In other news, NRI scores a major client in Japan, Cboe buys Eris, and State Street hires from Citi.
Finomial Technology to Be Added to SEI Platforms
SEI reports the acquisition of Finomial, which it characterizes as an “investor lifecycle management firm offering cloud-native financial technology. The technology is expected to be added to SEI’s existing investor-focused platforms to further enhance automation and digitization capabilities, as well as reporting and transparency.”
SEI’s current platforms include SEI Trade, the SEI Manager Dashboard, SEI Investor Platform and the Global Regulatory and Compliance Platform, the firm says in a statement.
The Finomial technology will “add data-mapping tools, flexible data models, and rules engines to further enhance current capabilities,” SEI’s statement continues, adding that the new acquisition has the “ability to enhance and streamline existing anti-money laundering and know-your-client services, while adding depth and flexibility to data and reporting capabilities.”
Meredith Moss
Finomial’s founder and CEO Meredith Moss is expected to join SEI, with a “total of 42 engineers, developers, cloud specialists and client service personnel from the U.S. and India,” SEI notes, pointing out that Finomial’s clients currently have “approximately $500 billion” in assets under administration.
SEI first announced the acquisition during its third-quarter 2021 earnings call.
SEI characterizes itself as providing “investment processing, investment management, and investment operations solutions designed to help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and ultra-high-net-worth families create and manage wealth. As of Sept. 30, 2021, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI manages, advises, or administers approximately $1.3 trillion in hedge, private equity, mutual fund and pooled or separately managed assets, including approximately $392 billion in assets under management and $866 billion in client assets under administration.” — L.CH
UBS SuMi Trust Wealth Management Deploys NRI’s PSS
Nomura Research Institute (NRI) officials report that they have been providing NRI’s Prime Settlement Service (PSS) to the new entity UBS SuMi Trust Wealth Management Co., Ltd. since August.
UBS AG and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings (SMTH) announced a wealth management alliance in June 2019, and their joint effort launched in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya this past Aug. 21, officials say. The new company offers global securities and wealth management capabilities “together with the custody, real estate, inheritance, and wealth transfer expertise of a Japanese trust banking group.”
The NRI PSS utility service integrates business process outsourcing and information technology outsourcing services “to improve the efficiency of back-office post-trade processes,” according to NRI officials.
“During the implementation phase, NRI consulted on regulations compliance, built new operational flows and organizational systems and assisted with ITO implementation,” says Hiroyuki Nakayama, managing director at NRI, in a prepared statement. By using NRI’s PSS, UBS SuMi Trust “benefits from standardized back-office systems and streamlined IT services across the operations of both companies.”
The NRI PSS supports:
- Japanese equities, Japanese bonds, international securities, listed futures and options and mutual funds;
- Exception processing, communication with both Japanese and international clients and settlement institutions, bilingual (English and Japanese) service;
- And internal and external audits and regulatory monitoring services.
Cboe to Acquire Eris Digital Holdings
Cboe Global Markets, Inc., which characterizes itself as a “provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products,” reports that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Eris Digital Holdings, LLC, founded in 2018.
Eris “operates a U.S. based digital asset spot market, a regulated futures exchange and a regulated clearing house,” the market-infrastructure provider says in a statement.
Cboe plans to operate the digital asset business as Cboe Digital, the exchanges company adds.
Cboe also reports that it has “secured the support of a broad range of market participants, including well-established retail brokers, crypto-leading firms and sell-side banks, who are expected to form a Digital Advisory Committee tasked with advising Cboe on the ongoing development of the Eris spot and derivatives markets.”
The members of the Digital Advisory Committee — DRW, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy Digital, Interactive Brokers, NYDIG, Paxos, Robinhood, Virtu Financial and Webull — “are committed to ongoing engagement with Cboe Digital markets. Certain members of the Digital Advisory Committee … also intend to acquire minority ownership interests in Cboe Digital and to serve as partners in the growth of the business,” Cboe officials add — L.CH
State Street Hires ex-Citi Chief Risk Officer
Brad Hu
State Street Corp. reports that it has named Brad Hu as its chief risk officer. He succeeds Andrew Kuritzkes, who is retiring from State Street, the firm says in a statement.
Although the CRO appointment is effective January 1, 2022, Hu will join the company in November as a member of its executive committee during a transition period with Kuritzkes, State Street says in the statement.
Hu was chief risk officer at Citigroup for eight years, State Street notes in its statement. There, he was “credited with significantly reducing the firm’s risk profile while guiding it through significant geopolitical and economic disruptions,” the statement adds. Prior to Citi, Hu was chief risk officer for Citi Asia Pacific, which included businesses in the region’s 17 markets, “including consumer banking, corporate and investment banking, securities and trading, and private banking,” the statement points out.
Before he joined Citi in 2008, Hu worked at Morgan Stanley for more than 20 years, per State Street.— L.CH
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