After what had been a 'dramatic' year for banks in general, 2008 saw a significant rise in the value of new mandates for custodians. Our figures show that the Top 50 mandate wins totalled $1,163bn, a 27% increase in value from $915.97bn in 2007.

This was still down over a quarter on 2006 when the total value of assets reached $1,602 billion. However, that figure was hugely inflated by the year's extraordinary Freddie Mac mandate of $770bn.

Largest win

By far and away the largest win in 2008 was Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon)'s selection by the US Treasury to act as custodian for the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The October announcement initially talked of $250 billion worth of assets and reflected the growing financial crisis the world is experiencing. To date, the bank says it has taken approximately 50% of that figure under allocation.

Other highlights of the year include: the completion of the migration of Pioneer Investments' funds, worth $102.4 billion, in Luxembourg to the Societe Generale Securities Services' asset servicing platform; State Street won a retention deal to the tune of $73 billion with University of California Regents following a competitive bid process; JP Morgan was awarded the contract to service in excess of $70 billion in assets for Shell Asset Management Company (SAMCo); and Northern Trust was appointed by Hermes Fund Managers Ltd to provide custody and fund administration services for assets in excess of $65 billion.

Average size

The average mandate size for the top five in 2008 was $112 billion compared to $98 billion in 2007. And the average mandate size for the entire Top 50 in 2008 was $15.53 billion as opposed to $18.32 billion in 2007.

In 2008, BNY Mellon won the lion's share of new mandates with 30% of all the assets by value. State Street followed closely holding 27% and RBC IS took third place with 15%.

Nevertheless, RBC IS accounted for 31% of the mandate entries in the Top 50, a significant rise from 8% in 2007 and only 2% in the previous year.

Further analysis of the rest of the results this year has taken into account the fact that our methodology for the inclusion of data this year has changed. The Top 50 now comprises over 70 companies as many of the mandate positions were shared jointly, often with three or four custodians sharing the same equal position.

However, the additional 20 plus companies' AUC total no more then $30 billion and this should not have unduly affected the regional breakdown of mandates by value.

The past few years have seen North America's share of the new mandates, by value, fall from 75% in 2005 to 69% in 2006, and from 57% in 2007 to 50% today.

Asia has seen its share drop from 8% in 2007 to 4% in 2008, but the big winner has been the UK, which has almost doubled its share since 2006 to reach 18%.