TS Imagine and Cassini Systems have today entered a strategic partnership, with Cassini’s intelligent analytics across over the counter (OTC) and exchange traded derivatives (ETD) products now available via TS Imagine’s offering, The TRADE can reveal.
Participants are also now able to access Cassini’s prime brokerage services via TS Imagine. Speaking about the partnership, Andrew Morgan, president and chief revenue officer for TS Imagine, told The TRADE: “We consider ourselves as the best at what we do, however it would be naïve for us to assume that we can cover everything. This is where a partnership with a firm like Cassini can come into its own because we see them as our equivalents in the collateral management and margin space. The partnership compounds our value propositions to clients if we’re able to collaborate and work together for mutual benefit.”
Cassini’s offering encompasses the entire lifecycle of a trade and will enable TS Imagine’s users to bring post-trade analytics into the pre-trade process.
With this integration, TS Imagine users will now be able to: calculate margin requirements, optimise collateral usage in derivatives markets, analyse drivers and movement in margin exposure, reduce initial margin levels, and maximise margin efficiency.
The integration compliments TS Imagine’s existing suite of proprietary cross-asset analytics and comes as both firms seek to increase market share in the hedge fund and prime brokerage space.
Speaking to The TRADE, Liam Huxley, chief executive and founder of Cassini Systems, explained: “We see the value-add of bringing our analytics into TS Imagine’s risk management framework, so that you have market and operational risk and resilience through one cohesive system”.
“Our client base is still primarily buy-side, but we’re now getting more into sell-side use cases as well such as clearing brokers and prime brokers. Broadening our target audience is a key strand of the partnership.”
As the market continues to evolve and the buy-side increasingly seek higher quality and comprehensive data, providers are continually making moves to answer the call, focused on enhancing their services and increasing their scope.
Read more – Data arms race heats up as venues and vendors eye buy-side business through new initiatives
Huxley, told The TRADE: “When you look at the changes in the market, with regulations ranging from Dodd Frank through Mifid II to UMR, more and more of the trading portfolio of an asset manager has become collateralised using well defined, recognised models of various forms. This means that the margin requirement is quite material – it’s quite a significant amount.”
Morgan further asserted: “Nobody wants to cut corners when it comes to risk management […] that means that clients want to future-proof their businesses. We’re putting in place an arrangement that makes a prospect’s decision a no-brainer.”
Read more: To build or to buy… how far should predictive analytics go?
Both TS Imagine and Cassini view this new partnership as an important opportunity and a key milestone in each businesses’ respective development, the companies asserted in a statement.
Highlighting the key benefits, Morgan said: “Working closely with Cassini, we can help investment and risk management teams streamline workflows, cut complexity and control their total cost of ownership. This partnership will draw on the strong synergies between our businesses to deliver our clients best-in-breed functionality through a single system – a significant advantage in fast-paced markets.”