RETAIL and institutional customers of OCBC Securities can now enjoy better services for foreign-listed share investments and trading.

Yesterday, the local brokerage firm appointed leading global financial-services provider Citi to provide direct custody services for its clients across 14 equity markets including Australia, Europe, India and selected China markets.

The services will allow OCBC Securities to provide its clients more timely equity investment- related updates, including regulatory changes and faster turnaround of dividend payments.

This is possible because of Citi's regional service centres and processing technologies that provide standardisation of how updates are compiled and sent to OCBC Securities clients. OCBC Securities move to appoint Citi was in response to feedback from its customers - who range from young working adults to financial institutions and high-net worth individuals - who actively trade in foreign equities.

Mr Hui Yew Ping, managing director of OCBC Securities, explained that there has been a three-fold increase in clients over the last five years and a seven-fold increase in revenue contributions from foreign- equity transactions in the same period.

'We decided to enhance the customer experience by providing them not only a good platform to trade, but also to settle and custodise their foreign shares in an efficient and consistent manner,' said Mr Hui.

Prior to appointing Citi, OCBC Securities had worked with different custody-service providers in various markets like Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia.

This meant varying and inconsistent service standards from the service providers that could result, for instance, in delayed dividend payments, said Mr Hui. Citi's involvement means that OCBC will now have a standardised system of how updates are gleaned.

Managing director and head of Citi Singapore's global transactions, Mr Han Kwee Juan, said that by tapping Citi's custody services, OCBC Securities would be able to focus on its core business services like research and investment advisory.

'OCBC Securities would also be the first local broker dealer in Singapore to implement a custody-service model for retail clients that is preferred by international brokerages for institutional clients,' he added.

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