In other FinTech news, StatPro signs a major client, BNY Mellon’s prime lending rate jumps, Marex Spectron buys RCG’s customer business, and Workiva partners with Broadridge.
Twelve Major Investors Fund BAKKT’s Future
Crypto-currency platform startup Bakkt has completed its first round of funding of $182.5 million “from 12 partners and investors who, like us, believe in the future of digital assets,” says Kelly Loeffler, Bakkt CEO, in a recent blog posting on the company’s website.
“The partners and investors in the first round include Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Eagle Seven, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft’s venture capital arm, M12, Pantera Capital, PayU, the fintech arm of Naspers, and Protocol Ventures,” Loeffler says. “Our work today is centered on driving institutional access for digital assets, along with merchant and consumer uses, and we’re already expanding on this vision, collaborating with great companies like Starbucks in these efforts.”
More details about how the money will be spent will be forthcoming, Loeffler says. “We’ll share details as the New Year unfolds, but as our COO [chief operating officer] Adam White and I work through Bakkt’s 2019 objectives, we are focused on opportunities to provide new infrastructure, including the industry’s first institutional grade regulated exchange, clearing and warehousing services for physical delivery and storage,” she adds.
“To that end, our team has been working closely with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] for the better part of 2018. At an industry level, regulatory approval for physically delivered and warehoused bitcoin will establish and amplify the voice of U.S. authorities as the digital asset market evolves globally. We have filed our applications and the timing for approval is now based on the regulatory review process,” Loeffler says.
European Insurance Group Signs $1.57B Deal with StatPro
A large European insurance company has signed a three-year, £1.125 million contract ($1.57 million) with StatPro Group to use the vendor’s Revolution Delta service to manage liability driven investments, officials say.
The client news is in line with StatPro’s plans for the Revolution and Delta offerings, vendor officials say. The contract “greatly extends the use of Revolution Delta’s services for this existing client.” The insurance group uses Revolution for its strategy of “balancing current assets against future liabilities and to optimizing returns.”
After closing the acquisition of Delta in May 2017, StatPro “initially planned to enhance Revolution to reach functional parity with Delta within three to five years,” according to the vendor of cloud-based portfolio analytics and asset pricing services.
“StatPro has now devised a plan to continue using Delta within the Revolution platform thus ensuring a seamless integration with no disruption to the existing service. StatPro is therefore continuing to market Revolution Delta actively,” company officials add.
In fact, StatPro recently announced that it is providing Revolution Delta clients “continuity of service from within our Revolution platform,” says Justin Wheatley, group CEO for StatPro, in a prepared statement. “This means that our Revolution Delta clients will not have any disruption to their service but will instead benefit from the enhanced and broader functional capacity of Revolution,” Wheatley says.
BNY Mellon Prime Lending Rate Jumps to 5.50 Percent
The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNY Mellon) has raised its prime lending rate from 5.25 percent to 5.50 percent, effective Dec. 20, 2018, officials say.
BNY Mellon’s custodial serves encompass financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle, and are offered to institutions, corporations or individual investors, officials say. The firm offers investment management and investment services to clients in 35 countries.
The firm also reports that as of Sept. 30, 2018, it had $34.5 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.8 trillion in assets under management.
Marex Spectron Acquires RCG’s Customer Business
Commodity broker Marex Spectron will acquire the customer business of Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG), an independent futures commission merchant (FCM), officials say.
The Chicago-based RCG has a 95-year history and “an extensive client base and deep introducing broker network, with particular expertise in CME Group grains and livestock,” officials say. Barclays is acting as the exclusive financial advisor to RCG for its sale to Marex Spectron Group Ltd., which is based in London.
“By acquiring the RCG FCM business, which is expected to complete in January 2019, Marex Spectron will maintain the RCG name and brand, gain 14,000 client accounts and balances, 150 associated staff and the Chicago headquarters. RCG has little overlap with Marex Spectron’s existing North American business, which operates out of New York, Calgary, Connecticut and Houston,” officials add.
Once the deal is complete, Scott Gordon, RCG’s chairman and CEO, will become vice chairman of the new Marex Spectron RCG division, and Jason Manumaleuna, RCG’s president and chief financial officer, will be appointed CEO of the Marex Spectron RCG division, officials say.
Workiva & Broadridge Partner for Shareholder Communications
Fintech services and systems vendor Broadridge Financial Solutions is working with reporting and compliance solutions vendor Workiva to combine Broadridge’s conventional and next-generation digital delivery of regulatory and shareholder communications and distribution capabilities via the Workiva Wdesk cloud-based platform, officials say. The Wdesk system is said to be the largest third-party filer with the SEC.
Workiva customers will be able to send SEC Forms 10-K and proxy statements “directly to Broadridge for design, printing and distribution for required shareholder communications,” according to officials. The integration will be available in the first quarter of 2019.
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