European hedge funds are the beneficiaries of a cloud-based system for trade order and execution management that’s being offered via a partnership of Global Prime Partners and Liquid Holdings.
Global Prime Partners will offer the Liquid platform to its portfolio of existing European clients as well as all new prime brokerage clients, becoming the exclusive prime brokerage partner of Liquid in Europe. Global Prime Partners has also selected the Liquid platform to monitor its firm-wide risk exposure to its prime brokerage clients, including hedge funds and other asset managers.
“Hedge funds are looking to us to provide new tools, solutions and knowledge to generate alpha, and the Liquid platform enables us to offer through a single real-time platform with rich capabilities across trading, risk management and reporting in a secure cloud environment, that we believe will greatly benefit our rapidly expanding universe of clients in Europe,” said Julian Parker, CEO of Global Prime Partners. “The platform’s flexibility allows us to address our in-house requirements as well, serving as our central platform to monitor firm-wide risk exposure across our client base.”
Liquid, a recent entrant in the OEMS [order/execution management system) space, provides a cloud-based and integrated architecture for trade order and execution management, real-time risk and shadow accounting. Liquid is addressing common pain-points among hedge fund managers: reducing operating expenses; adhering to regulations; providing transparency to clients and improving margins.
Global Prime Partners will gain access to the Liquid platform’s real-time front-office and data management services, enabling clients to decide what to trade, place the trade, monitor compliance and risk, aggregate exposures, track and report P&L and performance, and reconcile trades in one place.
“As an industry recognized leader of prime brokerage services in the UK and the rest of Europe, Global Prime Partners has significant penetration with emerging hedge funds and will be a premier partner for Liquid going forward,” said Brian Storms, CEO of Liquid. “We are both uniquely focused on providing comprehensive and secure mission critical services to help accelerate the growth of hedge fund managers with a strong pedigree.”
Front office components support the advisory process, from acquisition to ongoing maintenance and retention, in a single workflow. As the part of the wealth management business that touches both the advisor and end user, wealth managers are making heavy investments in their front office capabilities.
The European technology market is a crowded one. Research firm Celent breaks down vendors into three distinct categories: front office platform providers, front-to-back office providers, and core banking providers.
"Given the crowded European technology marketplace, it is vital to create and emphasize differentiators," said Alexander Camargo, analyst with Celent's securities & investments group. "Vendors who remain flexible enough to adjust between discretionary and non-discretionary investment services, and those who emphasize the modularity of their front office tools, will win new clients and retain existing ones."
The Liquid platform was built to manage the entire trade lifecycle by integrating multi-currency, multi-asset trade order management and execution with real-time risk, portfolio management and shadow account reporting, the company said.