Asia Awards 2024: Best middle-office platform—EquiLend

Overview

EquiLend Spire connects the securities finance market with the firm’s front-to-back platform, supporting all securities finance activities. Spire caters to every facet of the industry’s needs―from trading and inventory management, operations, and books and records, to risk, compliance and reporting―integrating an array of modules. With Spire, firms can manage the intricacies of securities finance with high levels of efficiency and adaptability.

The solution  

EquiLend Spire addresses middle-office challenges by integrating risk management, compliance, and reporting into one platform. It offers detailed trade audits, manages credit and market risk, ensures regulatory compliance, and supports enhanced decision-making with over 300 customizable reports. This approach streamlines operations, enhances transparency, and ensures compliance with various industry regulations.

Secret sauce  

Spire combines over 300 customizable reports, risk management functions and Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR), including integration with EquiLend and a number of other technology providers. Spire, like EquiLend, is platform-agnostic. This blend of analytics, risk oversight and regulatory reporting capabilities within a single platform sets Spire apart from other offerings, providing users with a tool for navigating the complexities of the sell-side middle-office landscape.

Recent milestones

EquiLend Spire’s recent enhancements include:

• A new regulatory locates application whereby prior to a short sale order, Spire “locates” the inventory to ensure that the security/quantity can be borrowed, thus meeting the locate requirement
• T+1 settlement support ensuring compliance with the new settlement regime in the US, reducing settlement risk
• Enhanced dynamic inventory internalization and transfer pricing, optimizing profitability through market adjustments
• Streamlined repo functionality, automating workflows to improve liquidity management

Future objectives

EquiLend Spire’s upcoming enhancements will feature advanced collateral management, improved system performance and tighter DataLend integration. These improvements will allow firms to manage risk more effectively, enhance their decision-making with improved data analytics, and streamline their operations for increased efficiency. Additionally, updates for regulatory compliance and trading efficiency will ensure firms remain competitive and adaptable in a rapidly evolving market.

Why they won

This is EquiLend’s first win in WatersTechnology’s Asia Awards, although Nancy Allen, global head of data and analytics solutions at EquiLend, won the market data professional of the year category in the 2023 Women in Technology & Data Awards. EquiLend’s inaugural win in these awards is thanks to its EquiLend Spire platform, designed to integrate with the firm’s other offerings including EquiLend NGT, post-trade solutions and data and analytics solutions, in addition to a range of third-party vendor platforms. 

In a market that is traditionally complex and opaque, any offering that adds transparency and auditability, and facilitates fast and efficient information flow between counterparties will strike a chord with market participants. This might be EquiLend’s first win in the Asia Awards, but it surely won’t be the New York-based securities lending specialist’s last.