What sets BNY apart, and how is it leveraging innovative technologies to drive growth?
BNY offers a unique value proposition for our clients, providing seamless execution, funding, and post-trade excellence, all under one roof. We are positioned to serve the end-to-end investment lifecycle, acting as a single, integrated platform for clients looking to create, administer, manage, transact, distribute or optimise investments.聽聽
Our clients are seeking a trusted partner with a strong balance sheet, market neutrality, and regulatory credibility. We are well positioned to provide this in today鈥檚 complex and fragmented landscape. Our Global Collateral platform continues to be world leading, managing over US$6.5 trillion in assets, servicing over 650 clients worldwide, and empowering them with the flexibility to navigate their exposures.
Our shift to the Platform Operating Model has been a key driver in elevating our clients鈥� experience, enabling BNY to cultivate a client-centric culture across the organisation and continually refine our processes to meet the evolving needs of our clients. By streamlining operations, reducing unnecessary complexity and promoting cross-functional collaboration, we now deliver more efficient and effective services. For the Global Collateral platform, the benefits are quickly becoming evident 鈥� after just two months of working within this new model, BNY has transitioned from quarterly to monthly technology releases, enabling us to respond more swiftly to our clients鈥� needs.
What key trends are you observing among your clients, and how is BNY positioned to address these evolving needs?
Given recent market volatility, we are experiencing high demand from our clients for cash management products 鈥� it is becoming increasingly important to have the right tools available, efficiently optimise their portfolios, and deploy liquidity when needed.
Our new intraday repo solution is an important step towards providing more flexible liquidity management possibilities to our clients, enabling them to fund their day-to-day operations with greater efficiency. This product enables market participants to instruct a same-day repo with a specified start and end time through BNY鈥檚 collateral platform infrastructure, enabling market participants to source liquidity for specified periods of time without the need to borrow for a full 24-hour period.
To complement intraday repo, we also have a new early morning maturity window that allows cash lenders to receive their cash earlier in the day. For cash lenders, intraday repo provides an opportunity to generate additional income by lending out cash via intraday repo, rather than holding any excess or idle cash.
A key differentiator of our platform is the ability for clients to access an intraday credit line secured by eligible collateral to support specific financing needs. A common use case is facilitating clients in recalling assets from the platform. This feature is especially valuable in no-fails markets 鈥� financial environments designed to minimise or eliminate trade settlement failures 鈥� where intraday credit enables clients to recall securities using the credit line, thereby avoiding failed settlements.
What trends, if any, are you seeing from the buy side perspective?
Another trend we are observing following on from the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) regulation, is a growing understanding from the buy side on the efficiencies that a triparty construct can provide for their business. These clients are asking for more innovative and integrated solutions and we are well-positioned to support these opportunities with our CollateralONE platform, BNY鈥檚 new offering designed to bring together our clients鈥� collateral, financing, and liquidity needs into one connected ecosystem.
Many of our clients are already benefitting from the increased automation, efficiency, and scale that CollateralONE鈥檚 integrated solution provides, by connecting our clients鈥� secured financing transactions (repo and securities lending) and their derivatives margin requirements (UMR and variation margin) into a single platform. It offers visibility of all assets and liabilities held within both our Global Custody platform and Global Collateral platform, screens for specials, and systematic connectivity to our 兔子先生Finance platform, allowing clients to participate in our LendingLite programme. Once alpha opportunities are identified, CollateralONE provides clients one-click optimisation and mobilisation capabilities to ensure the best assets are allocated and the cost of funding the portfolio is reduced.
Currently there is a heavy focus on the SEC鈥檚 central clearing rule for US Treasuries, and what the implementation delay means for the market. What is BNY doing to help its clients prepare for the rule?
The central clearing rule is one of the most significant changes to take place in the history of the US Treasury market. Here, BNY holds a unique position 鈥� across our collateral, clearing, and financing platforms 鈥� and we are engaged with our clients to help them understand the regulatory central clearing rule, centrally clear their trades, conduct centrally cleared repo, access centrally cleared financing, and manage margin on centrally cleared trades.
BNY鈥檚 Global Collateral platform already supports a substantial amount of centrally cleared activity; our clients leverage our platform to access the FICC Sponsored GC repo service. This activity has already seen significant growth since the rule was announced in December 2023, with Sponsored GC volumes increasing over 170 per cent since then. This, alongside our role as one of the biggest sponsors in the Treasury repo market through our 兔子先生Finance business, gives us a unique opportunity to work with our clients to innovate as this mandate approaches.
