We mourn the passing of Harvey Pitt, the 26th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Harvey loved this agency, dating back to his time right out of law school serving as a staff attorney in the Office of General Counsel (OGC).
He continued to serve the Commission for a decade, advising former Commissioner Francis M. Wheat, taking on important roles in OGC and the Division of Market Regulation, and serving in the front office of former Chairman Ray Garrett, Jr. After only seven years at the SEC, Harvey became the youngest General Counsel in the SEC’s history.
It was one of his greatest dreams to come back later in his career to chair the agency.
As Chair, he oversaw the SEC’s response to the September 11th attacks and led the Commission’s rulemaking efforts in response to the corporate accounting crises of the 1990s.
Even in the last year, he has made himself available to offer advice and continued to submit comment letters on our rulemaking proposals. Our hearts go out to Saree and Harvey’s family.
FLASH FRIDAY is a weekly content series looking at the past, present and future of capital markets trading and technology. FLASH FRIDAY is sponsored by Instinet, a Nomura company.
It’s no mean feat for a company to make it to 50 years. Competitive forces, the evolution (and revolution) in trends, and management needing to stay on the ball for the long haul are just a few of the challenges firms face in surviving to the teen years, let alone adult and middle age.
Add in the quickening pace of technology change and disruption, and it’s no surprise that the average age of an S&P 500 company was under 20 years in 2020, down from 60 in the 1950s, according to Credit Suisse.
So it’s notable that no one, not two, but three major capital markets firms turn 50 this year: Cboe Global Markets, DTCC, and OCC.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange was founded as the first marketplace for trading listed options. On its first day of trading, April 19, 1973, there were only 16 stocks with listed options, and 911 options contracts were traded.
“Cboe’s 50-year legacy is built on trust, relentless innovation and a drive to disrupt the status quo,” Ed Tilly, CEO of Cboe Global Markets, says on the company’s 50-year anniversary page. “As we celebrate this milestone anniversary, we’re doubling down on our bold vision for the future, powered by the exceptional strength of our people.”
On the same day CBOE was founded in the Board of Trade Building in Chicago’s financial district, so was its wholly owned subsidiary, CBOE Clearing Corp. — the predecessor to OCC.
Created in 1973 to solve Wall Street’s paperwork crisis, one of the Depository Trust Company’s first actions was to digitize and create the first electronic security, long before digitization became mainstream. DTCC President, CEO & Director Frank La Salla said: “Achieving a milestone of 50 years in business is important to celebrate, but it raises a natural question: What’s next for us?”
“When I think about the years ahead, I often come back to the same word: stewardship. We’ve earned our reputation as a trusted steward by protecting the safety and stability of the financial markets, but in the years to come, we want to grow our impact,” La Salla continued. “We’re committed to delivering solutions to address challenges the industry can’t solve on its own and drive major initiatives to define how clearance and settlement and the operational side of market structure evolve.”
“Business environments are more diverse, dynamic, and interconnected than ever—and far less predictable,” the report stated. “Yet many firms still pursue classic approaches to strategy that were designed for more-stable times, emphasizing analysis and planning focused on maximizing short-term performance rather than long-term robustness.”
“Although we may perceive corporations as enduring institutions, they now die, on average, at a younger age than their employees,” the report continued. “And the rise in mortality applies regardless of size, age, or sector. Neither scale nor experience guards against an early demise.”
Cboe, DTCC and OCC join a select group of capital markets companies in the five-oh club, including recently minted members Charles Schwab, Nasdaq and PIMCO (which were established in 1971), and Fidelity, Instinet, Janus and Raymond James (est. 1969).
Broker-dealers have been tremendously focusing on best execution and ensuring that they have the right mechanisms in place to achieve the right outcome for their clients, according to Ralston Roberts, Head of Global Markets at Velocity Clearing.
However, many firms are using the incumbent systems and don’t have the right technology capabilities, he said.
