Long-standing relationships between institutional investors and their custodian banks are a defining feature of the industry.
The Global Custody Survey, which gathered responses from asset owners and asset managers across North America and Europe, confirms this. Half of respondents have worked with their custodian for more than ten years, and only 6% report a relationship of less than two years.
But tenure alone does not guarantee that service delivery is keeping up with how client needs have changed. Across several areas of the survey, a gap is opening between the formal governance structures clients say are working and the day-to-day experience of getting things done.
Governance scores well, but responsiveness tells a different story
94% of respondents say their custodian’s governance structure meets their needs. On paper, that is a strong result. However, when asked about the quality and speed of responses to operational queries, the picture shifts. A large majority report that they sometimes receive delayed or unsatisfactory replies from their custodian bank.
The survey explores what is driving this disconnect, including the effects of staff turnover, rising caseloads per relationship manager, and how the growing use of AI tools within custodian banks is affecting the quality of client interactions.
Private market allocations are raising the bar
As institutional portfolios shift toward private assets, the operational demands on custodians are increasing. More than half of respondents use their custodian to maintain their private book of record, and this function is becoming a requirement rather than an optional service.
Yet reporting satisfaction in this area is split evenly between those who are content and those who see room for improvement. The full report examines how timely statement capture, data accuracy, and reporting quality are being assessed by clients with growing private market exposure.
The cost of what you cannot see
Some of the most significant findings in the survey relate to areas where costs are not immediately visible. Foreign exchange (“FX”) is a clear example. More than half of respondents have no formal programme in place to check whether the FX rates they receive are competitive, and a significant proportion are unaware of the terms governing their standing instruction flows.
These are not line items on an invoice. They sit outside the standard billing relationship, which makes them easy to overlook and difficult to measure without structured monitoring. The report sets out how these hidden cost dynamics play out and what clients can do to address them.
Outsourcing trends and digital asset appetite
The survey also captures broader strategic signals. A strong majority of respondents currently outsource at least one function, with proxy voting the most common. But appetite for expanding outsourcing remains limited, with most firms indicating no plans to add new third-party arrangements.
On digital assets, the results are definitive. None of the respondents are pursuing asset tokenisation, and none currently hold cryptocurrency in their portfolios. The full report provides context on where these trends sit within the wider institutional outlook, including regional differences in ESG adoption that vary significantly between Europe and North America.
What the full survey reveals
The Global Custody Survey covers relationship management, data and reporting, invoicing, tax reclaim, private markets, and foreign exchange oversight across a detailed respondent base. Each chapter includes the original survey questions, response breakdowns, and commentary on the operational implications.
For institutional investors looking to benchmark their own custodian experience, the report offers a reference point grounded in current peer data.
