Custody Services

Securities Services

Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A., operating under the Citi Handlowy brand, provides securities services in Poland and on international capital markets. We ensure that our Clients thoroughly understand the principles of operation of depository and settlement systems and that risks connected with transaction clearing and settlement in both domestic and cross-border securities are managed properly. Our Clients include institutional investors and financial intermediaries who use custody services offered by Citi Handlowy directly and via a network of Citi branches and affiliated companies in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Fund Liquidation

    • Custody Services

      Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A., operating under the Citi Handlowy brand, has been offering securities custody services since 1992. Then, its predecessor, Citibank (Poland) S.A., as the first bank in Poland, launched custody services as a separate product, complementary to brokerage services. Today Citi Handlowy, is the leader in the Polish market.

      • Citi Handlowy has initiated various initiatives to accelerate growth and to improve the infrastructure of the Polish capital market, i.a. by being the long-standing leader of the Custodian Bank Council, affiliated to the Polish Bank Association.
      • Citi Handlowy has the largest share in Poland’s custody services market – over 40 percent in terms of assets under custody and in terms of the volume and value of settled transactions in Client securities (source: Citi Handlowy).
      • Our Clients are mainly foreign and local financial institutions i.a.: global custodian banks, international investment firms, investment banks, insurance companies and mutual, investment and pension funds.
      • Citi Handlowy’s mission is to provide top class services by ensuring that our Clients’ assets are safe and their transactions are cleared and settled on time.
      • We have highly skilled personnel and we continuously improve our services and regularly add new products for our Clients.

      Under the custody services package, Citi Handlowy:

      • opens and maintains bank accounts, securities accounts and omnibus accounts
      • maintains securities registers
      • clears and settles securities buy/sell transactions
      • provides comprehensive reporting including confirmations and statements to bank and securities/omnibus accounts
      • enables Clients to execute Corporate Actions and to exercise rights connected with their securities
      • provides custody services in foreign markets

    • Depositary bank services

      Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A., operating under the Citi Handlowy brand, has been providing depositary bank services to domestic investment funds since 1996, domestic pension funds since 1998 and also voluntary pension schemes since 2012. Citi Handlowy cooperates with some of the largest players in the investment and pension fund market. In terms of assets under custody and the number of cooperating funds, the Citi Handlowy is today amongst Poland’s top custodian banks (source: Citi Handlowy). Citi Handlowy’s representatives actively participate in numerous projects run by various institutions, including market regulators and associations, to draft regulations and best practices for capital markets.


      Depositary bank services are provided together with securities custody services.


      As part of our depositary bank and securities custody services we:

      • maintain registers of a fund’s assets, which are recorded in appropriate accounts and kept by Citi Handlowy or other authorized entities
      • verify calculations of a net assets value
      • ensure that agreements for purchase/sale of a fund’s assets comply with generally applicable laws and its bylaws
      • execute orders submitted by a fund, provided they are not in breach of applicable laws or its bylaws and do not put its assets under custody in risk
      • ensure that a fund’s assets are invested in accordance with generally applicable laws and its bylaws
      • ensure that all agreements applicable to a fund’s assets and all agreements with a fund’s participants are settled on time

Complaints

We ensure the highest standard of customer service.

Custody Division in Citi Handlowy (Bank) is committed to ensuring the highest standard of customer service. We make every effort to ensure that you are satisfied with all solutions we offer you.

Further you can express your feedback regarding our services and products in the form as specified below. Feedback from our Clients is extremely important for us, as it allows us to improve and adapt our operations to your expectations.

Rules for submitting and examining complaints by Clients of the Custody Division:

  • All reservations concerning the operations or services provided by Custody Division may be submitted:
    • in electronic way (e-mail, electronic banking service);
    • by telephone directly to a dedicated customer service representative or relationship manager;
    • Personally during the visit in Bank location;
    • In writing (personally or by mail).
  • When submitting a complaint in writing, the Client should provide data necessary to identify the entity: full name, account number, settlement date (date of execution), which complaint concerns, detailed description of the basis for the complaint and claims. It is recommended to address the compliant to Custody Division.
  • At the latest, after one business day after receipt of complaint, Bank will confirm the fact of submitting the complaint and the information until the complaint is resolved.
  • Response to complaints should be given in a way appropriate to the way the compliant is received. For a natural person, the answer is given in paper form or in a durable medium of information. Upon the Client’s request the answer is provided in electronic way.
  • The Bank will respond to submitted complaints without delay, however not later than within 14 days of receiving the complaint. In particularly complicated situations the response time may be extended. In such case Client should be advised of prolonged processing time with justification the reason of not being able to reply within the time limit and indicating the circumstances that need to be clarified and indicating the time limit for answering, no longer than 60 days from the receipt of the compliant.
  • The Bank represents that its operations are supervised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.
  • In the event of the rejection of claims of a client being a natural person, the Bank responding to the complaint shall inform about a possibility to apply to the Financial Ombudsman for help in resolving a problem according to the Act of 5th of August 2015 concerning the complaint handling process by the units of financial market and Financial Ombudsman, about a possibility of an out-of-court settlement of a dispute before the Arbitration Court at the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) in accordance with its rules of procedure as well as about a possibility to bring a case to an ordinary court.
  • In the case of a corporate client – Bank shall inform about a possibility of an out-of-court settlement of a dispute before the Arbitration Court at the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) in accordance with its rules of procedure as well as about a possibility to bring a case to an ordinary court.