“We’re at an interesting pivot point, because from a technology perspective, you’re either in the build-it-yourself camp, or you’re in the vendor camp,” he told Traders Magazine.
He said that the majority of the vendor platforms have been around for over 10 years, but the technology has changed over that period of time.
“When you start to look at some of the in-house built systems at the largest banks or even at some of the largest trading firms on the street, they’re just significantly faster than what you would get from a traditional vendor platform,” he said.
The latency profiles have all gotten a lot better on newer technology, but some of the vendors just haven’t upgraded to these levels yet, he added.
“There’s room for new entrants to come into the technology space to provide some cutting-edge technology with a new latency profile,” he said.
“That’s something that we’re closely looking at trying to decide if we want to start to expose some of our technology in that area,” he added.
Brian Schaeffer, President of Velocity Clearing, added: “We want to build the technology in such a way that we never get slowed down by any changes.”
He said it’s a challenge to “stay on the cutting edge” as technology moves at light speed.
“It’s exponential in terms of how things are developing and how folks want to be involved in the process,” he said.
Brian Schaeffer
Schaeffer added that where latency is less critical, Velocity has built its tech stack in the cloud.
“We can be super flexible as the regulatory dust settles. And if we need to change our routing logic protocols within our algorithms that can be done on the fly,” he said.
He added that on the execution side, everyone’s fine tuning their protocols to try to figure out in which way to source liquidity.
According to Schaeffer, since the implementation or subsequent to the MiFID 2 implementation, broker-dealers have to pay a lot more attention to their trade cost analytics and to what they’re providing back to their buy-side clients.
“It’s one of those things from both the regulatory and execution side that has changed. Broker-dealers have a lot more folks sitting on that desk trying to figure out how to get best execution.”
Traders Magazine spoke with Liz Ceisler, Chief Human Resources Officer at Mizuho Americas, which won Best in Corporate Culture at the 2023 Markets Choice Awards.
Liz Ceisler
When it comes to corporate culture, the tone is set from the top. How does Mizuho leadership help create a positive and rewarding environment?
Mizuho executives lead by example, and are highly engaged outside of the day-to-day business. They sponsor, attend, and lead DE&I events, volunteer in the community alongside employees, and frequently grab meals with staff from across the firm. Our Chairman & CEO recently extended an open invitation to employees at all stages of their careers into his office for small group lunches; it’s booked up for months! Talking about culture isn’t lip service at Mizuho – our actions speak to our culture of accessibility and values.
What are some current initiatives that are playing a key role in shaping your corporate culture?
A major initiative is the inaugural Mizuho Americas Open, our first-ever sports sponsorship in the US and a brand new tournament on the LPGA Tour. This tournament is a point of pride for our employees. It showcases our corporate values and, with special volunteer opportunities and VIP experiences, it gives employees new ways to engage with each other and their clients. Through partnerships with the LPGA, American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), and our charitable partner Girls Inc., we’ve created a purpose-driven tournament that promotes opportunity for women and girls on and off the golf course. We’re incredibly excited about this new, flagship Mizuho event.
In your acceptance speech at the Markets Choice Awards gala, you mentioned how much the culture has changed since you have been with the firm. Please tell us more.
I joined the firm in 2006, not so long after Mizuho Financial Group was formed, through the merger of three Japanese banks. At that time, we had 600 or 700 employees in the US, across various legal entities, each with its own website, corporate functions, policies, even email domains. The mindset was siloed, and the culture was difficult to define. Today, that former reality is hard for most Mizuho employees to imagine. This speaks to the major investments we have made across the board in our corporate culture, from where I sit in HR, integrating our policies and platforms, to bringing our employees together physically in a single headquarters, to our DE&I efforts, and ultimately our brand identity.
Some banks are mandating employees work in the office full-time following the pandemic, stressing the importance of being together in person for corporate culture and business efficiencies. Mizuho has stuck to its hybrid approach. Why?
