Euroclear, a provider of post-trade services to the financial industry, has posted record financial results for 2024, with underlying operating income rising 5% to €2.9 billion, driven by strong settlement and safekeeping activities.
Assets under custody reached a record €40.7 trillion by year-end. The company saw growth across multiple segments, with underlying business income climbing 5% to €1.75 billion. Underlying business income for Q4 2024 increased by 7% compared to Q4 2023, driven by strong performance in Eurobonds, European assets, global emerging markets and funds.
Despite a slowdown in interest earnings in the latter half of the year, underlying interest income still increased by 3% year-on-year to €1.15 billion.Operating expenses were impacted by several one-off events in Q4 2024, including contributions to the newly created Euroclear Foundation and costs related to acquisitions. Excluding these, adjusted operating expenses rose 3% to €1.33 billion, aligning with Euroclear’s cost mitigation strategy.Euroclear’s adjusted business income operating margin improved by 1.5 percentage points to 23.7%, reflecting the company’s focus on positive operating leverage. Underlying net profit climbed 6% to a record €1.04 billion, while adjusted earnings per share increased 5% to €367.
The board has proposed a dividend of €220 per share by the end of Q2 2025., a 5% increase, maintaining a payout ratio of approximately 60% of adjusted underlying earnings. Euroclear’s capital position remains strong, with a Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio above 60%.
Euroclear acquires stake in blockchain platform Iznes
In 2024, the firm continued expanding its global funds platform. The acquisition of a stake in IZNES, a blockchain-based European fund marketplace, complements Euroclear’s existing services in France. Euroclear also acquired a 49% stake in Inversis, a Spanish investment technology provider, with plans to take full ownership by 2027.In Asia, Euroclear strengthened its presence through a strategic investment in Marketnode, a Singapore-based digital market infrastructure operator. The partnership aims to enhance fund flow management and settlement efficiency using distributed ledger technology.The firm also advanced its digital finance ambitions. Euroclear’s Digital Securities Issuance (D-SI) platform facilitated the issuance of a Digital Native Note (DNN) in USD by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Additionally, a collaboration with The World Gold Council and Digital Asset piloted the tokenisation of gold and bonds for collateral management. Finally, Euroclear reported the financial impact of EU-imposed sanctions on Russian assets, provisioning €4 billion under the windfall contribution regulation. Approximately €1.55 billion was paid to the European Fund for Ukraine in July 2024, with a second payment of around €2 billion expected in March 2025. Russian sanctions and countermeasures resulted in direct costs of €94 million and a €27 million loss in business income.
Valerie Urbain, CEO, Euroclear, commented: “2024 was a year of record financial performance, underpinned by our increasingly diversified business model and driven by strong business income and sustained interest income. Our strategy and new management structure put clients at the centre of our plans, and we continue to make progress against our key objectives. In 2024, we grew our funds business and European presence through the announced acquisition of Inversis in Spain.
We also continue to support market adoption of digital assets by attracting new issuances on our D-SI platform while participating in important projects with industry partners to drive innovation across European post-trade.Our core activities continue to thrive. We have reached record levels in settlement and safekeeping activities, with assets under custody closing the year over the €40 trillion mark. The outstanding of Euroclear’s Collateral Highway is now close to €2 trillion, while the fund’s depot also hit a new high of 3.6 trillion.”
