Integrated Securities Services: Where Global Access Meets Local Market Expertise

A buy or sell order can reach the market in milliseconds. For the investor, however, that is not the end of the transaction. Once the order has been executed, the transaction must be cleared and settled. The resulting position must appear correctly in the client’s account. Income payments and corporate actions need to be processed, regulatory obligations met, and reliable information made available when the client needs it. When investments span several markets, these steps become even more demanding. 

This leads to a broader question than how quickly an order can be executed: How can clients move through the complete securities lifecycle without having to manage a different operating model at every step and in every market? 

“For Raiffeisen Bank International, we at Group Prime Services approach that question from the perspective of the complete client journey. Brokerage, custody, asset servicing, fund brokerage, and fund administration are brought together as parts of one securities-services value chain,” Christian Geberth, Head of Group Prime Services (GPS), explains.  Across fragmented markets different infrastructures, regulatory requirements, settlement practices, and levels of market development need to be addressed. GPS brings these individual market environments together within a consistent framework, enabling clients to extend their reach across a broader regional network. 

“Our GPS end-to-end model makes these markets scalable for clients by connecting business, product, technology, and operations,” the expert states. Standardized processes, coordinated access models, and shared digital infrastructure provide a foundation that can be extended across markets, while local teams ensure that the specific requirements of each market are understood and appropriately reflected. “Our intention is to create a consistent route from order entry and execution through clearing and settlement to safekeeping, asset servicing, compliance support, and data services,” he summarizes. 

The objective is not to make every market identical. It is to create a model through which clients can access different markets consistently, while the local distinctions are managed within the service. This allows clients to expand their market coverage without having to establish and coordinate a completely separate operational setup for each new market. 

The result is not simply a broader list of products. It is a service model designed around client experience, continuity, and scalability: one connected process, supported by specialists across the value chain, with fewer interfaces and handovers for the client to manage. 

Technology has also transformed the point at which a transaction reaches the market. Orders can be transmitted faster, execution venues are more connected, and sophisticated tools can assess liquidity across multiple channels. “Our trading team describes this environment as the meeting point between human expertise and digital speed.” Automated execution can be highly effective for suitable order flows. Other transactions require closer attention, particularly when liquidity is fragmented, an order is large relative to the market, or regional market characteristics need to be considered. 

“The task is not to make the investment decision for the client. It is to provide the execution channels, infrastructure, and professional support required to implement that decision.” RBI’s execution capabilities include algorithmic trading, Request for Quote solutions and a white-labelled Smart Order Router. The Smart Order Router can review liquidity across potential execution venues and divide a parent order into smaller child orders according to available liquidity. The purpose is to support execution quality and efficient access to liquidity rather than automatically directing the full order to a single venue. 

The digital journey does not end when an order is executed. Global Investor Gate provides the client-facing layer across the broader securities lifecycle, bringing together information on holdings, transactions, and settlement status, alongside services such as order monitoring, settlement instructions, corporate actions, and fund services. The platform is designed for reuse across the RBI Group. In 2025, Raiffeisen Bank Hungary became the first network bank to launch Global Investor Gate White Label, demonstrating how a centrally developed solution can be adapted to local requirements. This “build once, scale across” approach supports the wider GPS model: a common digital foundation combined with local market expertise. 

Yet execution quality and digital access are only meaningful if the transaction is also completed successfully. A fast trade that creates friction in settlement, account servicing or reporting has not created a seamless client experience. “This is where the trading story becomes a securities-services story.” 

Central and Eastern Europe is a connected region, but not a uniform securities market due to different regulatory frameworks, settlement practices, deadlines, and operational conventions. Using separate providers and processes in every market can create a substantial coordination burden. A purely centralized approach, on the other hand, may overlook the practical details that determine whether a service works locally. 

An effective regional model therefore needs both standardization and local knowledge. RBI combines a central access point with direct connections to local market infrastructures and cooperation with local Raiffeisen banks and selected market partners. Depending on the market and service, clients can benefit from coordinated contractual and operational arrangements, digital access to information, and support from teams familiar with local practices. RBI’s wider custody offering covers more than 50 markets, with a particular focus on CEE and direct links to local central securities depositories in ten markets. 

This model is not limited to markets within the European Union. It also provides a foundation for serving markets in the Western Balkans and for extending RBI’s connectivity towards Central Asia, where RBI recently established a direct link to the Central Securities Depository in Uzbekistan. 

“As the network develops, we are also investing in technology that can make the underlying service model more efficient and scalable,” Christian Geberth reveals. “This includes the first practical custody AI use case in the RBI Group aimed at automating agent disclosure requests.” Such solutions can reduce repetitive operational work and support the consistent handling of information across markets, while relevant expertise, controls, and accountability remain with the respective teams. 

Technology can help scale the framework, but the model gains its real depth from the people and institutions present in the individual markets. This is particularly visible in the cooperation between Raiffeisen Bank International in Vienna and Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine in Kyiv. 

“Ukraine remains a particular focus for the RBI Group”, says Christian Geberth. “Through the Rebuild with Ukraine initiative, we aim to combine international expertise and a strong local presence to connect global capital with local opportunities and support Ukraine’s longer-term transformation.” The relationship between Vienna and Kyiv therefore offers a tangible example of how RBI’s regional model works: international reach and coordinated access on one side, local infrastructure and firsthand market expertise on the other. 

The future of securities services will undoubtedly involve faster execution, greater automation, better use of data, and new AI-supported capabilities. But the underlying client need remains remarkably consistent: reliable access to markets and confidence that the complete process will work. 

Technology provides speed and scale. Standardized processes provide consistency and control. Local teams contribute the practical knowledge required to navigate different markets. Custody and asset servicing ensure that the journey continues reliably after the order has been executed. 

Group Prime Services brings these elements together across brokerage, custody, asset servicing, fund services, and digital access. A provider may open the door to a market. The greater value is in helping the client move through it, from the first order to every step that follows.