Banco Santander in $3.8 Trillion Custody Joint Venture With Crédit Agricole

Cleary Gottlieb acted as counsel to Banco Santander in the creation of a joint custody and asset-servicing business between Banco Santander and Crédit Agricole S.A., representing $3.8 trillion of assets across the globe.

On April 16, 2018, Banco Santander and Crédit Agricole entered into a memorandum of understanding to combine their custody and asset servicing businesses, respectively carried out by Santander Securities Services (S3) in Spain and Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia) and by CACEIS. The new entity, retaining the CACEIS name, will be held at 30.5% by Banco Santander and 69.5% by Crédit Agricole S.A.

The combined CACEIS and S3 businesses would deliver scale and stronger competitive positioning as it benefits from enhanced geographical presence, the full coverage of the value chain, and an expanded offering for both existing and new clients. The enlarged group would be better placed to capture growth in high-potential markets (Latin America and Asia) and new opportunities. This enhanced growth potential combined with expected commercial and industrial synergies should result in long-term value creation for all stakeholders.