We want to provide our customers with the highest quality service, whether they interact with us in their local market or across multiple locations. That’s why one of Euronext Securities’ four strategic pillars is to strengthen and to enhance the international and local Customer Experience. And that’s the reason why, as we develop our pan-European CSD organisation, we focus so keenly on our customer relationships. In this article, we discuss how Euronext Securities will improve Customer Experience and what it will mean for our customers in the different markets.
“When we talk about Customer Experience, I think the most important thing to recognise is that having a customer-centric focus is nothing new for our CSDs,” Olga Jordão, CEO of Euronext Securities Porto and Head of CSD Client Services, explains.
“Each CSD has a long track record of working closely with their local, regional and international customers to meet their needs. However, now that we are a large, pan-European institution, we have the opportunity to bring an enhanced experience and a ‘One Euronext’ feel to our customers.” It is in this context that the fourth strategic pillar in Euronext Securities’, “Growth for Impact 2024 Strategy”, comes into play.
“The fourth pillar is about creating stronger ties with our customers, anticipating their needs and strengthening our existing relationships,” explains Mauro Dognini, CEO Euronext Securities Milan and Head of Sales & Relationship Management.
“For our customers, this will mean that they will continue to benefit from locally developed initiatives and services that cater to local and regional specificities. At the same time, they will benefit from new services, tested and proven in other Euronext CSDs, that can create even more value for their business.”
Three primary goals: improving efficiency, harmonisation and partnership
Over the next three years, Euronext Securities will introduce an array of Customer Experience initiatives, all centred around three primary objectives.
“First, we want to make it easier for our customers to interact with us,” says Mauro Dognini. “We’ll do this by improving our efficiency, simplifying our processes and reducing our response time.” The second objective targets customers that use Euronext Securities’ services in more than one CSD, and involves creating a more harmonised experience for them across all Euronext CSDs. “Finally, we want to develop stronger, long-term relationships with our customers. Leveraging data and advanced technology will help us in that respect,” he explains.
1. Improving efficiency by making it easier for customers to work with us.
One of the concrete initiatives designed to improve efficiency in Customer Experience is the introduction of a common customer relationship management (CRM) tool across all CSDs.
This tool will help customer-facing teams monitor day-to-day customer interactions and more quickly identify pain points and potential improvement areas. They can thus be more proactive and responsive to customer needs.
Another initiative, designed to improve response times, will focus on how queries are routed in the organisation, making sure they are directed to specialised areas and that each issue is tracked through to its resolution.
“Every day, we get a large number of queries across our CSDs, many of which relate to the same issue,” states Mauro Dognini. “By being able to identify those trends more quickly, we can use input from across the CSDs to come up with the best response for our customers, rather than developing individual solutions in isolation.”
2. Harmonising the Customer Experience providing a more flexible Customer Service model.
To create one harmonised Customer Experience across all Euronext CSDs, the second objective, Euronext Securities will build a flexible service model that allows customers to choose between a local, regional or global model. In this way, each customer can select the approach that best suits their business.
For example, at Euronext Securities Copenhagen customers can opt for retail segregated accounts, a local settlement platform for local banks, or a Directly Connected Participant (DCP) model for settlement in the T2S platform – an approach increasingly favoured by international financial institutions.
Corporate Actions (CA) is another area where the Euronext CSDs support both local and international models. Euronext Securities Oslo offers standard processing of CA payments for custodians servicing international clients, whereas local retail clients rely entirely on their CSD to process retail operations.
These examples show the importance of balancing harmonisation with local market specificities, as Mauro Dognini points out. “We are a network of CSDs, and at the same time each CSD plays a central role in its local market. That’s why we will work closely with our customers in each market to make sure we create models that work for everyone.”
3. Cementing the partnership mindset while strengthening our customer service culture.
The final objective is about cementing the partnership mindset in all corners of the Euronext Securities’ organisation.
“We want our customers to experience a more partnership-based approach from us in all the CSDs. And they should have this experience across the entire value chain, in all of their interactions with us,” states Olga Jordão. To meet this objective, Euronext Securities will introduce dedicated account and relationship managers in each CSD. “These managers will place us in a better position to support our customers’ growth. They will also give us a deeper understanding of our customers’ business, which will help us further improve the services we provide.”
The 2024 Customer Experience
Although the Growth for Impact 2024 Strategy spans the next three years, work on several initiatives is already well underway. “We expect to have the CRM tool fully implemented across all CSDs by the third quarter of this year. Initially, we'll be reaching out to our customers to share some of our learnings and observations with them and get their feedback. Over time, we plan on launching regular service reviews encompassing all aspects of our service and customer interactions,” states Olga Jordão.
When the full Growth for Impact Strategy is realised, local, regional and international customers alike should feel the positive impact of these initiatives. “Locally, our customers will feel that they have retained the flexibility and local understanding they would expect from their national CSD,” Mauro Dognini says. “Yet they will also see the benefits of working with a large, pan-European organisation, in that the service they receive is even more professional.”
For larger customers who do business with Euronext Securities in multiple markets, they will meet “One Euronext Securities”, regardless of where they access the organisation’s services. However, achieving this level of seamless harmonisation encompasses more than just the Customer Experience. “We have several initiatives underway to pave the way, including building common corporate actions and billing platforms to address the product side. All these common layers are key building blocks to creating the One Euronext of the future,” explains Olga Jordão.
“Our ultimate aim is that customers view us as a partner that helps them accomplish their business goals,” she concludes.
Customer case: Helping BancoBPM Group improve settlement efficiency
An experience from Euronext Securities Milan demonstrates how closer customer engagement can bring value to Euronext’s customers.
Euronext Securities Milan formed an Executive Account Management team in 2016 and implemented a common CRM tool across the Sales, Relationship Management and Customer Services teams. These teams could then share information and work together to identify new solutions for their customers.
Working together with BancoBPM Group, the teams created a new solution which allows the settlement flows coming from trading activities on Borsa Italiana by the group broker to be addressed and centralised directly to the customer’s securities account. According to Gianni Mazzocchi, Head of Finance Operations at BancoBPM, this solution allows the bank to “greatly simplify and optimise the entire end-to-end process for settling trading activities on Borsa Italiana. Trades will be settled in the appropriate securities accounts of BancoBPM without any realignment activities of positions. This will reduce risk and operating costs and significantly decrease settlement instructions.”