For years, depositary banks such as The Bank of New York Mellon, Citi, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank or HSBC have tried to keep secret details of the subsidies they pay to issuers to entice them to sign up for sponsored ADR programmes. Disclosure rules introduced by the SEC in 2009 have now revealed details of such payments for the first time.

An interesting article by IR Web Report, which can be seen by clicking on this link, includes information on how far some of the depositary banks are prepared to go to secure these lucrative mandates.

The incentives highlighted in the article range from US$65,900 to US$11.9 million, which gives an idea of the profitability for these banks of some of the larger ADR programmes.

This should also be enlightening for investors, since they are are, ultimately, those footing the bill.