Following the growth of digital markets alongside the continued evolution of the traditional securities services marketplace, Northern Trust has launched its Digital Assets and Financial Markets group.
The new group will be led by Justin Chapman who currently is global head of Market Advocacy Innovation and Research.
It will combine the teams responsible for supporting the fast-growing digital asset markets and those dedicated to providing market access and insights across the traditional securities services markets.
“Clients are increasingly interested in the development of digital markets and investing in digital assets, alongside allocations to more traditional asset classes such as equities, fixed income, alternatives and private assets,” said Pete Cherecwich, president of Asset Servicing at Northern Trust.
He added, “Rather than create separate business lines, by aligning our focus on digital and traditional markets together, we can continue to develop services and capabilities that truly reflect and enable our clients’ evolving investment strategies.”
Chapman noted, “Traditional and digital markets already co-exist and the boundaries between the two will only continue to blur over time. At the same time as more institutional investors are entering the digital arena, the rest of the securities industry is also facing an unprecedented amount of change arising from new regulation, market evolution and the development of emerging technology capabilities.
He added, “For investors wishing to navigate this environment, our new combined group will provide access to market-leading expertise, industry insights and continued innovations across all markets and all asset classes.”
Northern Trust has been at the forefront in the digital transformation of securities servicing. space. This ranges from building a private equity fund administration tool on Hyperledger Fabric in 2017, to supporting the tokenisation and fractionalisation of bonds in 2020.
Last year, the firm partnered with New York-based Standard Chartered to launch a crypto custody subsidiary, Zodia Custody, registered with London’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
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