Winner Spotlight 2025: Bank of China (Hong Kong)

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HONG KONG SAR: Best Custodian Bank (DOMESTIC)

June 30, 2025

Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) displayed remarkable performance in custody services in 2024 in its local market.

Over the 12-month period, it increased its assets under custody (AUC) by 40% year-on-year to over HK$2 trillion (US$255 billion), ensuring BOCHK holds the leading position among all domestically operated custody banks in Hong Kong.

One of the most significant contributors to this success has been its collaboration with BOCI-Prudential Trustee Limited (BOCPT) – a joint venture established by BOC Group Trustee Company and Prudential Corporation to leverage on each other’s strengths. This partnership resulted in the impressive growth in AUC last year, of which 60% came through the BOCPT relationship.

Further, BOCHK served more custody customers in 2024, an increase of 8% year-on-year, and saw its core income from custodian services rise by 29% year-on-year.

BOCHK also enjoyed record growth in Assets Under Administration (AUA) within its corporate trust and agency (CTA) services, its issuer services segment, by 22%. This surge was attributed to new deals, including high-profile IPOs, and also being custodian to digital green bonds and sovereign debt programmes.

In general, growth in BOCHK’s custody business reflects the rising demand for the bank’s innovative solutions in this space.

For example, in 2024 BOCHK acted as the bond trustee and agent for the Airport Authority’s first retail bond issuance, plus the bank was appointed as the custodian of the digital green bond issued by the HKSAR Government for the second consecutive year.

Other significant transactions last year included: being engaged by one of the largest pension schemes in Hong Kong as its first Chinese custodian bank for portfolios in China and Hong Kong; partnering with a leading Chinese insurer to implement a dual-accounting solution with a high degree of automation in accounting assets classification; and working with a sovereign wealth fund to handle large-scale transactions plus numerous customised data feeds across diversified assets.

In addition, the bank showcased its cross-border expertise by strengthening its collaboration with Bank of China affiliates in China and Hong Kong, in particular for its end-to-end solutions for inbound and outbound investments. It grew its customer base for Southbound, Northbound and QDI business year-on-year by 76%, 9% and 11%, respectively.

BOCHK also knows that it helps having a large and experienced team to handle the evolving needs of clients; the bank has over 400 Hong Kong-based staff focusing on its custody business. 

This commitment of resources also extends to efforts by BOCHK to drive innovation and f lexibility in its custody business. With newly-built systems, the bank now incorporates features and operational workflows that meet market needs in terms of application design, flexible database for customisable data output and a comprehensive application programming interface library.

The structure of the custody business has also created a highly competitive cost-to-income ratio for BOCHK. In the first half of 2024, for instance, operating expenses increased by just over 3% year-on-year, while net operating income before impairment allowances increased by nearly 15% compared with the same period the previous year.

"We’re honored to receive this award. It reaffirms our commitment to building a world-class, Hong Kong-based custody platform. The achievement strengthens our position of delivering exceptional custody services and reinforces Hong Kong’s role as a premier financial hub."

Andrew Law, General Manager, Custody and Trust Services

Contact

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