It was a suitably Nordic backdrop. On one aspect of the display, London was overcast and gray; on the opposite, Ann Magnusson appeared sharply wearing SEB’s Stockholm workplace, a watercolour summary by Madeleine Pyk of the town hanging neatly behind her.
The setting appeared to seize the spirit of the dialogue – custom and readability on one aspect, change and creativeness on the opposite.
Magnusson heads SEB’s Investor Companies division, a part of the financial institution’s company and funding banking arm. Her remit spans post-trade, which generally phrases encompasses the methods and processes which guarantee monetary markets run as supposed. “Plumbing” is the phrase usually used.
But, as Magnusson makes clear, post-trade is now not a passive utility. It has turn into a focus for innovation and competitors, from the cloud to settlement harmonisation.
SEB, based in 1856 and lively in custody since 1888, holds roughly SEK 19.5 trillion of belongings. This historical past is one motive why Magnusson emphasises the load of latest change. Earlier this yr, SEB signed a cope with S&P International to undertake a cloud-based custody platform.
It was the conclusion of a four-year course of, she says, and a deliberate transfer away from legacy methods.
“We noticed the chance to exit a few of these legacy methods to the good thing about the purchasers and the best way we function,” Magnusson explains. Legacy bespoke builds had lengthy been a supply of rigidity: environment friendly at first, however pricey to adapt. The S&P deal, structured as a SaaS platform, permits SEB to share foundations, funding and technique with others, accelerating product supply and lowering the necessity for tailored code.
The rapid beneficiaries would be the financial institution’s retail and wealth purchasers, together with its sub-custody operations. Consolidating flows, Magnusson argues, brings each scale and resilience. Quicker supply of companies and nearer alignment with regulatory necessities are early priorities.
However the emphasis can also be on longevity, with a deliberate gradual rollout on the playing cards, starting with sub-custody, and punctiliously calibrated to keep away from market disruption.
Resilience, regulation and harmonisation
Regulation looms giant over the way forward for post-trade. Magnusson sees the latest shift from the European Fee’s Capital Markets Union to the brand new Financial savings Funding Union as a part of a broader drive to create a extra accessible marketplace for end-investors. However she is cautious of overreach.
“Typically we don’t want extra laws, we want extra harmonisation,” she says. “In any other case we’d find yourself in an area of over laws.” Initiatives similar to MiCAR, which units out clearer guidelines for brand new applied sciences, are welcomed as enablers somewhat than constraints.
The transfer to T+1 settlement in October 2027, in the meantime, illustrates the problem. Shortening cycles guarantees larger effectivity, but calls for extra of purchasers and repair suppliers alike. Harmonisation can ease that burden, however provided that utilized judiciously.
Bridging money and securities
The boundary between capital markets and funds can also be shifting. For Magnusson, the 2 worlds are more likely to converge. “At the moment, we have now two rails that we have to meet on the station,” she says. “However going ahead, I really suppose perhaps we may have one rail.”
Such integration would embed funds extra deeply into securities settlement, lowering friction throughout markets. ISO 20022 requirements and central financial institution infrastructure upgrades are already nudging in that course.
The prize, Magnusson suggests, lies in transparency, accessibility and velocity; attributes prized by company treasurers as a lot as institutional traders.
Progress in sub-custody and personal wealth
SEB has additionally expanded its function in sub-custody, filling area vacated when Nordic friends withdrew from the market.
“With the native information we had, and the historical past and the legacy, we really gained a big a part of that enterprise,” Magnusson notes. The duty is just not misplaced on her. Investments in infrastructure are supposed to make sure flexibility and accuracy in companies which can be more and more central to consumer portfolios.
Non-public wealth is one other space of progress, each within the Nordics and throughout Europe. Competitors has intensified lately, with worldwide gamers shifting in. For SEB, infrastructure as soon as once more performs a decisive function, with apps, information and round the clock entry underpinning the worth of recommendation.
Shoppers, Magnusson observes, count on velocity, accuracy and belief.
She provides a becoming analogy:
“We’re extra like a daycare for his or her [the clients] youngsters. It’s their core funding that we’re taking care of as a custodian.”
Geopolitical shifts and Europe’s function
Wanting additional forward, Magnusson sees regulatory change intertwined with geopolitics.
CSDR and T+1 are already reshaping the practicalities of custody. On the identical time, international uncertainty is altering investor flows.
“We now have really seen purchasers being more and more serious about investing inEurope… nevertheless it has to really deliver some worth to the desk,” she says.
Belief within the US fairness market stays sturdy, however questions over political stability and regulatory course have prompted traders to hunt options. For Europe, the problem is to make its markets not simply safer, however extra enticing.
Custom and transformation
For a financial institution with custody in its DNA, SEB is positioning itself between continuity and reinvention. Magnusson’s phrases underline that stability: shifting from legacy methods to the cloud, pushing for harmonisation over regulation, and seeing money and securities converge right into a single rail.
As Sibos gathers its regular crowd of bankers, regulators and technologists, her perspective hints on the longer arc.
Put up-trade could stay the plumbing of the system. However in Magnusson’s Stockholm workplace – with its mix of Nordic stability and creative color – it seems to be each bit like an area the place the way forward for finance is being sketched.
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