Citi Securities and Fund Services has seized opportunity in the Central and Eastern European markets with its purchase of ING’s custody and securities services business.
ING is a premier provider of custody services in the CEE, and the clients in the seven markets that Citi will acquire collectively held €110 billion in assets under custody with ING.
The Dutch bank will continue to offer custody services in Poland, and said that the assets lost to the sale should not have a material impact on its results.
The transfer is in line with its “strategic objective of sharpening the focus of the bank”, and is a direct result of the strategic review of ING Commercial Banking’s business portfolio presented in November 2012.
ING Bank will continue to offer commercial banking products in 10 countries in the CEE, including lending services, transaction services, corporate finance and financial markets products to its local and international clients.
The transaction includes ING’s local custody and securities services businesses in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. Once implemented, the addition of Bulgaria will extend Citi’s custody network coverage to more than 95 markets and its proprietary custody network will be expanded to 62 markets.
“With this acquisition, Citi has further strengthened its franchise in six important markets and has added Bulgaria to its proprietary network. We are now even better positioned to serve local and global investors, intermediaries and issuers with the best access, insight and expertise in the region,” said Sanjiv Sawhney, EMEA head of securities and fund services at Citi.
“We look forward to delivering the same level of exceptional service that ING has given its clients in the CEE region.”
“ING was one of the first agents to identify the region’s rich opportunities, rapidly establishing an office network that provided unparalleled geographic coverage and local expertise,” said Neeraj Sahai, head of securities and fund services at Citi.
“This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to continually enhance our securities and fund services capabilities and extending our leadership position in emerging markets.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Subject to standard closing conditions and regulatory approvals, Citi and ING expect this transaction to close in Q1 2014.
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