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NEWS ROUND-UP
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BNY Mellon has expanded its alliance with BlackRock to give mutual clients greater freedom of choice around middleoffice services . Through the move , BNY Mellon ’ s asset servicing business would be operating BlackRock Aladdin ’ s middle – office service on behalf of common strategic clients for a more integrated front-to-back model .
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Societe Generale is set to close its securities services activities for UK funds in an organisational restructure which will see a reduction in headcount in London . The decision will lead to the bank ’ s global custody activities in the UK transferred to its other European platforms as it looks to continue its service to asset management and asset owner clients .
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State Street has secured a huge fund administration and depositary banking mandate in Europe from Italian private bank Fideuram – Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking . State Street ’ s Luxembourg branch will take on the activities previously carried out by its subsidiary Fideuram Bank Luxembourg , accounting for approximately € 42 billion of assets under management .
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A new technology company formed by State Street , PIMCO , Man Group , IHS Markit , Microsoft and McKinsey is set to launch with the aim of transforming operations technology for asset managers . The company , named HUB , will build a cloud-based operating platform powered by the Microsoft Azure cloud , and will provide flexible and modular solutions across middle- and back-office functions , while also aiming to reduce cost and mitigate risks .
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Brown Brothers Harriman ( BBH ) is rolling out a new look middle-office platform which it claims will give faster turnaround times for asset managers to transform their investment operations . The newly branded ‘ BBH Investment Operations , powered by Infomediary ’ aims to transform the way its asset manager clients utilise data for front- , middle- and back-office processes .
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BNY Mellon has partnered with Google Cloud on a data analytics model to help traders predict billions of dollars ’ worth of daily settlement failures in the US Treasury market . The initiative will see BNY Mellon leverage Google Cloud data analytics , artificial intelligence ( AI ) and machine learning technologies to develop new collateral management and liquidity solutions , helping clients to achieve significant capital savings .
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Standard Bank has retained its custody and investment reporting mandate with South Africa ’ s Government Employees Pension Fund ( GEPF ), Africa ’ s largest pension fund with over $ 132 billion in assets . The renewal of the mandate cements Standard Bank ’ s position as Africa ’ s largest provider of custody and related services , following a reported increase in group ’ s assets under custody , administration , and trusteeship to more than $ 708 billion , as of 31 December 2020 .
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UK asset manager Fundsmith has expanded its custody and fund services relationship with Northern Trust to seven of its 10 funds . Fundsmith awarded Northern Trust a mandate to provide services for two newly launched US funds , while also transferring its Luxembourgbased funds from State Street to Northern Trust .
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Citi has launched a new service for advisor clients that will automate the allocation of cash across a range of funds and manage all aspects of order processing . The new Dynamic Allocation and Fund Order Processing tool will provide a single service for the allocation and placement of fund orders between advisor clients and fund providers .
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U . S . Bank has acquired the debt servicing and securities custody services client portfolio of MUFG Union Bank , providing it a significant boost to its Americas custody coverage . The deal will see U . S . Bank take on 600 client relationships representing around $ 320 billion in assets under custody and administration .
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Alternatives fund services provider Alter Domus has topped $ 1 trillion in assets under administration ( AuA ) after announcing a planned acquisition of Strata Fund Solutions . The acquisition of the US private equity and venture capital funds administration firm will add $ 140 billion in AuA and over 200 accounting experts to Alter Domus ’ ranks .
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Euroclear has launched a new data service offering market participants in-depth liquidity analysis on all fixed income instruments settled at its central securities depositories ( CSDs ). Leveraging its post-trade ecosystem , the new Euroclear LiquidityDrive data service covers more than 460,000 global corporate and government bonds .
˜ ˜ CIBC Mellon has been named the fund administrator for the world ’ s first Bitcoin exchange traded fund ( ETF ). The Purpose Bitcoin ETF , from Toronto-based Purpose Investments , recently won approval to launch from the Ontario Securities Commission , providing investors greater access to cryptocurrencies .
6 Global Custodian Spring 2021