A popular BNP Paribas white paper found that Asia-Pacific based brokers had reached a tipping point as firms shift to third-party clearing and away from account operator or self-clearing models. Gary O’Brien, head of custody solutions, Asia-Pacific for BNP Paribas Securities Services asks: How have Asia-Pacific’s markets evolved in the last three years? Can we link ongoing regulatory changes, market activity and technical evolution impacted the direction brokerage firms are taking? Will the 2020s be the age of third-party clearing in Asia-Pacific?

When the going got tough this year, SmartStream was able to expedite deals, offer new solutions and pivot its service. Here, the organisation’s chief executive officer, Haytham Kaddoura, discusses the journey and highlights the technologies and data services that will define our future.

When RBS International hired securities services veteran Mark Crathern last year, the organisation set an ambitious goal to transform the bank’s trustee and depositary business by leveraging technology and data to provide genuine insight to managers, fund boards and across the industry.

Mike McCabe, global head of business development, product and marketing at MUFG Investor Services, asks should the pandemic change the way fund shops evaluate their providers and what qualities have been made more important due to the global shift?

Investment managers are re-evaluating their technology stacks and vendor line-ups following the global pandemic, says Bill Stone, CEO of SS&C Technologies, who highlights the catalysts driving these decisions along with key considerations when implementing front-to-back technology.

Max Hayden, global head of institutional sales, prime brokerage at IG Group, speaks to Global Custodian about how technology should be seen as an important differentiator in both winning business and maintaining client relationships with hedge funds.

John Sergides, CEO, MUFG Investor Services, discusses the implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) for investor services providers.

Drawing lessons from Global Custodian’s annual industry surveys, David Nable, managing director and head of client and partner development at Arcesium, suggests the lines between technology and business are blurring for the better.

With the prospect of a delay to the Settlement Discipline Regime to February 2022, firms should use this time to explore automated solutions to CSDR, according to Pardeep Cassells, head of financial products, Access Fintech.

Over half of the European exchange traded product (ETP) market already uses the International Central Securities Depositary (ICSD) model and uptake is accelerating. Rosa Scappatura, head of ICSDs relationships at BNY Mellon Corporate Trust, explains the drivers of this trend and outlines some of the key benefits of the ICSD model.