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The evolution of the global custody business has become highly predictable. Once again, the big have gotten bigger, and the also-rans have either been gobbled up in acquisitions or have dropped off the charts. The driving force behind Institutional Investor's 1999 global custody ranking is, in fact, so much a continuation of past years' trends that II has cut the number of banks ranked in this year's survey to 20 from 25, as were listed in previous years.
In 1999, consolidation has been most marked in Britain, where ninthplace Midland Bank is set to become the only surviving U.K.-based global custodian. In March Royal Bank of Scotland disclosed it was selling its RBS Trust Bank custody arm, ranked 18th last year, to Bank of New York.
Then in July Lloyds TSB Group said it was shutting down its securities services division. Lloyds isn't selling its...