One of the major areas that both our clients, and the broader industry have flagged as an area of concern, is the scalability of the current access models available in the market. To help address this, BNY is working with the central counterparties (CCPs) in the market to develop new solutions that will soon become available on our Global Collateral platform. These will include the models developed by FICC, including Sponsored GC Collateral-in-Lieu.
The Sponsored GC Collateral-in-Lieu model is particularly exciting, as it will offer significant financial resource cost savings relative to the current sponsored model by allowing FICC to take a targeted lien over the Treasury collateral in an investor鈥檚 collateral account. It removes the need to collect margin on the cash investor鈥檚 side of the trade and the need to guarantee performance of the cash investor to FICC.
BNY will also provide the ability to sponsor repo trades on a 鈥榙one-away鈥� basis. Done-away would separate clearing from execution, allowing FICC members to continue trading with their counterparties without sponsoring them, and instead leveraging a third-party clearing agent. The successful development of a done-away clearing solution could help to solve many of the issues that the industry has flagged around clearing capacity and the substantial legal negotiations for sponsored agreements. In addition to our work with FICC, we are partnering with CME and ICE to provide collateral services for their new Treasury market CCPs. CME and ICE are also developing new models to help meet the needs of the market under central clearing and that could complement the models offered by FICC.
What is the international impact of the rule?
The rule鈥檚 impact is global and will bring into scope trades conducted across markets outside of the US. We have had many conversations with our clients following the announcement by the US 兔子先生and Exchange Commission (SEC) of a 12-month extension in the compliance dates for the rule. There were several factors that drove the decision to extend the compliance dates, including uncertainty regarding the scope of the rule and the way in which it would draw in activity across international markets outside the US.
Several market participants and industry groups raised concerns regarding the rule鈥檚 treatment of inter-affiliate repos. Inter-affiliate repos are conditionally exempt under the rule, but if a firm chooses to use that exemption, the exempted affiliate must then centrally clear all its other eligible repos. This could bring into scope a significant number of repos being conducted outside of the US, as many market participants will utilise inter-affiliate repos to move Treasury securities between entities, so that the affiliate can post them as margin in local markets. This could add additional complexity for market participants.
Another area of the rule that could bring a significant amount of international activity into scope is bank branch activity. Under current FICC rules, branches of a bank are considered the same legal entity as the parent, requiring the parent entity to clear eligible transactions with clients. This can add additional complexity when these transactions are taking place outside the US. Many market participants have asked for additional flexibility around these areas to simplify the implementation of the rule.
What steps has BNY taken to enhance its connectivity to CCPs beyond US central clearing, and supporting clients with their CCP exposures?
Beyond US central clearing, we are focused on further expanding our network of CCPs, providing our clients centralised collateral management capabilities to efficiently aggregate their cleared collateral obligations along with their existing uncleared exposures, all on the Global Collateral platform. Not only does this potentially enhance the optimisation benefit that the platform provides, but it also maintains high levels of operational efficiency by leveraging traditional collateral management services, including efficient recalls and substitutions, daily mark-to-market valuation, easily managing collateral eligibility and reporting and monitoring tools.
Earlier this year, BNY announced that we are now connected to Cboe Clear Europe, enabling its clearing members to manage their non-cash collateral obligations of their cleared securities financing transactions on the same collateral management platform as their uncleared securities financing transactions. In the autumn of 2025, we will also be connected to LCH, enabling its clearing members to post margin collateral for their US Treasuries.
Touching on the digital transformation, what is BNY doing in this space and the vision for the future of asset tokenisation?
We believe asset tokenisation has the potential to fundamentally change how collateral is mobilised, optimised, and utilised. As firms like BNY look to provide a solution that combines traditional assets, tokenised assets, and natively digital assets, there is a significant opportunity to enhance the liquidity and utility of collateral assets. If critical mass is achieved, this shift could deliver cost savings and new ways to generate yield from underutilised assets. In a world where asset pools can be optimised across different collateral obligations and mobilised near-instantaneously, we see significant prospects for growth and efficiency. BNY envisions a future in which our Global Collateral platform and optimisation solutions are twinned with tokenised assets, potentially transforming the collateral market.
What is BNY鈥檚 approach to combining traditional and digital assets for optimal collateral management?
