EquiLend
Brian Lamb
15 February 2011
Following the opening of EquiLend’s Hong Kong office, Securities Lending Times speaks to the company’s CEO, Brian Lamb, about his expectations for the market and how the new office will help local clients
Image: Shutterstock
Following the opening of EquiLend’s Hong Kong office, Securities Lending Times speaks to the company’s CEO, Brian Lamb, about his expectations for the market and how the new office will help local clients
SLT: How important is the Asian market to EquiLend? What’s your history in the market?
Lamb: EquiLend was incorporated 10 years ago and the platform’s been live for nine years. The model is a global securities finance and post trade platform and we’ve always had clients in Asia. We offer our services 24 hours a day, six and a half days a week so we’ve always been able to service them.
Historically, most of our clients have been in Tokyo and Hong Kong, but we also have a significant base in Australia, Singapore and India, and of course we’re looking to expand beyond that.
SLT: How do you see the Asian market at the moment?
Lamb: It’s such a fragmented market - each country is different. Australia, for example, had very well-publicised problems three years ago - the securities lending market there suffered considerably in terms of its image, trust and understanding.
Japan, meanwhile, is more mature - it has the world’s second-highest trading volumes. It’s very efficient and has a lot of scale. The other markets fall somewhere in between and are rife with opportunities in both the trade and post-trade arenas.
SLT: Is the Asian offering any different to that in other markets?
Lamb: The technology we built 10 years ago is the technology we are using now. We don’t have a module for Asia, just as we don’t have one for Europe or anywhere else. So the service we sell in North America is the same as the one in Europe and Asia, its functionality is exactly the same. And that’s what gives our clients the opportunity to scale the business with the same processes.
We do of course tailor the delivery, marketing and selling of the product to the cultural sensibilities of the region.
Andrew McCardle (who is heading up EquiLend’s Hong Kong office) is a very bright and engaging professional. He’s been with us for four years and knows the product inside out. He knows the Asian market well too, having serviced our Asian clients from the London office for the past couple of years. Having him and the rest of the team on the ground will allow us to build our relationships with clients in the region.
SLT: Why did you pick Hong Kong as a base?
Lamb: It was a difficult decision. Tokyo was a consideration, as was Australia - in fact, had we been choosing three years ago then we may have gone for Sydney. We also looked at Singapore.
We narrowed it down to a decision between Hong Kong and Tokyo and then decided based on the numbers of clients we had in each city and the proximity to other client bases. From Hong Kong it’s easy to service Taiwan, China, Korea and so on.
SLT: How important is China to your strategy?
Lamb: It’s certainly a market for the future. At the moment though it’s not apparent to me that there is any meaningful activity EquiLend’s clients are doing in the market for us to necessitate a focus on it.
SLT: Do clients still need a face on the ground in an increasingly electronic market?
Lamb: It’s a significant benefit. The business has evolved and is more electronic, but people still maintain a high degree of personal interaction when it comes to business relationships.
Human interaction is important everywhere but it’s particularly useful in Asia - the culture is such that many people won’t sign up to a service unless they know you have a physical presence in the market. And it’s about trust - we’re not going anywhere and people know that.
SLT: Will you mainly be servicing existing Asia-based clients in the new office, or do you think this new office will bring a range of new clients?
Lamb: It will be a mixture of both. In the near time, our focus will be on servicing our existing clients and helping them to maximise their potential. But moving forward we of course want to add to our client base.
SLT: How do you see the market in Asia evolving?
Lamb: Everybody wants to talk about CCPs. There’s activity going on in the US and Europe, and there are models in Asia, but I would expect that to evolve. The bilateral model will still be around for some time though.
The last three years has forced institutions to identify more efficient solutions for their businesses and scale is a major factor. As spreads are down and people attain some profits, they still need to do more - automation and efficiencies are key.
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