Broadridge goes live with blockchain-powered repo platform

Broadridge Financial Solutions has announced the successful go-live of its distributed ledger repo (DLR) platform.

The fintech company, which acquired Itiviti this year, has caught the blockchain bug. The firm has recently enhanced its Private Market Hub with the blockchain technology from Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Private Market Hub reduces friction for fund managers, investors, and administrators, and allows for easier auditability. The enhancements were enabled by blockchain technology, which streamlines traditionally disconnected and inefficient processes and facilitates visibility and trust.

Now with Broadridge’s DLR platform, market participants can agree, execute and settle repo transactions. DLR allows for the immobilization of the underlying securities in the repo transactions, while transferring ownership via smart contracts executed on the platform.

The platform’s functionality significantly reduces the operating cost and risk of all repo activity, including intraday, overnight and term repos, both on a bilateral and an intracompany basis and also reduces counterparty risk while increasing auditability. In the first week since launch, DLR has executed $31B in average daily volume.

Vijay Mayadas, President of Capital Markets at Broadridge, said: “This is the first step in the transformation of the $10T global bilateral repo market using smart contracts and distributed ledger technology. Co-innovating with market participants, we are able to bring solutions to our network of clients that create the next level of operational efficiencies. Within the repo market, distributed ledger technology and smart contracts have shown that they can play an instrumental role in driving efficiencies, reducing risk and enhancing liquidity while leveraging the existing legal and account frameworks.”

Vinod Jain, Senior Analyst, Aite Group, commented: “By coupling emerging technologies like distributed ledger technology and smart contracts with existing operational account structure functionality, Broadridge has enabled real-time securities mobility in the repo market.”

DLR leverages the firm’s fixed income trade processing platform and utilizes Daml smart contracts from Digital Asset as well as VMware Blockchain. The solution reduces operational risk and settlement cost for repurchase, or repo, agreements by providing a secure record of repo trade details, reducing the need for reconciliation, and removing obstacles to straight-through-processing.

Broadridge has recently been expanding its APAC operations with the appointment of top executives, including Ian Strudwick as General Manager and Head of Asia-Pacific.

He joined Broadridge from TD Securities, where he was most recently Managing Director and Head of Global Operations and Business Services for APAC.

Earlier this year, the firm appointed Jerome Hoffman as Head of International Partnerships and Alliances, a newly created role that focuses on the EMEA and APAC regions. Past senior business development roles include Harland Financial, SIX Telekurs, and Bank of Ireland.