Deutsche Bank tops shortlist for Global Custodian Asia awards

Global Custodian has published the shortlist for its Leaders in Custody Asia Awards 2026. The shortlist names firms and projects across agent banking, fund services, fintech and digital-asset initiatives. The awards ceremony is scheduled for May 28 in Singapore.

The nominations were drawn from Global Custodian’s agent banks surveys and editorial selections, using feedback from network managers, asset managers and global custodians. The shortlist covers major, emerging and frontier markets across the Asia Pacific region and spans operational, deal, infrastructure and innovation categories.

Deutsche Bank leads the list with 13 nominations. BNP Paribas follows with 11 and HSBC with 10. Mizuho and Standard Chartered each have eight nominations. Northern Trust appears six times, while MUFG, DBS and State Street have four nominations apiece. ICBC, Citi, BNY, JP Morgan and Euroclear also appear multiple times on the shortlist.

In the Agent Banks of the Year categories, nominees for major markets are DBS, Mizuho Bank and MUFG. Emerging market nominees are BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered. Frontier market nominees include Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered. The overall agent bank shortlist lists BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered.

Best in Class operational categories list regional teams and country operations. Global account management nominees include Deutsche Bank (China), Mizuho Bank (Japan) and Standard Chartered (Malaysia). Asset safety and risk management nominations name BNP Paribas (India), Deutsche Bank (China) and Mizuho Bank (Japan). Asset servicing nominations include Deutsche Bank (China), ICBC (China) and Mizuho (Japan). Client service, relationship management and technology categories similarly highlight regional capabilities.

The awards include separate sections reflecting the views of different industry groups. Network managers’ top choices include BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and UBS. Asset managers favor BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and ICBC. Global custodians highlight DBS, Deutsche Bank and HSBC. Country-level custody shortlists include candidates for Best Custodian in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Singapore.

Fund services contenders named on the shortlist include Apex Group, Citco, Precision Fund Services, Citi, HSBC and State Street. Editors’ Choice nominations for Global Custodian of the Year list BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, JP Morgan and State Street. Custody deal nominees reference transactions involving Citi, HSBC, JP Morgan and MUFG. Fund services and asset servicing deals include entries by BNP Paribas, Brown Brothers Harriman, HSBC and Northern Trust. Partnership and project shortlists feature Clearstream, Euroclear, Marketnode and State Street.

Digital asset and market infrastructure initiatives appear across multiple categories. Nominated projects include Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure, HSBC Orion, Northern Trust’s cross-border trading of digital carbon credits, and a collaboration between UBS, Chainlink and DigiFT on tokenized fund operations. Other shortlisted infrastructure work covers offshore Chinese government bonds collateral initiatives and HKEX’s Bond Connect securities collateral offering.

Global Custodian has kept the Innovation Awards entry window open and has opened submissions for Individual Awards for the first time. The full shortlist will be presented and winners announced at the Singapore ceremony on May 28.