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“You can’t build a product in a vacuum;
you need to be deeply familiar with the
problems you are looking to solve. The
smart tech firms will hire strategically
from the industries they seek to serve.
The conversation seems to be less about
the disruption of traditional businesses by
FinTechs and more about partnership and
collaboration.”
There are countless stories, from Fin-
Tech to cryptocurrencies, where the tal-
ent in the banking world is being sought
after to bring expertise and experience
to sectors looking to transform or disrupt
the incumbents. With the funding Nable
mentions above, suddenly the salaries are
there along with opportunities to solve
important and complex problems and
bring new products to market.
“In terms of how the new crypto-asset
class relates to the traditional world, I do
feel those coming from traditional custo-
dy banks have an information and process
advantage,” adds Liang. “Custody banks
themselves are not directly involved in
the full lifecycle of asset management
from front-to-back office. Custodians are
generally considered deep in the back-of-
fice. However, custodian banks, and by
extension their people, need to have a
good understanding of the entire front-to-
back office workflow in order to support
the lifecycle of the trade. As such, they
have a wealth of knowledge on how the
financial world works. Coupled with the
fact that custody banks are not tradition-
ally known for being innovative, many ca-
pable people are leaving to pioneer in the
next wave of financial transformation.”
Much like Kech and Liang, Societe Gen-
erale’s former securities services chief ex-
ecutive, Hugh Hughes, switched custody
banking for digital assets when he joined
Koine in 2018. As CEO and chairman of
Koine he has assembled a team of expe-
rienced securities services professionals
from the top tiers of custody banking to
create a segregated, institutional custody
and settlement platform for digital assets.
“Start-ups tend to attract and cultivate
creativity, particularly in terms of tech-
nology,” he explains. “However, at Koine,
we also ensure that this is backed up by
industry professionals who have worked
at the bigger firms, to ensure we’re
aligned with their way of thinking. For
those professionals, the main attraction
is often the opportunity to disrupt the
market with an impactful new business
model.
50
Global Custodian
Spring 2020
“It is difficult to resist the
envy to participate in the
building of the future.”
ALEXANDRE KECH, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, ONCHAIN CUSTODIAN
“Many of the big industry players, such
as BNY Mellon and State Street, are al-
ways going to attract talent - but this will
often be motivated by pay rather than the
opportunity for innovation.”
Banks make their move
What we have learnt so far is that the
opportunities and salaries are there for
the taking at FinTechs and other kinds
of start-ups that have a need for the
kind of expertise that securities services
professionals possess. In addition, they
can offer work flexibility, the chance to
make a transformative impact and the
ability to wear jeans and t-shirts to the
office. But while these are all potentially
factors for people making the switch, you
can’t ignore what custodian banks have
to offer in response. Namely: job security,
progression and the chance to work in
an established business dealing with the
largest and most impactful players in the
capital markets.
The risk of joining a start-up is not for
everyone, a point Liang made earlier, and
not everyone is an innovator – and that’s
okay. Custodian banks are working on
their flexibility, and approach to diversity,
inclusion and innovation. They are sign-
ing up to equality initiatives, introducing
shared parental leave and not discounting
those who work flexibly from promotions.
They are growing more open to people
switching roles within the bank, install-
ing reverse mentoring schemes and even
adopting a much more open approach
to sustainability. They may not be able
to flick a switch and allow everybody to
introduce a new product each week, but
instead they are partnering with FinTechs
to plug-in or build platforms for them,
which does allow products to evolve.
In a grass-is-always greener scenario,