A flexible work environment is beneficial not only for employee satisfaction, but for talent retention, productivity, and overall corporate culture. Our hybrid program allows certain divisions to determine schedules that make the most sense for their areas. At the same time, we recognize that being in the office helps build relationships, foster collaboration and allows for spontaneous (or planned) interactions which spark creativity. We think we’ve struck a great balance, and are very happy with the results.
Why has Mizuho invested so much in its corporate culture in recent years?
Simply put, it is very important to our leadership. A unified and positive corporate culture is critical to attracting and retaining top talent, and for motivating employees around a common goal. For us, that goal is to firmly establish Mizuho as a top 10 corporate and investment bank in the US. We’ve made tremendous progress in promoting our culture internally, and now we’re ready to share our values outwardly as an established brand, in order to accelerate progress toward that goal. We recently launched the “A Name Worth Knowing” brand campaign and are about to kick off the Mizuho Americas Open; neither would have been possible without our many years of deliberate focus on defining and strengthening our culture.
Traders Magazine spoke with Michael Warlan, Head of Global Trading at Third Avenue Management, who won Excellence in Equities Trading at the 2023 Markets Choice Awards.
Michael Warlan
Briefly describe your background and career to date.
I started my career working for the affiliated broker-dealer of Third Avenue Management called MJ Whitman. Here I supported the Institutional Sales desk. This was at a time when Third Avenue and MJ Whitman were growing the Investment Advisor and Fund business rapidly. A short time later there was opportunity for me to fill a role on the equity trading desk, and with the evolution of our firm I was able to lead efforts to expand our trading across multiple geographies and into different asset classes. I also spearheaded technology initiatives, handling multiple OMS implementations. After a few years I took a leadership role over the desk and have been here ever since.
What have been the main drivers of your success?
In the early part of my career, I was fortunate to be exposed to many facets of the firm and a business that was growing. I think a key driver to my success was the opportunities provided during that period. When I started we were still trading over the phone, using floor brokers, and handwriting blotters or tickets. Then, in the late 1990’s we saw an increase in the adoption of technology for not only trading, but also the integration of technology to help manage order flow and execution strategy. Looking back, I can say that we have all become much more efficient with the use of technology for trading. Nevertheless, the early experience of voice or manual trading was invaluable.
For you personally, what’s your greatest achievement?
Personally, it would have to be my daughter. Professionally, I would say my eagerness to learn and continuously question everything have significantly contributed to my longevity with the firm. As my 25th anniversary with the firm approaches this summer, it is an opportune time to look back on all that I have accomplished at Third Avenue Management, and I look forward to many more years with the firm.
Please tell us about Third Avenue Management and your current initiatives.
Third Avenue Management follows a fundamental, value style of investing. We offer equity-based strategies that focus on Global Value, Small-Cap Value, Global and International Real Estate Value. Like many active managers we are pleased to see a shift back to active management after many years of investor preference for low-cost passive strategies. With the growth of ETF vehicles, we are exploring active ETFs as well as other vehicles to deploy our current strategies where we see potential demand. We have also been developing new strategies with the separately managed account universe in mind.
What trends do you see around buy-side equity trading?
This has been a particularly active last 12 months from the regulators in terms of rules proposals, so I would say that conversations have focused on dealing with the handful that are on the table. One theme in particular that has stood out in US markets is the auction, as well as other intraday auction strategies. While the new proposed rule on auctions wasn’t the genesis for continuous cross or intra-day auction, it certainly seems to be much more relevant now that the regulators have formally introduced the topic.
How do you innovate, streamline and advance electronic trading at Third Avenue Management?
As electronic trading and broker offerings are entering a mature phase, at least in the US, it has become more important to focus on strategies and firms that fit your style of trading. Some desks prefer to use internal resources to customize broker strategies, but I have found working with those brokers open to customization an easier and more efficient approach.
How are innovative technologies shifting behaviors within equity markets?
