Where would we be without conventional wisdom? We have repeatedly been warned over the past decade that central securities depositories would eventually eat the lunch of their clients, competing directly for the clearing and settlement business of global custodians and broker-dealers.

This prediction goes back much further than 10 years to the formation of the Depository Trust Company in the US in 1973, when disconsolate bank operations staff cried into their martinis and foretold the end of the US sub-custody business.