Managing risk is at the forefront of every custodian’s day-to-day business operations. Given the breadth of custodians’ businesses, the deluge of new regulations from around the globe, the uncertainty of market conditions, the falling confidence of clients and the pressure from shareholders, custodians have plenty to say about the extent of the challenges they face.

So when Financial News invited 10 of the world's largest custodians to reveal the three biggest risks threatening their European businesses, many struggled to limit them to just three (and two of them were unavailable to comment). The eight respondents did agree, however, that risks associated with regulation were a top priority for all.