AI, there I said it – it’s hard to escape the effects or at least the conversation around Artificial Intelligence. While the principles supporting AI or machine learning have been around for some time, the conversation has exploded with the roll out of Chat GPT and other open platforms. This has worked its way into many of the conversations we are having, including but not limited to trading. Just as we saw the shift towards electronification, this next new innovation is already having an impact on market structure and will certainly play a bigger role across the industry for years to come.
Franklin Resources, Inc, a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton, announced a strategic partnership with Power Corporation of Canada and Great-West Lifeco, Inc. The Power Group of Companies including Great-West and IGM Financial are leaders in the global insurance, retirement, asset management and wealth management sectors and have collective assets under management and/or administration of approximately $2.1 trillion1. Great-West includes Empower in the US as well as Canada Life in Canada and Irish Life in Europe. IGM encompasses subsidiaries Mackenzie Financial and IG Wealth Management and also has investments in Rockefeller Capital Management and China Asset Management Co.
As a foundation of the partnership, Franklin Templeton has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Putnam Investments (“Putnam”) from Great-West for approximately $925 million2 of primarily equity consideration. Great-West will become a long-term strategic shareholder in Franklin Resources, Inc., with an approximate 6.2% stake, consistent with Great-West’s continuing commitment to asset management.
Great-West will provide an initial long-term asset allocation of $25 billion to Franklin Templeton’s specialist investment managers within 12 months of closing with that amount expected to increase over the next several years. The strategic partnership aligns with Franklin Templeton’s focus to further grow insurance client assets, and significantly broadens the relationship between Franklin Templeton and the Power Group of Companies in key areas of retirement, asset management and wealth management.
Founded in 1937, Putnam is a global asset management firm with $136 billion3 in AUM as of April 2023. Putnam has offices in Boston, London, Munich, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. Putnam’s complementary capabilities and track record of strong investment performance accelerates Franklin Templeton’s growth in the retirement markets by increasing its defined contribution AUM and expanding its insurance assets, while adding further scale and efficiency to Franklin Templeton’s mutual fund platform. Consistent with Franklin Templeton’s previous acquisitions, the execution plan is designed to minimize disruption to Putnam’s investment teams and client relationships.
“This is a compelling transaction for Franklin Templeton, and we are excited about the numerous opportunities that will be unlocked by this long-term strategic partnership with the Power Group of Companies including Great-West,” said Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Templeton. “Power and Great-West are global leaders across financial services, particularly in the wealth, insurance and retirement channels. With outstanding investment performance, Putnam will add complementary capabilities to our existing specialist investment managers to meet the varied needs of our clients and will increase Franklin Templeton’s defined contribution AUM. We are pleased to welcome Great-West as a strategic investor, along with the impressive team at Putnam.”
“Franklin Templeton is a leading global asset management firm, whose business model is well-positioned to build upon the investment and distribution strengths of Putnam,” said R. Jeffrey Orr, Chair of Great-West, and President and CEO of Power. “We are pleased to enter a partnership with Franklin Templeton that will be mutually beneficial to clients and our respective businesses.”
“This transaction furthers Great-West’s strategy of building strategic partnerships with best-in-class asset managers to support our client’s retirement, insurance, and wealth management needs,” said Paul Mahon, President and CEO of Great-West. “Franklin Templeton’s scale and breadth, together with Putnam’s capabilities, will drive positive outcomes for our companies, our clients, and our investors.”
“Critical to this transaction is the strong alignment between our organizations. We share a client-centric culture, a core belief in active management, a collaborative and research-based investment approach, and a long-held commitment to fundamental investment principles,” said Robert Reynolds, President and CEO of Putnam. “We look forward to joining Franklin Templeton in this next phase of our growth, as we come together to serve our clients, upholding our commitment to them and their needs.”
