European Depositary Bank, a Luxembourg-headquartered provider of banking, depositary and custody solutions that is part of the Apex Group, on Wednesday said it has appointed executive board member Holger Barth in a new role as global head of banking depositary.
The appointment further bolsters EDB’s governance, which had been problematic for a number of years.
Barth’s role is a newly created one, said EDB, one of the largest providers of depositary services in Europe for regulated UCITS and alternative funds. Barth will oversee the depositary bank function for 178.3 billion euro in assets under depositary and 24.6 billion in assets under custody across regulated jurisdictions including Luxembourg, Ireland, UK, and Malta.
The new, stronger management structure is part of what the firm has called a “comprehensive programme of corrective actions”. These were enacted after internal governance infringements came to light during a 2021 on-site inspection by financial supervisor CSSF. The supervisor in March announced that it had imposed a fine of 178,600 euro on EDB.
Acquired in 2017
Apex acquired the predecessor of EDB, MM Warburg Bank & Co, in 2017, and renamed it as European Depositary Bank (EDB) in 2019.
Barth’s appointment follows those of David Claus as CEO of EDB, and of Cecilia Gejke, Robert Steele and Jean-François Thils as members of the executive management board, all of whom who were appointed during recent months
Barth has worked for over three decades in the international financial services industry and in jurisdictions including Luxembourg, Germany and Ireland. Prior to joining EDB in 2021 as managing director,. He was head of investor services at SEB and held senior roles at Crédit Suisse, also in depositary banking.
“Since joining EDB in 2021, I have been impressed by the work of our highly skilled teams, who provide full depositary and depo-lite services to a wide range of clients under the UCITS and AIFM directives,” Barth said in a statement. “I look forward to leading our Depositary business as we continue to act as an expert support function, delivering exceptional service and robust solutions that run seamlessly alongside our clients’ fund administration requirements.”
The firm also said it has recently won a number of new clients, including Arab Bank for digital bank accounts, and GenTwo and Mikro Capital for paying agent services.