Strong growth in uncertain times
01 July 2020
Looking ahead at EquiLend and Stonewain Systems combined solution known as EquiLend Spire, the partnership is dedicated to providing their clients and the wider market with a modern framework and a new technological norm for years to come
Image: alphaspirit/Shutterstock.com
Despite these unimaginable and unfortunate circumstances many people are gravitating towards glimmers of hope and embers of optimism. One such pocket has emerged within the technology landscape of the global securities finance market.
Prior to the onslaught of the global pandemic Stonewain Systems and its Spire platform had been gaining strong momentum within the market. And while a natural reaction during these unprecedented times has been to retrench and pause, Stonewain Systems and its clients and prospects continue to push their agenda and initiatives forward. Projects initiated pre-COVID continue to progress and new business opportunities that had been fertilised over the past couple of years have begun to take full bloom.
鈥淥ur clients and prospects continue to impress us with their optimism, vision, and dedication to enhancing the technology that underpins and supports their securities finance business,鈥� says Chris Valentino, head of business development for Stonewain Systems. In this time of rampant uncertainty, it is refreshing to hear about an organisation that is confident and excited about the days and opportunities to come.
For the casual observer, Stonewain and its Spire solution may not be a household name within the securities finance landscape. But for those paying close attention to the space it would be difficult not to notice the firm鈥檚 growing presence in the past couple of years. Led by the pace, example and experience of CEO Armeet Sandhu, Stonewain continues to layer additional functionality and capabilities onto a system, in Spire, that was already as rich and deep as any technology stack in the space. Armeet has surrounded himself with some of the brightest technical and forward-thinking minds in the business.
鈥淲e are constantly pushing and motivating ourselves to think outside of the proverbial box for our clients,鈥� says Armeet. 鈥淥ur objective is not to simply replace a legacy piece of homegrown or vendor technology but rather to provide our clients with the technical foundation from which they can continue to grow a sustainable business for the next 20 to 30 years.鈥�
Strength in partnership
Stonewain Systems last year formed a partnership with securities finance tech giant EquiLend to offer a combined solution to the market, branded as EquiLend Spire. The offering combines the core capabilities of EquiLend鈥檚 trading, market data and post-trade services along with the Spire solution in its entirety. The initiative has garnered tremendous interest in the market, and several firms already have upgraded outdated technology with the state-of-the-art EquiLend Spire solution to power their businesses.
The partnership is the perfect example of two parties bringing their collective strengths to the table with the goal of providing the market with a best-in-class solution for the entire lifecycle of a transaction. From pre-trade discovery and analysis straight through to settling that trade in the market, the EquiLend Spire solution is a one-stop shop for all securities finance needs. Where in the past firms may have pieced together disparate systems for trading, post-trade, books and records, market data, benchmarking, regulatory compliance, order management and other functions, they can now do this all from one centralised, modern platform. The unified functionality of Stonewain and EquiLend in EquiLend Spire is the future of the industry.
Platform expansion
Born and nurtured within the agency lending market, Spire spent several years and iterations fine tuning and expanding its expertise and presence in that space. Clients gravitated towards the system鈥檚 speed, flexibility and sophistication as well as the knowledge and technical acumen of its leadership.
Over the years, Spire continued its evolutionary path by pivoting to the broker dealer community where it initially cut its teeth redesigning the technical architecture for a tier 1 player with ambitious aspirations to migrate off of an industry-wide books and records solution. Adding repo functionality to the system was also a natural and exciting step in Spire鈥檚 progression and continues to add to the depth and breadth of the system and its capabilities.
Fast forward to the current day and the system is now catering and designed to handle all aspects and sides of the global securities finance market including institutional lenders, broker dealers, and beneficial owners.
Spire is a front-to-back system that can be leveraged as a single holistic solution or implemented as modular pieces to satisfy very specific needs. Core components include books and records, order and inventory management, accounting & billing, settlements, credit and compliance, locates, cash and collateral management, and fully paid capabilities.
Spire is a software-as-a-service solution developed and deployed on a modern tech stack that embraces the technological advancements such as micro services and API interfaces. Spire holds its flexibility and integration capabilities as its core strengths.
Whether it is an internal integration point to a stock record or external connectivity to a depository, liquidity or post trade provider, or source of market data, Spire can handle them all.
It is completely agnostic to the market and willing and able to connect to absolutely any solution that is leveraged by its clients and prospects.
Continued growth
Stonewain Systems continues to add strategic resources to support the market鈥檚 growing interest in its products and services. Seven months ago, the team added Chris Valentino, formerly the North American head of client and business development for Trading Apps, to help manage the firm鈥檚 growth and continue to fortify its position in the market place. Shortly thereafter, both Justin Thiron, formerly of EquiLend and Pirum, as well as Jennifer Zorzin, former head of operations for BMO Global Asset Management, both joined the team. Jennifer had been a longstanding client of Stonewain and brings deep industry knowledge as well as more than 10 years of hands on experience with the Spire solution.
More recently, the team has added David Fink and Taugh Lynch. David comes to the firm with more than 30 years of experience in managing highly-technical engagements in the financial markets and consulting space. Taugh Lynch joins from FIS but even more importantly brings several decades of repo and securities lending experience to the team. Taugh and David will play an instrumental role in new client implementations as well as the strategic roadmap for Spire鈥檚 products and solutions for the repo market. Stonewain continues to expand its engineering centers overseas with several new hires in India.