Transaction Details
The transaction is structured to maintain Franklin Templeton’s financial flexibility and enhance continued investment across the firm. Franklin Templeton will pay approximately $825 million2 in stock consideration up-front at closing and $100 million in cash 180 days after closing for 100% of Putnam. Franklin Resources, Inc. will issue 33.3 million shares of its common stock to Great-West, 26.2 million of these shares, representing 4.9% of Franklin Resources, Inc.’s outstanding common stock, are subject to a 5-year lock-up, and the remaining shares are subject to a 180-day lock-up.
In addition, Franklin Templeton will pay up to $375 million in contingent consideration tied to revenue growth targets from the partnership.
The transaction is expected to be modestly accretive to run-rate adjusted EPS by the end of the first year after closing, inclusive of cost synergies and is anticipated to close in the fourth calendar quarter of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.
Ardea Partners LP served as lead financial advisor and Broadhaven Capital Partners LLC provided financial advice to Franklin Templeton. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as legal counsel.
1. As of 03/31/23 per Power Corp. of Canada 1Q 2023 Report, exchange rate between CAD / USD as of 03/31/23 per FactSet. 2. Based on stock price as of close of May 30, 2023. Includes approximately $825mm of Franklin Resources common stock plus $100mm to be paid in cash 180 days after close. 3. Excludes $33 billion AUM of PanAgora, which is not a party to the transaction.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) issued a staff advisory on the risks associated with the expansion of Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) clearing of digital assets. In the past several years, DCR has observed increased interest by DCOs and DCO applicants in expanding the types of products cleared and business lines, clearing models, and services DCOs offer, including related to digital assets.
The advisory issued today, “reminds registrants and applicants that when expanding lines of business, changing business models, or offering new and novel products, DCR will remain focused on the potentially heightened risks that may be associated with certain of those clearing activities. DCR expects DCOs and applicants to actively identify new, evolving, or unique risks and implement risk mitigation measures tailored to the risks that these products or clearing-structure changes may present.”
Today’s staff advisory specifically notes that because of the increased cyber and other risks that may be associated with digital assets, DCR will emphasize DCO applicant and registrant compliance with the DCO Core principles related to system safeguards, conflicts of interest, and physical delivery.
Traders Magazine spoke with Darrin Sokol, Global Head of Equity Trading at Lazard Asset Management, who won Excellence in Equities Trading at the 2023 Markets Choice Awards.
Darrin Sokol
Briefly describe your background and career to date.
For the past 22 and one half years, I have been the Global Head of Equity Trading at Lazard Asset Management. I strategically managed three global trading desks (New York, London, and Sydney) with 11 traders, responsible for multibillion trading for large institutional clients.
We recently migrated to a new OMS (Charles River Development), which was an ~18-month firmwide project. I helped lead the trading piece spending copious amounts of time helping to ensure a smooth transition from our old trading platform (Fidessa Latent Zero).
In addition to be a member of numerous committees (Brokerage, Counterparty Risk, Asset Allocation, Fair Value Sub Committee, Mentoring Program, etc.), I have presented to the Investment Council and discussed best-execution/TCA and liquidity to help PMs generate alpha for our clients and to discuss markets, flows, liquidity, etc.
Prior to joining Lazard I was a Partner/Senior Trader for Leon Cooperman at Omega Advisors. Lee gave me my start and was a great mentor and reason for my success. In fact, I still keep in touch with Lee, as he is still someone that I go to for advice and has been like a father to me.
What have been the main drivers of your success?
First and foremost, luck played a significant role in my journey. Meeting Lee Cooperman was a stroke of good fortune and I recognize the tremendous impact this had on shaping my career path. However, luck alone does not guarantee success; it is how we seize the opportunities presented to us that truly matters.
The main drivers of my success have been a combination of determination, resilience and pursuit of excellence. I embraced challenges set before me, viewing them as opportunities to showcase my skills and prove that I could meet high standards and expectations. Moreover, my willingness to learn and adapt helped me grow and develop new strategies.
