Under the new mandate, CACEIS will provide custody, depositary and fund administration services, along with a range of reporting and additional fund-related services. CACEIS‘s integrated front-to-back solution streamlines all operational aspects of investment portfolio processing including reporting. These services will enable Triodos Investment Management to focus on its core area of expertise as an impact investor, generating benefits for society, alongside a financial return.

CACEIS is actively supporting sustainable finance through a special initiative for sustainability-focused funds by waiving its fees the first year following the creation of a fund or sub-fund classified under Article 9 of SFDR.

Martijn van Oort, Managing Director Risk, Finance & Operations, Triodos Investment Management, commented: “Working with CACEIS as our asset servicing partner provides a strong foundation for a long-term partnership. Together, we can further simplify our operations, increase efficiency and strengthen our focus on delivering value to our clients while maximizing our positive impact.”

Frans Hofkens, Head of Business Development, CACEIS Netherlands, said: “Our extensive experience in supporting leading asset managers, combined with our scalable and automated front-to-back servicing model, provides a strong foundation for a strategic partnership with Triodos Investment Management.”

Larissa Gabriëlse, Senior Sales Executive, CACEIS Netherlands, added, “Together, we are committed to making a positive change by enabling the continued growth of impact investment strategies that seek to create beneficial social and environmental outcomes.”

The fund uses distributed ledger technology and the public Ethereum blockchain to ensure transparent record-keeping of fund units and traceability of transactions.

This launch illustrates a partnership with CACEIS, a major player in asset servicing in Europe and one of the European leaders in transfer agent activities. CACEIS provides the technology and infrastructure for tokenizing fund units, digital portfolios for investors, and the digital order platform for subscriptions and redemptions.

The use of blockchain technology brings several benefits for investors and fund unit distributors: instant order execution, expanded distribution to new generations of investors, and 24/7 operability.

Jean-Jacques Barbéris, Head of Institutional and Corporate Clients, and ESG at Amundi, said: "The tokenization of assets is a transformation set to accelerate in the coming years around the world. This first initiative on a money market fund demonstrates our expertise and the robustness of our methodology in covering concrete use cases. While ensuring the highest security standards, Amundi will continue and expand its tokenization initiatives to benefit its clients in France and internationally."

Jean-Pierre Michalowski, Chief Executive Officer at CACEIS, said: “With the new hybrid Transfer Agent service, our clients can quickly and easily benefit from a new distribution channel via blockchain to their investors. This is a decisive step towards achieving our goal of offering 24/7 subscription and redemption services for investment fund units payable in stable coins (EMT) or central bank digital currency when it becomes available.”

With this move, CACEIS reaffirms its commitment to driving transformation in the financial sector and fostering digital ecosystems that promote innovation. Kriptown’s subsidiary Lise is developing a market infrastructure designed to simplify equity financing and listings for SMEs.

Lise has applied for approval as a DLT Trading and Settlement System (DLT TSS) under the European pilot regime, which permits the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for issuing, trading, and settling financial instruments on the blockchain.

CACEIS’s backing marks a strategic milestone for Lise’s parent company, reinforcing its governance and enhancing the project’s credibility among stakeholders.

The investment is in line with CACEIS long-term strategy for digital assets, which it has been pursuing for several years to support the transformation of market infrastructure.

This commitment was demonstrated more recently with the granting of MiCA approval, which reinforces the group's belief that technological innovation and regulation must go hand in hand.

Syz Asset Management, which specialises in bond and money-market instruments for Swiss institutional investors, chose to partner with CACEIS based on the group’s ability to offer bespoke solutions and high-quality support.

Frédéric Lenoir, Chief Operating Officer of Syz Asset Management, stated: "What convinced us was CACEIS's ability to fully understand our challenges and the offer of strong operational capabilities that align perfectly with the complex needs of our expert clientele who demand the highest professional standards.”

Philippe Bens, Head of commercial coverage Switzerland at CACEIS, added: "This partnership demonstrates our commitment to providing top-level support for our clients. We are delighted by the decision and look forward to servicing their investors and supporting Syz Asset Management’s growth."

This is a major step in the roll-out of the group’s digital asset strategy, allowing it to offer the following services to third-parties:

• Custody and administration of crypto-assets
• Reception and transmission of orders (RTO)
• Transfers of crypto-assets

CACEIS Bank now benefits from European passporting that allows it to provide these services in all European Union countries.

Laurent Majchrzak, Group Head of Digital Assets at CACEIS said, “We are proud to obtain this MiCA authorisation. It strengthens our position as a trusted third party, supporting the transformation of financial markets. By offering our clients the opportunity to invest in both traditional financial instruments and crypto-assets within the same portfolio, we are enhancing CACEIS’ value proposition.”

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) play a significant role in Ireland’s financial landscape, both as a hub for ETF domiciliation and as an investment vehicle for individuals and institutions. Ireland has established itself as one of the leading global centres for ETF management, with favourable tax structures, a strong regulatory framework, and a well-developed financial services sector.

CACEIS administers over €125 billion in ETF assets on behalf of its clients, providing them access to its expertise, tools and network to help implement both active and passive ETFs. In addition to its state-of-the-art dealing portal with a bespoke service for authorised participants to access the ETF primary market, CACEIS has recently created a dedicated ETF business line. This new business line will support ETF clients across all aspects of service delivery, and is tailored to an ETF’s requirements. This puts CACEIS in an excellent position to support clients at every stage of the launch process and throughout the fund's lifecycle.

