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NEWS ROUND-UP
with HQLAx, first established in March
this year, with the aim of building a fully
integrated, front-to-back operating model
for securities lending transactions, using
blockchain technology developed by the R3
consortium.
˜ ˜ The Singapore Exchange and Monetary
Authority of Singapore will collaborate with
three tech vendors to create a blockchain
settlement system for cryptocurrencies.
The settlement system will work across
different blockchain platforms, allowing fi-
nancial institutions and corporate investors
to carry out simultaneous exchange and
final settlement of cryptocurrencies and
tokenised securities assets.
˜ ˜ UK asset manager Hermes Investment
Management has extended its outsourcing
contract with Northern Trust to include its
middle-office operations. The new mandate
extends Hermes relationship with Northern
Trust by another five years.
˜ ˜ State Street has acquired a transaction
cost analysis (TCA) specialist for foreign
exchange (FX) markets in the bank’s latest
move to boost front-office capabilities.
State Street will acquire BestX from
Thomson Reuters, which has held a 10%
stake in the company as BestX retained
majority ownership of the remaining 90%.
BestX will be fully integrated into State
Street as a wholly-owned subsidiary upon
closure of the deal.
˜ ˜ Investment management front-office
service provider Charles River Development
has partnered with Broadridge to round
off its middle-office services for buy-side
clients.
The Charles River Investment Manage-
ment Solution (IMS), one of the largest
buy-side execution platforms, will integrate
Broadridge’s SWIFT network for standard-
10
Global Custodian
Fall 2018
TOP PREMIUM NEWS
ised messaging and settlement, completing
its middle-office solution.
˜ ˜ Apex Group has made its fourth
purchase this year with the acquisition of
Custom House, a global hedge fund ad-
ministrator with $24 billion in assets under
administration (AuA).
As part of the deal, Custom House’s
chief executive officer, Mark Hedderman,
has decided to step down to explore new
opportunities.
˜ ˜ BNY Mellon has completed the transi-
tion of DWS’s real estate fund accounting
services worth $21 billion in assets onto its
platform.
The go-live completes a three-year project
of migrating DWS’s real estate portfolio,
representing one of the industry’s largest
fund conversions to a new platform.
˜ ˜ Credit Agricole CIB has outsourced its
listed derivatives back-office operations to
CACEIS Investor Services.
CACEIS, which serves as the asset servic-
ing business of Credit Agricole, will also act
as its main listed derivatives clearer.
˜ ˜ Fixed income FinTech firm Algomi
has secured a strategic investment from
Euroclear, as it looks to gain full custodial
coverage of its illiquid bond trading service.
The investment will see Euroclear gain
access to Algomi’s bond liquidity matching
system and data aggregation tool.
˜ ˜ Swiss technology vendor Temenos has
extended its contract with Northern Trust
where it will help modernise the bank’s
transfer agency technology.
Northern Trust will use the Temenos Mul-
tifonds Global Investor platform to support
the migration of funds it acquired after the
purchase of UBS Asset Management’s fund
servicing units in Luxembourg last year.
˜ ˜ Vanguard, the world’s second largest
asset manager, has transitioned over $1
trillion of mutual fund and exchange traded
fund (ETF) assets to State Street.
Global Custodian understands Vanguard
moved a portfolio of 165 mutual funds and a
variable annuity portfolio from Brown Broth-
ers Harriman to State Street. In total, State
Street has won custody of more than $1.3
trillion of Vanguard’s assets over 2018.
˜ ˜ BNY Mellon’s new chief executive is fac-
ing his first major test to reassure investors
that the custodian is on-track to achieving
consistent growth and to take a longer-term
view for mandate wins.
The global custodian reported a revenue
increase of $1 million for its asset servicing
to $1.52 billion for the three months ending
June, but it also grew 10% year-on-year.
˜ ˜ Northern Trust has been selected by Ex-
odusPoint Capital Management as a fund
administrator for its $8 billion of assets
across equity and fixed income strategies.
The hedge fund launched by Michael
Gelband, a former fixed income trader at
Millennium Management, was described as
the largest start-up fund of all time when it
went live at the start of summer.
˜ ˜ Switzerland’s stock exchange has
announced a new initiative to create an in-
tegrated infrastructure for the digital asset
value chain, addressing the divide between
existing trading and post-trade activity and
the emerging frameworks for the burgeon-
ing crypto investment environment.
The offering from SIX is the first fully
integrated trading, settlement and custody
for digital assets from a market infrastruc-
ture provider.
˜ ˜ IndusInd Bank has received regulatory
approval for its proposed acquisition of Indian
custody provider IL&FS Securities Services.