  • EMIR

  • Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR)

    As a participant in an European Economic Area (EEA) Central Securities Depository (CSD), we are required to, under the Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR), publicly disclose the levels of protection and costs associated with the different levels of segregation in respect of securities that we hold directly for clients with CSDs within the EEA.

    In compliance with CSDR Article 38(6), we have provided details of the levels of protection associated with the different levels of segregation and these can be found at the following link: Art. 38(6) CSDR Participant Disclosure.

    In addition, in compliance with CSDR Article 38(6), we have provided details of costs associated with the different levels of segregation and these can be found at the following link: Art. 38 CSDR Costs Disclosure.

    Please note that updates to these documents will be published on this website.

  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

    As of 25 May 2018, the EU personal data protection regulation - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (referred to as "GDPR") - enters into force.

    Below, we attach our Securities Services Privacy Statement that provides information on the purpose and principles of your personal data processing within the Securities Services of Citi Handlowy and your rights concerning the processing of such data.

    The document includes:

    • principles concerning the purpose of data processing;
    • principles concerning the integrity and confidentiality of data processing;
    • principles concerning automated processing of personal data;
    • information about the right to access, rectify or erase your personal data processed by the Bank.

    The document can be found here: Securities Services Privacy Statement.

  • Terms and conditions of processing shareholder and closed-end investment fund certificate holder identification

    The terms and conditions of processing closed-end investment fund certificate holder or shareholder identification referred to in Article 123a-Aricle 123e of the Act of 27 May 2004 on investment funds and management of alternative investment funds (the “FI Act”) or respectively in Title III A of the Act of 29 July 2005 on Trading in Financial Instruments (the “Act”) by the Securities Services Division at Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A. (the “Bank”) when a closed end fund/closed end fund management company or respectively listed company applies directly to the Bank.

    • The closed end fund/closed end fund management company or respectively listed company should send its request to the following email address corp.actpoland@citi.com
    • The original copy of the request should be sent by regular mail to the address: Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A., Departament Operacji Powierniczych (Securities Operations Department), ul. Senatorska 16, 00-923 Warszawa.
    • The request has to comply with the FI Act or respectively Act, include all the information required under the Act and the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1212 (the “Regulation”) and be sent in a format prescribed in the Regulation.
    • The rules set forth in the FI Act or respectively Act concerning the submission of a closed end fund/closed end fund management company or respectively listed company's request to the Central Securities Depository of Poland (KDPW S.A.) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the requests submitted to the Bank.
    • The request needs to be signed by the authorized signatories of the closed end fund/closed end fund management company or respectively listed company. Enclosed with the request shall be the notarized, and for foreign issuers authenticated with an apostille, copies of the powers of attorney of these persons if the request is signed by the representatives of the closed end fund/closed end fund management company or respectively listed company, and notarized specimen signatures of the persons who signed the request.
    • The requests which do not meet the conditions set out herein shall not be processed by the Bank.
    • The Bank will begin processing the request once it has received a full set of the required documents as prescribed herein and once the closed end fund/closed end fund management company or respectively listed company has paid the fee specified by the Bank and notified to the closed end fund/closed end fund management company or respectively listed company in an email sent in response to the submitted request.
    • The Bank shall charge a fee for every request submitted by a closed end fund/closed end fund management company or respectively listed company, the fee being a multiple of the number of accounts on which shareholders of the listed company hold the closed-end fund investment certificates or respectively shares issued by that company and the amount of PLN 50, but not less than PLN 9,500 per request.
    • Any matters not regulated herein shall be governed or respectively governed by the provisions set forth in the Act, the Regulation and the Directive 2007/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007.

  • Fee Schedule for Services Related to the Exercise of Shareholders' or Closed-End Investment Fund Certificates Holders’ Rights

    On 3 September 2020, Shareholder Rights Directive II – "SRDII" and, respectively, on 30 May 2024 the Article 123a-Article 123e of the Act of 27 May 2004 on investment funds and management of alternative investment funds (the “FI Act”) became effective. Article 3(d) of the Directive (Directive EU 2007/36/EC, as amended by Directive EU 2017/828) and Article 123d of the FI Act, require Citi Handlowy to disclose standard fees charged for rendered custody services insofar, as it acts as an “Intermediary” under SRDII or under FI Act, and relates to performance of the following services in respect of shares or closed-end fund investment certificates which are both admitted to trading in Poland or in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the issuer of which has its registered office either in Poland or in an EEA member state. The services include:

    • shareholders and investment fund certificate holders identification;
    • proxy voting; and
    • corporate actions.

    In accordance with SRDII and respectively FI Act, standard fees charged for the provision of certain custody services are made available to you via the link.