Judging by their annual results, the specialist custodian banks appear to have weathered the storms of the euro and Y2K without too much of a problem.

But although The Bank of New York, State Street, Mellon and Northern Trust all performed well, there was less good news for Chase's custody business. At an analysts' briefing following the annual results, Chase executives admitted that Global Investor Services (GIS), the bank's custody arm, experienced a slowdown in business in 1999.