[ N E W S
R O U N D - U P ]
NEWS ROUND-UP
˜ ˜ The European Securities and Markets
Authority (ESMA) has actioned the
postponement of the Central Securities
and Depositories Regulation (CSDR)
settlement discipline regime (SDR)
after intense lobbying from industry
bodies. The regulation will now come
into effect on 1 February 2021, giving
market participants an extra six months
to prepare. The regulator said the delay
would allow for sufficient time for
market participants and authorities to
make the necessary IT system changes,
to develop and update the relevant ISO
messages, and to put in place the legal
arrangements.
˜ ˜ JP Morgan has taken a stake in
Arcesium, an investment management
technology provider the banking giant has
partnered with over the past two years
for its fund administration platform.
Links between the two firms date back
to December 2017, when JP Morgan
announced it would use Arcesium’s
middle- and back-office software to
support its administration platform.
˜ ˜ Tech vendor giant FIS has acquired a
majority stake in credit-based alternatives
fund solutions provider Virtus Partners,
with the aim of rounding-off its capital
markets offering. Virtus Partners
provides a range of alternative investment
operations outsourcing and administration
services exclusively for credit fund
managers.
˜ ˜ HSBC Securities Services (HSS) has
completed the transition of Franklin
Templeton’s assets in India into its
custody and fund services business.
Franklin Templeton is one of the ten
largest asset managers in India with over
$18 billion of assets under management in
the country.
6
Global Custodian
Spring 2020
˜ ˜ Global Prime Partners (GPP) is
planning to close its prime brokerage
division after falling victim to increased
regulatory costs and capital restraints. GPP
will close its London-based prime services
unit following an extensive review of its
main business lines, and has opted to
focus on its wealth solutions and clearing
and custody services.
˜ ˜ The Depository Trust & Clearing
Corporation (DTCC) has launched an
application programming interface (API)
marketplace, creating an App Store-style
offering for the post-trade industry. The US
market infrastructure giant said the new
marketplace will “transform how clients
access services”. DTCC’s Marketplace will
allow direct programmatic access to its
processing functionality, and includes
comprehensive documentation and
training materials to help developers use
the APIs.
˜ ˜ The joint venture between Euroclear
and DTCC intending to create a cross-
Atlantic collateral management solution
and streamline settlement processes
has ended. Both companies will split the
two main offerings of DTCC-Euroclear
GlobalCollateral, and dissolve the joint
venture by integrating the products
into their own collateral management
services. DTCC will combine the Margin
Transit Utility (MTU) into its Institutional
Trade Processing (ITP) business, while
Euroclear will become the sole owner of
the GlobalCollateral entity and offer the
Collateral Management Utility (CMU).
˜ ˜ BNY Mellon has on-boarded UK
investment manager Liontrust Asset
Management as the first end-to-end client
to its new investment operations platform.
The new open architecture platform aims
to improve automation and integration
capabilities, and offer enhanced data
management and control tools to
institutional asset managers.
˜ ˜ Northern Trust is planning to increase
technological investment in its asset
servicing platform, according to its chief
executive, who said the bank has missed
on its scalability goals. Speaking on
the global custodian’s fourth quarterly
earnings call, Mike O’Grady, CEO of
Northern Trust, explained that the
custodian wasn’t fully able to capitalise on
the increased outsourcing demands from
asset managers and asset owners because
of its current custody platform.
˜ ˜ Tech giant SS&C Technologies
could be set to increase pricing for fund
administration and outsourcing services,
despite the business facing industry-wide
pressure to lower fees. SS&C Technologies
had previously said it would be ‘more
methodical’ in increasing prices for its
services, and speaking on its fourth
quarter earnings call, the firm outlined
an opportunity to review its fees for
outsourcing services, including its GlobeOp
fund administration business.
˜ ˜ Candriam will migrate its custody, fund
administration and transfer agency for its
Luxembourg and French funds to CACEIS,
marking the first mandate win for the
newly-merged asset servicing group. The
new partnership will support Candriam to
broaden its asset management offerings,
especially in terms of ESG, along with
continuing its international expansion,
while embracing the digital transformation
of the industry.
˜ ˜ Citi has acquired the custody business
of RBC Investor and Treasury Services
(RBC I&TS) in Australia after completing
the transfer of all of its local clients,