The numbers tell their own story for BNP Paribas in 2025. Securities services revenues grew 13.4% in the first quarter, the strongest performance across the entire industry, and by a wide margin, with the next best competitor at plus 9% and the rest of the field trailing well behind.
For Patrick Colle, executive chairman of securities services, the explanation is straightforward: “It’s all about the business model. This is something we’ve built with the group over the past 15 years. It’s the result of patient, disciplined investment following a very clear strategy.”
That model – global in reach, multi-local in execution and deliberately diversified across buy and sell-side clients, public and private assets – proved its resilience across the full year. Securities services revenues reached €3.2 billion, up 8.1% on 2024. Assets under custody grew 7.1% to €14.2 trillion, assets under administration increased 13.1% to €3.1 trillion, and the number of settled transactions rose 23.3% to 195.8 million.
It’s all about the business model. It’s the result of patient, disciplined investment following a very clear strategy
Patrick Colle
Alongside the organic performance, BNP Paribas continued its disciplined expansion through targeted bolt-on acquisitions, agreeing to acquire HSBC Continental Europe’s custody and depositary bank business in Germany and integrating Banco Mediolanum’s depositary banking operations in Spain.
New mandate wins underlined the breadth of the franchise. UniCredit Group appointed the bank for custody and settlement across Italy, Germany and Luxembourg. Allianz mandated it for a wide suite of asset services in the UK. UniSuper, one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, signed up for the newly launched Data PRISM360 data management solution, a product that signals BNP Paribas’s strategic ambition to evolve from master custodian to master data custodian.
Digital advancements
In private capital, where assets under administration are growing at around 20% per annum and now total approximately €1 trillion, mandates from Schroders’ Future Growth Capital vehicle and Infranity further cemented a market-leading position in non-US domestic private asset servicing.
Technology investment was equally prominent. The revamped NeoLink client portal, now embedded with AI-powered digital assistant NOA, enables clients to manage transactions, resolve queries and access reporting through a single interface. The CapLink private capital portal – unique in linking general partners and limited partners through a shared workflow – added significant new functionality.
This is both an industrial and high-expertise business. It must be managed with clarity and dedication, and we believe that’s what we are really good at
Claudine Gallagher
A partnership with NeoXam and the rollout of the Confluence platform for private capital reporting automated previously manual processes across the business.
Meanwhile BNP Paribas participated in landmark digital asset milestones, acting as depositary and fund administrator for the first tokenised fund with real-time settlement in Spain, and as paying agent and custodian in Swift’s digital asset interoperability trial in January 2026.
Looking ahead, Claudine Gallagher, who leads the securities services business globally, says: “The combination of this distinctive diversified global multi-local model across all financial institution segments, this ethos of long-term true partnerships, delivered through an integrated bank model – that’s what’s going to carry on for the next decade. This is both an industrial and high-expertise business. It must be managed with clarity and dedication, and we believe that’s what we are really good at.”
