Celebrating its 150th year anniversary in 2014, Société Générale took the decision in May 2014 to buy out Credit Agricole’s 50 per cent stake in Newedge, a leading Prime Broker in Equities, Fixed Income, Listed and OTC Products. Newedge is now able to leverage the strengths of Société Générale and operate as a full-scale prime services business under the new moniker, Société Générale Prime Services.
“It’s about leveraging the strength of the investment bank with the multi-asset class, multi-instrument prime brokerage model we’ve built here,” says James Shekerdemian (pictured), Global Head of Prime Brokerage Sales at Société Générale Prime Services. “We can now utilise a deep, stable securities inventory within the bank’s equity finance business, market-leading algorithms and execution access in addition to our cross-margining capabilities.”
With a 12 per cent market share, Société Générale Prime Services is the world’s largest execution and clearing broker of listed derivatives. Since the integration of Newedge into Société Générale’s Corporate and Investment Banking’s Global Markets division, the business has seen a steady increase in PB mandates across the spectrum of hedge funds, and in particular in equity related strategies.
“We are a seeing strong growth and an excellent pipeline. As some of our competitors take a step back we are being seen as a strong alternative for hedge funds that we may not have previously serviced as Newedge. Mid-sized funds are looking for the support and breadth of service that we can now offer, and we’re stepping up to the mark to provide their execution, clearing, custody and financing needs,” says Shekerdemian.
There are clear synergies at play within Société Générale Prime Services. As well as core services of execution, clearing, custody and financing, Newedge has built a multi-award winning Capital Introduction team. Add to this the muscle of SG CIB’s single stock, macro and quant research capabilities and you have a very competitive front to back offering. There is a commitment by Société Générale to grow Prime Services and make it a central focus of its long-term growth strategy.
“At the end of the day, a hedge fund manager, like any other asset manager, needs stability.
“We can demonstrate a clear commitment to the business, from top-down to bottom-up; a message that perhaps managers aren’t getting elsewhere. That’s good for the team, internally, and it’s good for our clients. They want that stability.
“We have a full suite of services, strengths that are being further enhanced, and we can showcase our three core pillars: cross-asset margining, depth of stock inventory, and market-leading algorithms to support trading and execution,” says Shekerdemian.
Société Générale Prime Services has a global cross-asset platform offering, giving clients financing support within Equities, Commodities, FX, Fixed Income, both cash and derivatives/synthetic instruments.
On the clearing side, it is a member of more than 60 derivative exchanges and all major CCP venues. As OTC markets move to become centrally cleared, this depth of platform and expertise is working to the firm’s advantage.
On winning this year’s award for Best European Prime Broker, Shekerdemian states: “Our continued commitment to offering clients a genuine cross-asset, global offering is our top priority. Winning this great accolade is a clear demonstration of our desire to remain a market leader in Prime Brokerage, being close to clients, supporting their day-to-day needs, and helping them to grow their businesses.”
