EUROPE – The securities services division of ING Wholesale Banking is planning to establish a single custody platform for its European securities operations by September 2007.

The new platform - which will cover all ING’s European custody operations - will bring “an era of fragmented infrastructure to an end”, said an article in client newsletter ‘Securities Insight’.

According to the project manager, Renaud Migeot, the move is in line with the bank’s ongoing improvement and consolidation of its European securities services offering.

The new platform will provide pension funds, financial institutions, global custodians, commercial banks and broker dealers with better service, ING project manager Paul Konradt told IPE. This includes general improvement of the settlement chain, reporting issues and corporate action handling.

According to Konradt, the planning stage has taken just over six months. The integration process will involve roughly 35 people.

In December 2006, the Slovak Republic and Romania will be the first two ING locations to move to the new platform.

“This environment was the most suitable to start the migration,” said Konradt.

The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic will make the shift in 2007.

“We expect the migration will be complete before September of next year,” said Migeot.

“Throughout the migration period, new functionalities will be made available to clients as they come on stream.”

The new platform will result in uniform reporting for all ING markets. It will also provide clients with reduced operational risks and consistent service levels across all markets.