23 October 2021
This translates into an additional €4 billion under management in less than a month
Kutxabank's private banking fund management firm, Fineco, has decided to change depositary, and has transferred its funds from BNP Paribas to Cecabank. In total, it has transferred €3.815 billion. But it was not the only entity that decided to change its depositary and custodian.
On Friday, the CNMV authorised the transfer from the depositary to Cecabank of 18 investment funds managed by Trea AM, amounting to €255 million currently deposited with NovoBanco. During the sale of NovoBanco to Abanca, Trea was the firm that acquired Novangest, which was the Portuguese bank's management firm. In this process, Trea, which already has 19 investment funds and SICAVs deposited with Cecabank, has decided that the new vehicles will also be deposited with the wholesale bank.
Fineco also decided to deposit its funds with Cecabank at the beginning of October. The firm thus ceased to operate with the French BNP Paribas Securities Services and Caceis to choose the depositary used by its parent company, the primary management firm Kutxabank Gestión.
Up until then, BNP Paribas was the depositary for nine Fineco funds and Caceis for the remaining seven. Cecabank thus becomes the main depositary of Kutxabank Gestión, which has a total of €16.605 billion in assets in funds, according to Inverco data at the end of September.
With the addition of Fineco and the new part of Trea, Cecabank will exceed €210 billion of assets under deposit, consolidating its leadership in Securities Services as the largest independent Spanish depositary for collective investment institutions, pension funds, voluntary contribution pension schemes and venture capital firms, as explained by the depositary bank itself.
Cecabank offers post trading services for all types of securities and currencies, and comprehensive management of receipts and payments, operations in the main national and international markets, fixed-income (public and private), currencies, equities and derivatives, payments with business process support solutions and specialised technology in payment methods and systems, clearing and settlement, and digital solutions.
In recent years, banks have been abandoning depositary and custodian activities and transferring them to very specialised and large institutions. In Spain this is the case of Cecabank, although BNP Paribas or Crédit Agricole are larger and have international ramifications. BBVA is one of the few banks that retains its custodian charter, although it is in the process of being sold.
