The phrase ‘legacy technology’ often creates negative connotations for the capital markets industry as a whole, where it is perceived as a blocker for change. But what is often misunderstood is that for most, it is this legacy technology that underpins the ‘safe’ in safe custody. With rip-and-replace strategies typically impractical due to the risk...Read More
Harrington Starr’s recent Financial Technology magazine features their list of “THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES OF 2020” – and Ascendant Strategy are on that list. Here is the article from the magazine that captures the outlook for 2020 from Ascendant’s perspective…. View document hereRead More
Ascendant Strategy are delighted to announce their inclusion in the list of “The Most Influential Financial Technology Companies of 2020”. This coveted accolade is published in the Financial Technologist magazine produced by Harrington Starr, and is judged by a panel of industry experts. Full details, including an article outlining Ascendant Strategy’s market views on page...Read More
Restructuring the business model of global custodians has been compared to changing a jet engine in mid-flight. Whilst the cost pressure on the capital markets industry has been well publicised, less has been spoken about how the custody business needs to evolve in the face of this changing dynamic. Reliance upon the traditional value proposition...Read More
Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) have been put in place globally to mitigate credit exposures and reduce systemic risk in derivative markets Firms are required to calculate initial and variation margin requirements on a daily basis Daily initial margin requirements must be supported by both the posting AND receiving of collateral which must be held in...Read More
Many banks are facing the horror of ‘double jaws’ – decreasing revenue and increasing costs – taking some to a cost/income ratio of greater than 100%. With restructuring and rationalisation of business models, front office cost has been removed but the post-trade world stubbornly resists proportional reductions. To survive, CXOs must rethink how to transform...Read More
London, UK – 18th July 2019: ipushpull, the live data sharing and real-time workflow automation platform, are delighted to announce a partnership that brings together the award-winning ipushpull platform with the post-trade expertise and delivery capability of Ascendant Strategy. The partnership between ipushpull and Ascendant Strategy brings significant value to capital markets post-trade functions who want to...Read More
Unlocking the Post-Trade Puzzle: New Approaches to Solving the Issue of Operational Costs in the Post-Trade Environment Following the 2008 financial crisis, the US and European approaches to reforming the financial sector were markedly different, with European rules resulting in far more onerous capital and trade reporting requirements. Over a decade later the impact of...Read More
Ascendant Strategy are delighted to announce their inclusion in the “The Definitive List of the Most Influential Fintechs of 2019”. This coveted accolade is published in the Financial Technologist magazine produced by Harrington Starr, and is judged by a panel of industry experts. Full details, including an interview with Ascendant Strategy MD James Maxfield on...Read More
Despite the frequent claims that blockchain is a ‘solution looking for a problem’, the past three years have seen nearly all major capital markets firms embarking on some form of blockchain or other distributed ledger technology (DLT) project. And for good reason. According to Accenture, organisational complexity and legacy structures are costing the industry roughly...Read More
