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Vanguard teamed with fintech firm Symbiont, Bank of New York Mellon, Franklin Templeton and State Street on a blockchain initiative designed to enhance the over-the counter currency market.
Vanguard is "actively exploring the application of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to foreign-exchange forwards, bringing transparency and workflow efficiencies to" the OTC currency market, it and Symbiont said Tuesday in a joint announcement.
As part of a pilot program, Vanguard has simulated multiple 30-day FX forward contracts with its partners in the initiative – a proof of concept that is "reflective of how the firms would conduct the first test trades of FX forwards on a DLT network in the future," Vanguard and Symbiont said.
"The current environment emphasizes the need to streamline, automate, and secure critical business processes," according to Warren Pennington, principal and head of Vanguard's Investment Management FinTech Strategies Group.
Vanguard has been working with Symbiont since December 2017 to simplify the data management process by leveraging Symbiont's blockchain platform, Assembly, the companies said.
The pilot initiative is "one of a number of use cases we are looking at in our efforts to modernize trade lifecycles and improve the client experience," according to Jason Vitale, head of FX at BNY Mellon.
BNY Mellon Partners With Wilshire on Target Date Solution
BNY Mellon Investment Management partnered with Wilshire Associates to launch the BNY Mellon Investment Management Custom Target Date Builder.
"The new advisor platform will provide more choice to the target date fund business that is now dominated by large fund providers," the companies said in a joint announcement on Tuesday. Retirement plan advisors will now be able to design and build turnkey custom target date solutions, access institutional quality research and glide path management expertise that the firms said were only available via the largest, multi-billion dollar plans in the past.
The BNY Mellon Investment Management Custom Target Date Builder "empowers advisors to provide plan sponsors and plan participants with a new level of customization, scalability and open architecture" target date solutions, the companies said.
Advisors can also now "democratize the solutions available for plan sponsors and combine active and passive in low-cost" mutual funds and Collective Investment Trusts, the firms noted.
The platform also reduces liability for plan sponsors; diminishes investment manager and longevity risk for participants; provides competitive pricing leveraging the efficiencies of the BNY Mellon advisor distribution and Wilshire's investment and research capabilities; and offers plan-level customization for participants with the potential for better outcomes, they said.