Lastly, building strong relationships at Lazard and with the sell-side brokers have been crucial elements of my success.
For you personally, what’s your greatest achievement?
I enjoy helping clients, PMs, analysts and giving back to the people I work with. Lazard has a great mentorship program which allows me to share my experience and knowledge with our new employees and watch younger people grow. Hopefully, I can provide a fraction of mentoring like I received and helped my career path. I have many people at Lazard reach out with positive feedback and that is a great honor.
Additionally, being part of the Wall Street Committee for St. Jude Children’s Hospital has been extremely rewarding.
What trends do you see around buy-side equity trading?
Being part of the buy-side for a predominately long-only firm I see continued challenges for institutional blocks and liquidity. Fragmentation across different exchanges, dark pools and other venues may be dispersed across multiple platforms. Additionally, institutional liquidity tends to be concentrated in certain stocks/sectors, especially smaller-cap stocks, which can impact prices.
Addressing these challenges requires a combination of market knowledge, technology, and relationships. Staying informed about market structure and regulations can enhance the ability to find access to institutional liquidity.
How are innovative technologies shifting behaviors within equity markets?
Sometimes we can become overly focused on popular or trendy investment tools (e.g., Chat GPT and other AI/machine learning). I am not a technology expert, but I do see some interesting features that may enhance best execution. However, there seems to be a lot more to learn and I feel there will be a need for human decision-making, rather than replace it entirely. Lazard is an example of how important communication and collaboration between portfolio managers, traders, analysts and brokers are crucial to helping generate alpha for clients.
Implementation shortfall (IS) is the most used benchmark for portfolio managers and yet it is one of the most poorly designed algorithms by most brokers, according to Hitesh Mittal, Founder & CEO, BestEx Research.
Hitesh Mittal
One of the reasons IS algorithms, including liquidity-seeking algorithms, often fall short is due to the “noisy nature of their measurement,” he said.
The primary factors contributing to higher IS, namely market impact costs, spread costs, rapid alpha decay during order execution, and adverse selection costs, can be challenging to discern for a small order pool, he added.
“It’s often unclear whether the IS resulted from natural price fluctuations of the underlying instruments or from these cost factors,” he told Traders Magazine.
“When measurement is lacking, the algorithm’s implementation is often inadequate,” he added.
Furthermore, some cost factors are inversely correlated: minimizing spread costs necessitates more liquidity-providing execution strategies, but these can increase adverse selection, Mittal said.
Several other factors unique to each portfolio manager, such as risk aversion to missing the benchmark, the alpha profile of the trades, and the size of the order for which they’re using the algorithm, mean that “different implementations will be optimal for different traders,” he explained.
“While minimizing IS is the goal, IS algorithms may not always be the best choice for buy-side firms,” he argued.
“They are certainly not the right choice for buy-side firms unless they understand the internal design of the algorithm, the rationale behind the broker’s design choice, and have assurance that the crucial aspects such as execution speed are optimal for their specific use case,” he added.
Mittal said that the design of IS algorithms needs to be highly customized and tailored to meet the unique needs of each portfolio manager.
He explained that several factors contribute to these needs – the size of orders that can vary from as small as half a percent of the Average Daily Volume (ADV) to exceeding multiple days of ADV, the differing volatility of underlying instruments, and the diverse ways in which the algorithms are utilized.
Some buy-side firms may employ algorithms in a purely low-touch manner, entrusting the entire order to the algorithm, whereas others may opt for a hybrid approach where traders are actively engaging with orders, seamlessly swapping them in and out of algorithms, he said.
“In that case, the algorithms are used more as a tool rather than being the core driver of the strategy and only receive a portion of the order,” Mittal said.
He further said that the nuances of a portfolio manager’s investment approach also significantly impact the design of IS algorithms.
For instance, high turnover portfolio managers are more concerned about maintaining lower average costs as opposed to focusing on the execution risk associated with an individual order, he said.