Jean-François Balaÿ started his career in 1989 at Crédit Lyonnais in the Corporate Banking Markets and held several managerial positions in London, Paris and Asia. In 2001, he joined Crédit Lyonnais in the Loan Syndication business line, first as Head of Origination for Europe, then for Western Europe within Calyon from 2004. In 2006, he was appointed Deputy Head of Syndication for the EMEA region. In 2009, he became Global Head of Loan Syndication at Crédit Agricole CIB. In 2012, he was appointed Head of Debt Optimisation and Distribution. In 2016, he became Head of Risk and Permanent Control. He was appointed Deputy General Manager of Crédit Agricole CIB in 2018 and Deputy CEO of Crédit Agricole CIB in 2021.

Aged 59, Jean-François Balaÿ holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Management and a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from Lyon II Lumière University.

The Fund took the decision to migrate depositary and banking services to CACEIS. It is currently still fund raising, with assets under management of  around €600m, a target fund size of €800 million and hard cap of €1bn. CACEIS’ experts from its specialised Private Assets division performed an efficient migration of all servicing aspects over to the group’s systems, ensuring uninterrupted servicing for all stakeholders.

Livio Fenati, Managing Partner and Founder of Vesper Infrastructure Partners stated, “We were impressed by the scope of CACEIS’ business proposal and saw the advantages we could gain for the Fund and the Fund’s LP base. Selecting CACEIS as depository bank gives us access to their experienced global team that will support our business development going forward. Migrations are always a key concern in such decisions, but CACEIS’ experience in this domain and speed of execution was evident during the entire process and the positive outcome has validated our choice.”

Frédéric Ullens, Global Head of PERES at CACEIS stated, “Our staff worked hard to demonstrate how our Private Assets capabilities could support the Fund. We are delighted that this resulted in our selection as their Depositary and Banking services provider and subsequent business migration. We are keen to take this opportunity to show to Vesper the benefits of working with our market-leading Private Equity division and hope to be able to increase the scope and depth of our servicing over the coming years.”

Nh1816 is the leading Dutch provider of private non-life insurance through its network of financial advisors, with some €620m in revenues, €1.2bn in investments, 2.6 million policies, and over 610 thousand insured individuals. It is a financially stable, independent cooperative insurer with a focus on achieving the steady growth of its business.

"The strategic partnership with CACEIS enables us to pursue our business development objectives and further raise the standard of our portfolio management and reporting services. Our integration with CACEIS’ operational systems and relationship management structure was handled without interruption to our services, and we are delighted to have achieved such a smooth changeover in such a short time. CACEIS' servicing model offers the transparency we need to carefully manage our business, providing key insight into our data and performance. The combination of financial, regulatory and ESG-related reporting capabilities, means our business is well positioned to tackle future challenges", states René van Gils, CEO of Nh1816 Verzekeringen.

"We are pleased to have created this new partnership with leading Dutch insurance cooperative, Nh1816, as it demonstrates the trust that large and successful organisations have in our outsourcing model and strategic direction. Our two groups share a common view that puts business efficiency and client servicing at the heart of our offer, and this key partnership is focused on delivering long-term support that creates the conditions for the continued growth of the business”, says Rinke Visser, Deputy Country Managing Director of CACEIS in the Netherlands.

CACEIS Pensions Centre is a dedicated administration hub backed by market-leading technology platform SimCorp Dimension. This end-to-end solution is an ideal platform for the LGPS sector because it uniquely accommodates private assets and traditional assets in one single platform. It will provide Lincolnshire County Council Pension Fund with leading administration capabilities, governance reporting and consolidated performance reporting solutions for all assets held, both in and out of custody. Lincolnshire County Council Pension Fund will also have the full support of the custody team and local pensions specialists.

CACEIS continues to build a strong presence in the LGPS sector and is part of the National Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) Framework for global custody services. The CACEIS Pensions Centre also sets a new benchmark for the LGPS sector, which leads the way in private asset investment, because it can consolidate all traditional and private assets into one single platform, creating efficiencies in areas such as reporting and administration.

James Parish, Director, Head of UK Pensions Sales, CACEIS commented “As a collective team, we are really looking forward to partnering closely with Lincolnshire County Council Pension Fund. They are an important partnership for CACEIS and we are deeply committed to bringing the highest levels of service delivery through our consultative and personable style. The CACEIS Pensions Centre provides a flexible and scalable way to meet the evolving needs of the LGPS sector, especially in light of the recently announced reforms for further consolidation. We are also engaging with the LGPS pools on the topic of consolidation, bringing together our subject matter experts to workshop opportunities and challenges.”    

Jo Kempton, Head of Lincolnshire Pension Fund commented “We are looking forward to working in partnership with CACEIS as we move from the traditional custody model to a more value-add model, reflecting the changing structure of our assets as we move our final assets across to the management of Border to Coast, our asset pool.”

Crédit Agricole S.A. confirms its strategic priority to continue strengthening CACEIS’ position as a major European asset servicing player, supporting its clients’ business development objectives. Over the recent years, CACEIS has experienced robust growth, both organically and through strategic acquisitions. The recent addition of RBC Investor Services' operations in Europe has enabled the company to expand its clients base and product range.

In parallel to this envisaged transaction CACEIS and Santander are maintaining their long-term partnership.

Their joint venture for the Latin American operations will remain jointly controlled.

Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to take place during 2025.

The transaction is consistent with the Crédit Agricole Group's targets in terms of return of investment and return on tangible equity, and will have a negative impact of approximately 30 basis points on the fully-loaded CET1 ratio of Crédit Agricole S.A.