Value Exchange, recently undertook a survey with the support of Milestone Group, RBC and Citisoft.

The survey was designed to provide a global, statistical perspective on how to map transformation agendas of the world’s asset owners. Based on insights from asset owners of all profiles and geographies, this research explores the case for change, our areas of focus today and the impact of what is getting left behind.

If you would like to understand the key statistical findings of the research, you can access it here.

In Focus – Aakanksha Bose

Aakanksha Bose
Technology Relationship Manager, Securities Services, J.P. Morgan

Aakanksha is a Technology Relationship Manager at J.P. Morgan and has spent 5.5 years at the bank. She primarily works with asset manager and superannuation clients to meet their technology and data needs.

Aakanksha holds a Bachelor of Information Technology and Bachelor of Mathematics and has also completed a Masters in Data Science.

Aakanksha enjoys creating and experimenting with different recipes and traveling to new countries!

Quick fire five
Coffee or Tea? Tea
Tik Tock, Instagram or Facebook? Instagram
Pop, Rock or Rap? R&B 😊
Cocktail or Wine? Cocktail
Summer or Winter? Summer

Tell us about your career to date in asset servicing / financial services? What lead you get involved in the custody industry?

I joined J.P. Morgan has part of a graduate program and was placed in the Securities Services space, so it happened by accident! I started as a software engineer, but an opportunity arose to join my current team which sits between the client, business, and technology. It has provided me with a bigger picture view into how the work we do impacts our colleagues and the role we play within the industry.

Can you briefly describe your role and responsibilities?

I am the Technology Relationship Manager for asset manager and superannuation clients for the Securities Services business in Australia and New Zealand.

In my role, I partner with clients and key market vendors, consulting and designing technology and data integration solutions.

What is the most satisfying part of your role?

Working collaboratively with our clients to help them meet their data and technology strategies.

Also liaising across multiple teams across the organisation to achieve successful implementation to meet clients’ requirements.

What are some of the exciting places your career has taken you?

I have been to London, Singapore, and Hong Kong for training! It was great meeting colleagues from around the globe and share our experiences.

What’s excites you about the future of our Industry? (Include role of ACSA)

It will be interesting to see the role Artificial Intelligence will play in the Securities Services and Custody environment.

If used appropriately, Artificial Intelligence can provide efficiency gains and provide a competitive advantage across the lifecycle of an asset.

You recently participated in the ACSA next generation leaders’ event, how would you like to see ACSA engaging those new to the industry?

It is pleasing to see ACSA broadening their membership and engagement base to include those new and early in their careers. ACSA has a great platform to allow these individuals meet others who are at a similar stage in their career to share their experiences and where they hope the custodial environment will be heading in the next few years.

It is also an opportunity for the next generation leaders to meet those already in the industry to jointly ideate on how things have been running and where they see areas for expansion and improvement.

Why should people connect and engage in ACSA?

ACSA provides the opportunity to grow your network, enhance your learnings and be at the forefront as to how the custody industry is evolving. It allows you to step outside your organisation to collaborate with leaders in the industry to find best practice approaches or areas where aspects can be improved.