“On the other hand, portfolio managers who deal with rapid alpha decay would require algorithms that can keep pace and trade swiftly,” he added.
According to Mittal, while algorithms like Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) or Percentage of Volume (POV) offer traders control over defining the order’s duration and participation, IS algorithms demand further optimization.
“They need to cater to the diversity of orders and portfolio managers,” he said.
“Sell-side firms have a crucial role to play in this scenario,” he said.
“They need to engage closely with buy-side firms to grasp their objectives and understand the distinct characteristics of their orders,” he added.
This knowledge is essential to optimize the behavior of their IS or liquidity-seeking algorithms, thus ensuring they are best suited to their clients’ unique circumstances, Mittal said.
According to Mittal, to address this issue, BestEx Research has developed a first of its kind framework to allow traders to design their own custom implementation shortfall algorithm that fits their profile best.
“Adaptive Optimal IS is not just an algorithm, it’s a comprehensive, flexible framework that we’ve integrated into our AMS’s Strategy Studio,” he said.
“This allows for the creation of an Implementation Shortfall (IS) strategy that’s perfectly tailored to the specific needs of each client,” he said.
Usually, brokers can customize their strategies, according to Mittal, but this process can take several months and is typically reactive, in response to a client’s request rather than a proactive design decision.
The Adaptive Optimal IS framework enables the design of such strategies in a day, instead of months, avoiding these makeshift solutions, he said.
He stressed that a key component of this framework is the capacity for A/B testing, which allows for direct comparison of strategies and helps determine which design decisions work best for each firm and trader.
As for other algos, Mittal said that issues are inevitable.
“It’s important for buy-side firms to challenge sell-side firms to disclose the inner workings of their algorithms and question their design assumptions. Trade planning is just one part of the execution strategy; the models for placing internal limit orders are equally critical,” he said.
Clearwater Analytics, a leading provider of SaaS-based investment management, accounting, reporting, and analytics solutions, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management announced a strategic partnership that will integrate Clearwater with the MORGAN MONEY® global trading platform, allowing permissioned users to easily navigate between both systems. The joint solution will make it easier for financial professionals to have a global, connected view of their investment portfolios and empower them to make real-time investment decisions on the Clearwater and Morgan Money platforms.
Corporate treasurers frequently access multiple systems to invest in a combination of money market mutual funds and separately managed accounts. To transform this complex, siloed process into a simple, user-friendly experience, the integration of Clearwater and J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Morgan Money platform will help empower institutional investors to easily log in to the joint solution and gain a consolidated view of balances, exposures, and counterparty risks. Users of the solution can put insights into action to understand how trades might impact their portfolio. As a result, corporate decision makers can easily make smarter investment decisions, all done intuitively via a holistic view of their holdings.
“J.P. Morgan Asset Management is committed to delivering innovative solutions that simplify investment decisions for our clients,” said Paul Przybylski, Global Head of Product Strategy and Morgan Money at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. “The integration of Clearwater Analytics and Morgan Money represents a significant step towards achieving that goal. By leveraging Clearwater’s analytics platform, institutional investors can view comprehensive, real-time insights into their portfolios and the broader money market mutual fund landscape. This collaboration combines J.P. Morgan’s asset management expertise with Clearwater’s powerful investment accounting technology, delivering an advanced solution that streamlines the investment process, enhances transparency, and ultimately enables our clients to make informed decisions with confidence.”
“Our collaboration with J.P. Morgan’s Morgan Money platform demonstrates our commitment to providing a powerful combination of cutting-edge technology and deep financial expertise, enabling investors to navigate the complexities of the current market environment with confidence,” said Scott Erickson, Chief Revenue Officer at Clearwater Analytics. “By leveraging our integrated platform, clients gain access to robust analytics and actionable insights that streamline their investment decisions. As a result, investors are able to make informed choices, enhance portfolio performance, and ultimately drive long-term success in the face of today’s dynamic market conditions.”
