In the evolving capital markets of Hong Kong, the role of custodians has become pivotal in meeting the dynamic needs of institutional investors. As financial markets grow more complex, custodians are now expected to offer far more than basic asset safekeeping. Investors demand operational transparency, seamless digital integration, and advanced cross-border capabilities to navigate a globalised investment landscape. Moreover, the importance of robust risk mitigation strategies has never been greater, as regulatory requirements and market volatility drive the need for enhanced security. Custodians in Hong Kong are increasingly embracing these challenges, adapting their services to ensure operational efficiency, compliance, and investor confidence across diverse markets. Against this backdrop, ICBC (Asia) has emerged as a market leader in custody services. Its strong financial performance, extensive global custody network, enhanced digital services and institutional risk controls have earned it the Best Custodian Bank in Hong Kong award at The Asian Banker Hong Kong Awards 2025. ICBC (Asia)’s custody growth in 2024 was significant. Its assets under custody (AUC) first reached HKD1.35 trillion ($173 billion), marking a year-on-year increase of over 42 percent. This milestone reflects not only a strong business scale but also deepening client relationships and increased trust from both global and regional institutions. At the same time, the bank’s custody services posted a 30 percent rise in pre-tax net profit. These gains resulted from the strategic integration between custody, liquidity and foreign exchange services, enabling the bank to secure new mandates while enhancing its operational leverage. ICBC (Asia) expands global custody services with integrated, scalable solutions ICBC (Asia)’s custody services now support a diverse range of investment structures and markets. Its platform is integrated into a global network spanning over 90 jurisdictions, making it a truly international custodian. The bank serves a wide range of investors, including sovereign wealth funds, insurance firms, asset managers and commercial banks. It offers coverage across Hong Kong public funds, private equity, Cayman-domiciled structures, Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) and Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) vehicles and hedge funds. This diversity enables the bank to support clients throughout the entire investment lifecycle, from trade capture and settlement to fund administration, compliance monitoring and reporting. From a product perspective, ICBC (Asia) continues to extend its service beyond conventional safekeeping. Its liquidity management offering, including money market access and cash consolidation, forms part of an integrated custody-finance-investment solution. The bank also supports daily, weekly, and monthly net asset value (NAV) calculation, corporate action processing and customised reports delivered via application programming interface (API), Swift or secure file transfer protocol (FTP). This flexibility is increasingly important to asset managers and institutional clients navigating evolving regulatory and investor demands. Moreover, ICBC (Asia)’s systems support multi-jurisdiction compliance, with automated reporting, asset segregation and certified internal controls, enabling seamless operations across global markets while meeting diverse regulatory expectations. Client acquisition in 2024 also reflected the market’s recognition of this integrated approach. The bank served over 300 custody clients, with particularly strong momentum among funds seeking end-to-end operational support under a single counterparty. Fund administration activity also expanded, with the number of funds under custody increasing by 25 percent year-on-year. This growth highlights ICBC (Asia)’s ability to deliver at scale without compromising on client customisation or control. ICBC (Asia) posts 32% transaction growth and enhances digital platform ICBC (Asia) processes over 147,000 transactions annually, representing a 32 percent increase compared to 2023. This transaction demonstrates the platform’s stability and capacity to handle large, complex portfolios. The bank’s ability to manage both scale and accuracy at the same time has become a differentiator in a competitive market where error tolerance is minimal. It’s direct participation in the Central Clearing and Settlement System (CCASS), Central Moneymarkets Unit CMU, Euroclear and Clearstream enables real-time processing of equity and bond trades across Stock Connect, Bond Connect and other cross-border programmes. A key pillar of ICBC (Asia)’s proposition is its integrated digital infrastructure and technology capabilities. The bank’s proprietary Global Investment Settlement System (GISS) undergoes quarterly upgrades, many of which are shaped by direct client feedback. In the past year, a major integration between fund accounting and custody platforms eliminated manual processes and doubled valuation speed. Enhancements to the e-custody portal now enable real-time visibility into fund transfers, onshore cash positions and time deposit instructions. These functions are particularly valuable to clients with operations across Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, where timing and currency movement present operational challenges. To support its growing client base, ICBC (Asia) has scaled up its service model. A team of 80 custody professionals is organised to deliver direct, one-to-one relationship management. Clients benefit from real-time transaction notifications, tailored API connectivity and onboarding support that shortens lead times for fund launches and mandates. In addition, the bank has invested in client engagement beyond operational touchpoints. In 2024, it hosted cross-border investment forums and training sessions to help clients interpret policy developments in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and align their asset servicing strategies accordingly. ICBC (Asia) strengthens controls and disaster recovery planning Risk management is a core component of the bank’s custodial offering. ICBC (Asia) operates within a three-tier governance structure comprising external audit, group-level risk oversight and a custody compliance team. In 2024, the bank introduced 13 new risk models and 24 real-time monitoring indicators to detect anomalies and potential exposures under its custody at an early stage. Its internal controls have been assessed under Hong Kong Standard on Assurance Engagements 3402 (HKSAE 3402), with no major regulatory breaches recorded in recent years. The selection and review of sub-custodians is governed by a strict due diligence process, including a combination of financial health assessment, compliance scoring and cost-efficiency review. These controls ensure that the integrity of the custody chain is maintained across jurisdictions. Business continuity is also enhanced through a dual-office configuration in Hong Kong and fully operational recovery sites in Tuen Mun and San Po Kong. The bank’s contingency plans cover various failure scenarios, from cyber events to infrastructure outages. In 2024, ICBC (Asia) conducted ten simulated disaster response drills. These exercises confirmed the ability to activate backup operations within 30 minutes and restore services within two hours—performance metrics that compare favourably with industry benchmarks. ICBC (Asia) demonstrates outstanding leadership across financial performance, asset servicing, client engagement, technology, and risk governance. Its 2024 results reflect not just expansion, but a deliberate and effective custodial strategy focused on institutional resilience, cross-border relevance and operational excellence. Unlike competitors with more conventional models or limited innovation cycles, ICBC (Asia) has proactively aligned its platform with both global client expectations and the demands of Hong Kong as an international financial centre. The bank’s record suggests that it can maintain its growth trajectory t and is well-positioned to shape the next phase of custodial service in the region. Its capacity to combine financial scale, digital agility and regulatory discipline makes it a natural choice for the Best Custodian Bank in Hong Kong. The platform it has built—anchored in control, transparency and institutional trust—is one that continues to support the ambitions of clients, not just in Hong Kong, but across Asia and beyond. Contact details: ICBC (Asia) https://www.icbcasia.com/
