This special report on global custody¾ the 2000 Seventh Annual Global Custody Survey¾ was prepared by Buttonwood International Group, New York. The data collection efforts for the Survey were completed November/December 1999, with survey results appearing shortly thereafter at www.buttonwood.com.

2000 Survey Participants

ABN AMRO Mellon Global Securities Services
Bank of Bermuda Limited
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
The Chase Manhattan Bank
Citibank, N.A.
Deutsche Bank
Investors Bank and Trust Company
Mellon Trust
The Northern Trust Company
Paribas
Royal Trust
State Street Corporation

 Custodians from prior year's survey unable to participate this year include Bankers Trust (acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999) and The Bank of New York (declined participation for a third year).

The survey continues to explore those issues and trends of importance to both the investor and service provider in the EM, namely:

• EM Hot Spots with particular focus on emerging markets struggling to shore-up infrastructure to better serve foreign investors.
• The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) introduced the euro currency in 1999, however, the underlying infrastructure for euro-zone securities business needs significant improvement.
• International securities lending roams worldwide markets, searching for the next big opportunity and pulling-out of under-performing markets.
• Internet developments move into a new level of sophistication as enterprise-wide systems are developed.
• Global Straight Through Processing (GSTP) shows promise to deliver more streamline post-trade processing for worldwide securities.
• Network expansion plans remain strong in 2000.
  

The following report reviews the issues facing the investor in the emerging markets. Findings of the survey are based on comments from the global custodians on the risks, difficulties and peculiarities encountered in many countries. The countries which the custodians regard as the most troublesome are discussed.