Broadridge Financial Services is on the blockchain bus and has been working on solutions that exploit distributed ledger technology (DLT) to boost operational efficiencies and spur new opportunities for clients.
The voters of the FTF News Technology Innovation Awards competition approve of Broadridge’s efforts. They voted to reward the vendor with the Best Blockchain Initiative of the Year award for 2018.
To discuss that win and related issues, FTF News had a video chat with Horacio Barakat, vice president of corporate strategy at Broadridge Financial Solutions, during the FTF Awards gala celebration in Manhattan this past June.
“We accomplished a lot over the last 12 to 18 months,” says Barakat, referring to Broadridge’s DLT-based proxy solution and a bilateral repo platform. “Overall, the most significant accomplishment as it relates to distributed ledger technology was we were able to move our ideas, our use cases, from the PoC [proof of concept] to pilot … with a path toward productization.”
Last year, the company founded the Broadridge Blockchain Center and launched a pilot test of a blockchain-based solution with JPMorgan, Northern Trust and Banco Santander to facilitate global proxy vote transparency, according to Broadridge.
Broadridge also had a pilot effort with Natixis and Société Générale to use blockchain technology to boost the operational efficiency and auditability of bilateral repo agreements.
“So, we accomplished moving something that is very good on paper, in theory, to something that is close to being ready for production,” Barakat says. “I think the bilateral repo solution is one of those solutions that we hope we are very near the end-goal of bringing it live.”
CREDITS:
Video Production: Janene Knox and William J. Poznanski, Jr.
Interview conducted by: Eugene Grygo, chief content officer, FTF News
Co-Producers: Sarah Hathaway, vice president, Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) and Eugene Grygo
