TCS strengthens partnership with Standard Bank Group to elevate custody operations in Africa

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has expanded its long-standing partnership with the Standard Bank Group (SBG), the largest custodian in Africa. This collaboration aims to centralize and standardize Standard Bank Group’s custody and securities settlement operations across over 15 markets, leveraging the cutting-edge TCS BaNCS Global Securities Processing Platform.

With assets worth $635 billion under custody and administration, Standard Bank Group plays a pivotal role in shaping the capital markets landscape in sub-Saharan Africa. The bank’s vision involves upgrading its existing platform and harnessing next-generation technologies to streamline custody and settlement processes further. By 2026, SBG intends to achieve operational resilience by transitioning all critical business operations to the cloud.

In embarking on this ambitious technology transformation journey, Standard Bank Group turned to TCS, a trusted strategic partner for over 25 years. At the heart of this transformation lies the TCS BaNCS Global Securities Platform, designed to enable real-time settlement, reporting, and high-performance services.

The TCS BaNCS Global Securities Platform is a cloud-ready, unified solution, certified by SWIFT, offering comprehensive functionality that spans the entire capital markets value chain. It empowers both buy-side and sell-side firms to establish robust, error-free, Straight Through Processing (STP)-enabled, and highly scalable processes, covering trade processing, clearing and settlement, custody, portfolio accounting, and corporate actions administration.

By adopting this integrated custody platform, Standard Bank Group can accelerate innovation and deliver consistent, reliable, efficient, and high-performance services to its customers. The platform’s rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and modern technology architecture will enable SBG to seamlessly connect with the broader financial services ecosystem, paving the way for the introduction of new, personalized digital products and services.

Moreover, the platform enhances straight-through processing levels and facilitates data standardization, accommodating traditional and crypto assets. It also simplifies the adoption of ISO20022, a significant industry standard.

The platform has already been successfully deployed in seven markets, including South Africa, with plans to implement it in the remaining markets by March 2024.

Rajesh Ramsundhar, Head of Investor Services at Standard Bank, stated, “Standard Bank is dedicated to transforming the technology landscape in its investor services business, with the objective of having all our critical business operations running in the cloud by 2026. We selected the TCS BaNCS Global Securities Platform to transform our custody and settlement operations with the objectives of offering a unified, consistent, and reliable experience to our customers.”

Venkateshwaran Srinivasan, Global Head of Financial Solutions at TCS, expressed his delight in strengthening the partnership, saying, “With this rollout across all their Africa operations, SBG will be able to offer a consistent experience and service level across markets and enable enhanced data strategies.”

TCS BaNCS is trusted by eight of the top 10 custodians worldwide, and in South Africa, it handles over 95% of custody transactions. The solution empowers organizations with an advanced digital core, intelligent decision-making capabilities using cognitive technologies, and superior client servicing across multiple channels.