One of Transcend’s focal points for the next year will be to engage more with buy-side firms, the New Jersey-based firm has said.                                                                                                                                       

Jeff Kidwell, director of sales for North America told Global Investor the securities finance space is more focussed than ever on collateral, funding and liquidity optimisation.

He said: “When it comes to Transcend priorities for 2023, first the company is going to be focusing on the penetration into the buy-side, and the aim is to help clients gain better risk management and revenue production through this greater visibility, better decision making and better execution with this tailored suite of Transcend technology products.”

The second aspect the firm will be concentrating on is aligning interoperability with the growing complexities and costs associated with collateral management and centralising decision-making capabilities for these clients.

“We want to move away from the traditional siloed decision-making, a trend that has been emerging lately, particularly on the buy-side,” said Kidwell.

“Transcend also aims to mitigate the growing complexities and costs that firms are facing, including the use of cash collateral and margin across various venues and rising triparty and central counterparty clearing house costs. This will help clients manage inflation, market volatility and all the regulatory challenges such as T+1 for greater portfolio returns,” he added.

The firm additionally intends to expand its global footprint in 2023 across many business lines, Kidwell said.

He said: “We intend to grow in Europe, Canada, and expand Asian customer base as well. There is a growing appetite for collateral optimisation tools in these markets so it’s a great opportunity for us to expand our business. I have joined Transcend amidst significant growth of both its client base and its team and there is heightening demand for its modular and customisable solution.”

Finally, in terms of environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects, Transcend is one of the first companies to launch a solution that seamlessly incorporates ESG criteria into collateral workflows, according to Kidwell.

“Our highly flexible suite, which includes our eligibility product are able to incorporate ESG and this is something we will continue to build upon into 2023,” he concluded.

Transcend in September hired repo veteran Kidwell as director of North American sales, as the firm seeks to grow its securities finance presence in the US.