Future state
Growing against such strong headwinds is not an achievement to be taken lightly. It is not only a testament to the grit, fortitude and determination of an organization but also of the larger market in general. For years, this market has operated on legacy systems built by legacy firms. What was sufficient for yesterday will not be adequate for tomorrow. With EquiLend Spire, Stonewain Systems and EquiLend are dedicated to providing their clients and the wider market with a modern framework and a new technological norm for years to come.
Prior to the onslaught of the global pandemic Stonewain Systems and its Spire platform had been gaining strong momentum within the market. And while a natural reaction during these unprecedented times has been to retrench and pause, Stonewain Systems and its clients and prospects continue to push their agenda and initiatives forward. Projects initiated pre-COVID continue to progress and new business opportunities that had been fertilised over the past couple of years have begun to take full bloom.
鈥淥ur clients and prospects continue to impress us with their optimism, vision, and dedication to enhancing the technology that underpins and supports their securities finance business,鈥� says Chris Valentino, head of business development for Stonewain Systems. In this time of rampant uncertainty, it is refreshing to hear about an organisation that is confident and excited about the days and opportunities to come.
For the casual observer, Stonewain and its Spire solution may not be a household name within the securities finance landscape. But for those paying close attention to the space it would be difficult not to notice the firm鈥檚 growing presence in the past couple of years. Led by the pace, example and experience of CEO Armeet Sandhu, Stonewain continues to layer additional functionality and capabilities onto a system, in Spire, that was already as rich and deep as any technology stack in the space. Armeet has surrounded himself with some of the brightest technical and forward-thinking minds in the business.
鈥淲e are constantly pushing and motivating ourselves to think outside of the proverbial box for our clients,鈥� says Armeet. 鈥淥ur objective is not to simply replace a legacy piece of homegrown or vendor technology but rather to provide our clients with the technical foundation from which they can continue to grow a sustainable business for the next 20 to 30 years.鈥�
Strength in partnership
Stonewain Systems last year formed a partnership with securities finance tech giant EquiLend to offer a combined solution to the market, branded as EquiLend Spire. The offering combines the core capabilities of EquiLend鈥檚 trading, market data and post-trade services along with the Spire solution in its entirety. The initiative has garnered tremendous interest in the market, and several firms already have upgraded outdated technology with the state-of-the-art EquiLend Spire solution to power their businesses.
The partnership is the perfect example of two parties bringing their collective strengths to the table with the goal of providing the market with a best-in-class solution for the entire lifecycle of a transaction. From pre-trade discovery and analysis straight through to settling that trade in the market, the EquiLend Spire solution is a one-stop shop for all securities finance needs. Where in the past firms may have pieced together disparate systems for trading, post-trade, books and records, market data, benchmarking, regulatory compliance, order management and other functions, they can now do this all from one centralised, modern platform. The unified functionality of Stonewain and EquiLend in EquiLend Spire is the future of the industry.
Platform expansion
Born and nurtured within the agency lending market, Spire spent several years and iterations fine tuning and expanding its expertise and presence in that space. Clients gravitated towards the system鈥檚 speed, flexibility and sophistication as well as the knowledge and technical acumen of its leadership.
Over the years, Spire continued its evolutionary path by pivoting to the broker dealer community where it initially cut its teeth redesigning the technical architecture for a tier 1 player with ambitious aspirations to migrate off of an industry-wide books and records solution. Adding repo functionality to the system was also a natural and exciting step in Spire鈥檚 progression and continues to add to the depth and breadth of the system and its capabilities.
Fast forward to the current day and the system is now catering and designed to handle all aspects and sides of the global securities finance market including institutional lenders, broker dealers, and beneficial owners.
Spire is a front-to-back system that can be leveraged as a single holistic solution or implemented as modular pieces to satisfy very specific needs. Core components include books and records, order and inventory management, accounting & billing, settlements, credit and compliance, locates, cash and collateral management, and fully paid capabilities.
Spire is a software-as-a-service solution developed and deployed on a modern tech stack that embraces the technological advancements such as micro services and API interfaces. Spire holds its flexibility and integration capabilities as its core strengths.
Whether it is an internal integration point to a stock record or external connectivity to a depository, liquidity or post trade provider, or source of market data, Spire can handle them all.
It is completely agnostic to the market and willing and able to connect to absolutely any solution that is leveraged by its clients and prospects.
Continued growth
Stonewain Systems continues to add strategic resources to support the market鈥檚 growing interest in its products and services. Seven months ago, the team added Chris Valentino, formerly the North American head of client and business development for Trading Apps, to help manage the firm鈥檚 growth and continue to fortify its position in the market place. Shortly thereafter, both Justin Thiron, formerly of EquiLend and Pirum, as well as Jennifer Zorzin, former head of operations for BMO Global Asset Management, both joined the team. Jennifer had been a longstanding client of Stonewain and brings deep industry knowledge as well as more than 10 years of hands on experience with the Spire solution.
More recently, the team has added David Fink and Taugh Lynch. David comes to the firm with more than 30 years of experience in managing highly-technical engagements in the financial markets and consulting space. Taugh Lynch joins from FIS but even more importantly brings several decades of repo and securities lending experience to the team. Taugh and David will play an instrumental role in new client implementations as well as the strategic roadmap for Spire鈥檚 products and solutions for the repo market. Stonewain continues to expand its engineering centers overseas with several new hires in India.
Future state
Growing against such strong headwinds is not an achievement to be taken lightly. It is not only a testament to the grit, fortitude and determination of an organization but also of the larger market in general. For years, this market has operated on legacy systems built by legacy firms. What was sufficient for yesterday will not be adequate for tomorrow. With EquiLend Spire, Stonewain Systems and EquiLend are dedicated to providing their clients and the wider market with a modern framework and a new technological norm for years to come.
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