By combining the capabilities of BNY鈥檚 Global Collateral platform and our Digital Asset business, we aim to build on our long history of innovation. By helping our clients optimise assets across types and use cases, we believe we can drive greater efficiency and value in financial markets. Our platform manages over US$6.5 trillion of collateral at scale, completing over 20,000 allocation runs across our clients daily. Our mission is to facilitate optimal outcomes for funding and liquidity while keeping assets safe and readily accessible in times of stress. We offer a range of optimisation solutions to meet diverse client needs, covering triparty, bilateral, and cleared transactions across different collateral venues. Integrating digital assets into the BNY鈥檚 collateral management network will help clients leverage efficient collateral management, the impact of which only increasing as tokenisation becomes more prevalent.
Demand for access to a wide array of markets to finance liquidity is increasing among market participants. How is BNY Global Collateral investing in response to demand?
We continue to invest in the expansion of connectivity to support additional markets on the platform. Recent additions have included the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan. This development is in direct response to emerging trends in collateral management and securities finance in a broader array of markets across APAC and will enable our clients to further diversify their asset pools.
Our focus to expand BNY鈥檚 global reach continues, with further market connectivity expected this year to include Turkey, Greece, Poland, and Saudi Arabia.
As you mentioned the growth in Asia Pacific, can you provide insights on news within the region?
Beyond increasing our offering of APAC markets, we are also investing in leadership within the APAC region. Eric Badger, who leads client relationship and business development for both Global Collateral and Global Clearing at BNY, is now head of Southeast Asia and the Singapore chief executive. Additionally, Nehal Mehra joined BNY in May 2025 as head of Asia Pacific聽兔子先生Financing and Global Collateral, having previously worked at Goldman Sachs as Global Head of Cross Asset Financing.
Both Eric and Nehal are charged to focus on strengthening BNY鈥檚 position in APAC, drawing on their deep expertise and experience in the region, navigating country-specific complexities and developing our solutions to meet the needs of our clients.聽聽
We also saw South Korea lift its short selling ban in late March, marking a shift in regulatory approach and paving the way for a more balanced market. Initially introduced in November 2023 to combat naked short selling by global banks, the ban had been driven by pressure from domestic retail investors, who account for roughly half of the market. With the ban now lifted, prime brokers are well-placed to capitalise on this opportunity and gain a competitive edge. Our platform has already seen a notable increase in activity, with immediate inflows rising by 30 per cent and is well-positioned to support this growth, offering real-time creation of security interests through our direct connectivity to our sub-custodian, as well as an intraday credit facility, essential for ensuring clients can access their assets when needed.
Our platform also boasts an existing network of clients actively trading in Korea and accepting Korean assets as collateral. Moreover, our solution integrates seamlessly with other pledge-only markets in the region, including Stock Connect, Bond Connect, Indonesia, and Malaysia, providing clients with unmatched flexibility and connectivity.
We have been involved in advocacy and assisting industry bodies across the APAC region. Following industry input, including advocacy by BNY, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced its plans to abolish the Korea 兔子先生Depository (KSD) Deposit Requirement, allowing Korean securities companies to hold their proprietary foreign securities in their own global custody accounts outside of KSD and use them within the collateral management infrastructure. This reform is expected to improve the competitiveness of South Korean securities companies and support their overseas expansion and funding needs. We will continue to monitor the developments and partner with our clients to keep them updated on the regulatory rule amendment process, expected to be finalised towards the end of this year.
What are the most common challenges that firms face when trying to optimise collateral? How does BNY support clients with these challenges?
Lacking visibility of a complete portfolio view makes it difficult to efficiently optimise collateral. Additionally, uncertainty around regulatory change and evolving global market infrastructure add to the challenges that market participants face.
Our Global Collateral platform provides a variety of optimisation solutions that offer our clients efficient, flexible, and automated methods for allocating collateral to trades. Our approach is not one-size-fits-all, instead our clients have the choice of a complete suite of optimisation services or opting for specific modules that can be used alongside their own tools or vendor solutions.
We are seeing increasing interest in ECPOConnect, our end-to-end optimisation solution built in collaboration with Pirum, that enables clients to achieve highly resilient, scalable, and customisable whole portfolio optimisation in seconds.
As BNY strives to be more for our clients, we have designed these solutions to meet our clients鈥� needs, wherever they are, so they can better and more effectively meet their unique goals.
← Previous interview
EquiLend
Nick Delikaris
Next interview →
Wematch.live
Wematch.live team
Image: Gesa Johannsen 