Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SuMi Trust) has become the latest Japanese domestic client to join the EquiLend platform.
SuMi Trust went live on the platform through its agent March 30. EquiLend says it expects several other leading Japanese participants to join soon.
EquiLend has seen a 15% increase in volumes year on year in Japan.
Having a bank of SuMi Trusts stature join the platform is a strong endorsement of EquiLends suite of trading services and represents an important move for the business in the Japanese marketplace, says Brian Lamb, CEO of EquiLend. We currently work with a number of international trustee banks and custodians in the country. However, SuMi Trust represents a major pinnacle for EquiLend with the domestic Japanese trust banks.
Nobuyoshi Fujii, senior MManager of SuMi Trust London Branch, adds: SuMi Trust is a leading provider of one-stop global trust services including pension plan advisory, investment management and custody. With $770 billion AUM, our group is Japans largest asset manager and one of the countrys dominant custodians managing and administering significant public and corporate pension funds. We believe the integration of EquiLends services into our securities lending operations will result in significantly improved efficiencies to the benefit of our customer base. Furthermore, the adoption of EquiLend will help improve the efficiency and liquidity of the Japanese equity market.
(CG)