In other news, a South African firm taps SS&C Sylvan, Intériale Mutual signs on with Clearwater & Tradeweb shuffles executives.
Schroders Takes Minority Stake in Forteus
Invesment management giant Schroders is investing in Forteus, an asset manager with a focus on blockchain technology and digital assets. Schroders officials say that they will develop next-generation investment solutions via the new arrangement.
Forteus is the asset management arm of the Numeus Group, a diversified digital asset investment firm led by Nobel Gulati former CEO of Two Sigma Advisers. Numeus consists of finance, blockchain and technology professionals who are applying their institutional experience to the emerging world of digital assets.
“Learning from the Numeus research and technology platform will enable Schroders to harness the transformational benefits that blockchain can bring to the asset management industry and develop our tokenization strategy,” according to Schroders officials.
“Forteus will offer a range of investment solutions which span customized portfolios of external managers, yield generation, actively managed thematic portfolios and, over the long term, tokenization. Once available, Schroders will give clients access to Forteus capabilities where appropriate,” officials add.
“Blockchain will be a catalyst for fundamental change within asset management, financial services at large, and many other industries more broadly,” says Peter Harrison, Group CEO, Schroders, in a prepared statement. “It not only has the potential to transform the efficiency of existing solutions but will drive the democratization of private assets; it represents a new frontier of technological and financial innovation.”
Gideon Berger, the former co-chief investment officer of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, is the non-executive chairman of Forteus, officials say. Forteus is based in in Zug, Switzerland and has an office in New York.
A South African Firm Picks SS&C Sylvan
A South African firm, Momentum Investments, is using the Sylvan performance measurement solution from SS&C Technologies to replace “disparate performance measurement systems” with a single solution focused on current and future investment performance calculation and reporting requirements, officials say.
The firm, part of the Momentum Metropolitan Group, serves retail and institutional investors, with assets under management and administration of more than R550 billion (US $34 billion), officials say.
“Sylvan will also streamline and elevate our performance processes through its best-of-breed capabilities,” says Jannie du Randt, operations executive at Momentum Investments, in a prepared statement. “During our evaluation process, SS&C demonstrated both Sylvan’s strength and the expertise of their team. We are confident they are the right partner to help us expand and enhance our activities, including GIPS compliance.”
SS&C Sylvan offers calculation and reporting of investment performance and analysis support for performance teams via cloud-based dashboards, self-service reporting, and data management, officials say.
French Insurer Taps Clearwater for Investment Accounting Ops
Intériale Mutual, a mutual insurance company for France’s public service employees, has selected Clearwater Analytics, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of investment accounting, reporting, and analytics solutions, to serve as its investment accounting and reporting service provider, officials say.
Intériale Mutual is the mutual insurance company of the Ministry of the Interior in France and seven other national ministries, supporting more than 1,000 local authorities, officials say. The company was created in 2008 to “provide complete protection for healthcare and provident fund needs.”
Intériale Mutual will use Clearwater Analytics for its automated investment data aggregation, reconciliation and accounting platform, and for its user experience, officials say. Intériale Mutual will also use Clearwater’s offerings “to evolve its accounting framework to support multi-basis accounting capabilities.”
“Clearwater gives us a completely new operating model and valuable services such as post-trade compliance, risk and performance,” says Jean François Tilquin, investment director at Intériale, in a prepared statement.
JPMorgan Veteran To Become Tradeweb’s Next President
An industry veteran from JPMorgan, Thomas Pluta, will be the next president of Tradeweb Markets, an operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, officials say.
Pluta, who will join Tradeweb in October, worked for nearly 27 years at JPMorgan, most recently service as global head of linear rates trading and co-head of North America rates trading, officials say.
Pluta will join as president-elect of Tradeweb and will later become president on January 1, 2023. At that point, Tradeweb’s current president, Billy Hult. will succeed Lee Olesky as CEO. “As previously announced, Mr. Olesky will retire as CEO at the end of 2022 and continue as chairman through 2023,” officials say.
Pluta will report to Hult, and will retain his seat on Tradeweb’s board, a position he has held since 2017, officials add.
“At one point or another, Tom’s relationship with Tradeweb has included client, trader, investor and board member, and that broad perspective will be a great asset to Billy Hult’s leadership team as well as to the board,” Olesky says in a prepared statement.
Founded in 1996, Tradeweb Markets is a global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, and provides access to markets, data and analytics, electronic trading, straight through processing, and reporting. Tradeweb serves the institutional, wholesale and retail markets, officials say.
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