Global Custodian is pleased to reveal the four nominees who have been shortlisted for the annual Industry Person of the Year award, recognising individuals who have gone above and beyond in their role over the past 12 months.
Now in its seventh year, the accolade will be handed out during the annual Leaders in Custody awards to be held on 3 May at The Savoy in London.
The honour is now handed out three times a year – in London during May for custody, market infrastructure and technology, in Singapore in the same month for individuals who have made an impact in the Asia Pacific region, and November in New York for fund services.
Previous winners of the award have hailed from BNY Mellon, Northern Trust, Citi, Deutsche Bank, and Digital Asset among others. The reigning winner in London is Roman Regelman, chief executive officer of securities services and digital at BNY Mellon.
Given the many, many thousands of senior executives across the securities and fund services industry, just making the shortlist is an incredible accomplishment, so Global Custodian would like to congratulate all of this year’s nominees who are listed below in alphabetical order.
Hannah Elson, JP Morgan
Hannah Elson has spent 25 years with JP Morgan and in 2021 deservedly stepped up to one of the custodian’s most prominent roles within its securities services business – global head of custody. Since then, the results have spoken for themselves with double-digit revenue growth, significant mandate wins and marks made in key regional areas of focus for JP Morgan’s custody business.
Upon taking the global head of custody role two years ago, Elson set out the strategic vision and multi-year plan for the business, part of which included ways to drive driving scale and modernise the custody business.
Some of the key mandates during the past 12 months have come in the Nordics and Middle East as JP Morgan cements itself in these regions of growth.
During her tenure with JP Morgan, Elson has built up established a reputation for building strong and diverse teams and expertly navigating complex business and market events.
She is a prominent mentor and advocate for women in the securities industry, and leads on the JP Morgan’s wellness and philanthropy efforts, developing partnerships with local organisations and non-profits supporting diversity, inclusion and mental health.
Under Elson’s guidance – along with a reshuffle across the bank’s most senior securities services roles – there is little debate about JP Morgan’s rising position in the market in 2023, as mandates and revenue increases continue to roll in.
Sachin Mohindra, Goldman Sachs
Boasting more than 18 years’ experience at Goldman Sachs, Mohindra has worked across a variety of cross-product post-trade sectors including securities settlement, client middle office and post-trade business development.
Over the past 12 months he has become one of the most synonymous names with the shift to T+1, as the industry grapples with the seismic change set to impact all regions and multiple functions.
Mohindra has spearheaded settlement efficiency efforts across Europe and the US, contributing his deep expertise and knowledge on the subject to a number of industry bodies and working groups.
He works in the market structure solutions team at Goldman, focusing on global post-trade efficiency, regulatory strategy and accelerated settlement and serves as the US T+1 lead at the bank, working on firm strategy, implementation plan and external engagement around the topic.
Mohindra is also the co-chair of the AFME post-trade transaction, clearing and settlement committee and the AFME market settlement efficiency taskforce. He is also an active member of the UK HMT T+1 taskforce and SIFMA’s T+1 working group.
At AFME, Mohindra co-authored the T+1 Settlement in Europe paper, and led the publication of the industry-wide TARGET2-Securities (T2S) and Partial Settlements recommendation papers.
Sam Riley, Clearstream
Clearstream has arguably graced the homepage of Global Custodian’s website more than any other organisation over the past 12 months with countless launches, initiatives and partnerships – many of which Sam Riley has been significantly involved with. Alongside this, parent company Deutsche Borse has been heavily investing in the organisation through technology upgrades and acquisitions to align with the Clearstream business – much of which has resonated with clients to spur an impressive list of client wins and mandate extensions.
Among the most notable has been the agreement with HSBC, a deal shortlisted for Global Custodian’s Partnership of the Year award at this year’s ceremony.
Aside from the client wins, it’s the innovation and product launches that land Clearstream and Riley on this year’s IPOTY list. To name a few: in December 2022 Clearstream rolled out Proxymity’s digital voting platform; in December of the same year the ICSD facilitated the first digital issuance of a fixed income bond; and in July 2022 Clearstream rolled out two new data solutions to help predict settlement failures and to foster greater settlement efficiency.
On the collateral management side – something Riley has been heavily involved in – Clearstream launched what it claimed to be the first collateral management tool in the market combining several AI techniques to allow participants to easily define, create, negotiate and exchange optimised eligibility profiles of collateral baskets – named OSCAR [Own Selection Criteria with Automated Reasoning]. The firm also joined forces with VERMEG to provide an STP collateral management solution connected to the Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS); and expanded connectivity with Pirum.
There were also initiatives in Germany, Korea, and Ukraine, while Clearstream also launched a funds-focused bank in Luxembourg.
Riley has been one of the faces of innovation within Clearstream and throughout the wider industry – particularly around collateral management – and the ICSD has enjoyed a fruitful year of product development and deals, despite some of the headwinds the industry faces.
Gabino Roche, Saphyre
For a company founded in 2017, there will be few in attendance at Leaders in Custody this year who aren’t familiar with Saphyre. This is hardly surprising given the fintech has now partnered or collaborated with Citi, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, JP Morgan, Northern Trust, Standard Chartered and Societe Generale on the custody side, and the likes of Franklin Templeton, Legal & General Investment Management and American Century Investments on the buy-side.
All three of those asset managers came on board over the past 12 months, while there were also developments with around half of the custodians mentioned above. In all likelihood, most in the industry sit in the camp of ‘current client’ or ‘soon-to-be client’, the way things are going at Saphyre.
Led by co-founders Gabino Roche and Stephen Roche, the start-up is enabling market participants to assess risk faster and speed the onboarding process by eliminating inefficiencies in the booking, confirmation, and settlement process – an offer that has resonated with asset managers, brokers, custodians and administrators alike.
The start-up claims to eliminate 70-75% of redundant or inefficient post-trade activities. Saphyre digitises all pre-trade data and documents, eliminating redundant manual processes and allowing for secure, expedited access to data throughout the trade lifecycle.
Throughout the year, the Roches have spearheaded developments on the platform including allowing for legal agreements to be digitally amended parallel to onboarding, while revealing that it is now being used by its clients to bring integration and transparency to securities lending.
Alongside the launches have been hires and funding rounds which also underline the success story of the brothers who launched the start-up out of New Jersey with their compelling solution, AI technology and an infectious energy that has won over some of the largest institutions in the custody world and beyond. We’re just sorry we couldn’t include them both due to restrictions with the name of the award.