THETRADETECH DA I LY
BUY-SIDE NEWS
news
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF TRADETECH 2019
Technology
STANDARD LIFE ABERDEEN
DUMPS DUAL LEADERSHIP
Standard Life Aberdeen confirmed that
its co-chief executive Martin Gilbert
has stepped down from the role, ending
the group’s shared leadership structure
following its merger in 2017.
The UK asset manager announced in a
statement that Keith Skeoch will lead
the company as sole CEO as of mid-
March, after the board unanimously
approved plans to disband the current
co-chief executive structure.
BLACKROCK EYES ALADDIN
EXPANSION WITH EFRONT
ACQUISITION
BlackRock’s investment operations
platform Aladdin is set for a major
expansion after the global asset manager
confirmed it will buy Paris-based
alternative risk analytics provider eFront
for $1.3 billion in cash.
In a statement, BlackRock said that it
will combine the eFront platform with
its flagship Aladdin platform, which
is currently used by more than 225
financial institutions globally, to “set a
new standard” in investment and risk
management technology.
HERMES CONTINUES PUSH
INTO EUROPE
Hermes Investment Management has
announced the formation of two new
offices in mainland Europe. The new
offices in Copenhagen and Frankfurt are
part of the €37.3 billion asset manager’s
strategic growth plan for its presence in
Continental Europe.
Antonis Maggoutas, director of
business development for Austria and
Germany will be based in the Frankfurt
office, and Magnus Kristensen, director
of business development for the Nordic
Region, will head the Copenhagen
office.
8
THETRADETECH DAILY
LSEG leads $20 million funding
round in blockchain startup
T
he London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG)
has led a $20 million investment in a
startup that uses blockchain technology for
the issuance and administration of financial
instruments.
Nivaura specialises in establishing digital
investment banking platforms for banks,
exchanges and other institutions to automate
manual process and connect fragmented
systems for issuance of assets including debt,
equity and structured products.
The $20 million funding will allow the firm
to expand its leadership, business develop-
ment and technical team to further grow the
business. Nivaura said that by expanding
its technical team, it can accelerate product
development and increase its expertise in other
technologies including machine learning and
natural language processing.
“Our focus for 2019 is on conducting a series
of high profile, large-scale projects with high
calibre partners to demonstrate our platform
as a valuable solution across the full spectrum
of capital markets primary issuance activities.
Working with such partners with their wealth
of experience will underpin our next phase of
growth,” said Nivaura’s chief executive, Dr.
Avtar Sehra.
Nivaura added that its platform has already
been used for structuring, distributing, execut-
ing and settling transactions both traditionally
by settling through existing clearing systems,
and by using public blockchains.
Other investors that participated in the
funding round included Allen & Overy, Linkla-
ters, Santander InnoVentures, Transamerica
Ventures, as well as HSBC’s former head of
global markets, Spencer Lake. As part of
the deal, Lake and CEO of the London Stock
Exchange plc, Nikhil Rathi, will join the board
of Nivaura.
“We’re seeing growing appetite from major fi-
nancial institutions for practical innovation that
goes beyond buzzwords and conceptual PoCs in
‘digital investment banking’. Boards are saying:
go forth and innovate,” Sehra added.
“But doing so in the highly regulated and
complex world of capital markets is immensely
difficult. With our now proven approach and
compliance credentials, we are able to finally
help our industry take practical steps to inno-
vate and improve their economics.”