In other news, BNY Mellon’s digital asset unit gets a CEO, Eventus launches VAML & Foresight Group focuses on the U.S. market.
Two State Street Data Centers to Move to AWS
State Street Corp. has picked Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a cloud services and data center provider while simultaneously expanding a current contract with Microsoft’s Azure cloud services in order to give clients real-time data access across State Street tools and third-party services thus streamlining investment processes, officials say.
To start, State Street will “transition its two core North American data centers to AWS, while also maintaining operations in these data centers for a period of time as its technology transformation journey continues to evolve,” according to officials. “The data center transition provides a path for State Street to rapidly modernize the IT infrastructure layers that a pure public cloud strategy does not address.”
The plan is also to build on “the successful implementation and use of the Microsoft Azure cloud, previously announced in December 2020 … [and] expand its use of Azure as a platform for business applications,” officials say. “State Street will further leverage the Microsoft Azure platform across the enterprise to augment its technology infrastructure, standardize platforms, and accelerate technology development.”
Both AWS and Microsoft will be part of State Street’s consolidation of a network of “segregated data center facilities to a more optimized data center footprint with fit-for-purpose designed and managed facilities,” officials say.
“Through this transformation, State Street will modernize and standardize its technology infrastructure, leveraging automation and a combination of private cloud and public cloud capabilities,” according to the official announcement.
“This hybrid and hyper-converged model combines all the elements of a traditional data center (storage, compute, networking and management) and will allow State Street to host workloads across private or public environments to optimize agility, performance, and scalability,” officials say. “This model will enable accelerated migration and modernization of applications, with the flexibility to accommodate strategic integrations.”
The ongoing transformation will focus on the firm’s “facility, infrastructure, and application stack” to improve resiliency, business product innovation, and customer experiences, officials say.
CEO Named for BNY Mellon’s Digital Assets Group
Caroline Butler
BNY Mellon has a new CEO of Digital Assets — Caroline Butler — who took on the role, effective Feb. 2, officials say. Most recently, Butler was CEO of Custody Services for BNY Mellon.
“Ms. Butler will lead BNY Mellon’s commercial digital assets initiatives globally. She will continue to report to Roman Regelman, CEO of Securities Services and Digital,” officials say.
Butler, who joined BNY Mellon in 2020, has been leading collaborations with financial technology platform partners and recently “spearheaded the development of BNY Mellon’s integrated digital custody and administration platform for traditional and digital assets, which went live in the U.S. for select institutional clients in October,” officials add.
“As institutional adoption of digital assets continues to evolve, we are committed to being a trusted provider of services to the broader financial ecosystem. I’m pleased to have Caroline lead our enterprise-wide initiatives as we accelerate our efforts around digital assets and other emerging technologies and solutions for our clients,” says Roman Regelman, CEO of Securities Services and Digital at BNY Mellon, in a prepared statement.
Eventus Debuts a SaaS-based AML Solution
Travis Schwab
Trade surveillance vendor Eventus has introduced Validus AML (VAML), an anti-money laundering (AML), software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that’s intended to help exchanges and institutions combat financial crime, officials say.
The new offering combines a “signals-based approach, rules-based logic, and advanced data analytics with customizable technology,” officials say. The new cloud-based VAML combination will focus on behavior detection.
VAML will offer “detection, workflow and case management tools for current and new clients, enabling them to reduce financial and regulatory risk, identify a range of illicit financial behaviors and further streamline their use of external vendors on critical compliance functions,” officials say. “Enhancements to functionality will be rolled out in phases throughout the course of the year.”
“Validus AML reimagines what an anti-money laundering program can do, reflecting a paradigm shift from traditional alert-focused solutions and taking the burden off compliance teams,” says Travis Schwab, CEO of Eventus, in a prepared statement.
Foresight Group Expands U.S. Market Presence
Foresight Capital Management (FCM), a division of Foresight Group Holdings Ltd., is expanding into the U.S. market via its appointment as sub-adviser to the Cromwell Foresight Global Sustainable Infrastructure Fund, which was launched January 31, 2023, officials say.
“Building upon the impressive track record of Foresight’s FCM division, the newly formed partnership between FCM and Baltimore-based Cromwell Funds represents an expansion of Foresight’s geographic footprint into the US — the world’s largest asset management market,” officials say.
The Fund is a U.S. mutual fund, that “will replicate the strategy of the FP Foresight Global Real Infrastructure Fund,” managed by the FCM team, officials say.
“The U.K. and Luxembourg domiciled funds focusing on this strategy have raised gross inflows in excess of £1.1 billion from investors since launch in June 2019,” officials say.
Cromwell Funds serves U.S. financial advisors via investment solutions. “The Fund will benefit greatly from Cromwell’s distribution and marketing channels, with access to a dedicated Cromwell Funds sales team as well as access to over 70 existing broker-dealer agreements. These agreements provide distribution access to more than 70,000 financial advisers in the U.S.,” officials say.
“We are delighted to have FCM join the Cromwell Funds and include their global infrastructure strategy in our product suite. This area of the market continues to receive increased interest by a wide range of investors,” says Brian Nelson, president of Cromwell Investment Advisors, in a statement.
Founded in 1984, Foresight Group manages more than 350 infrastructure assets “with a focus on solar and onshore wind assets, bioenergy and waste … renewable energy enabling projects, energy efficiency management solutions, social and core infrastructure projects and sustainable forestry assets,” officials say. “Foresight Capital Management manages four strategies across seven investment vehicles with an AUM of £1.4 billion.”
Foresight operates in eight countries across Europe, Australia and United States with AUM of £12.3 billion, as of now Dec. 31, 2022.
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