The coming years will set the scene for technology advancements and geographic growth as clients call for an innovative and competitive alternative to incumbent providers in the prime brokerage space. Given the current volatility and additional scrutiny, reliable providers are critical to managers’ survival, particularly in the context of increasing consolidation.
Max Hayden, Global Head of Prime Brokerage Sales, IG Prime
The coming years will set the scene for technology advancements and geographic growth as clients call for an innovative and competitive alternative to incumbent providers in the prime brokerage space. Given the current volatility and additional scrutiny, reliable providers are critical to managers’ survival, particularly in the context of increasing consolidation.
“There is demand for a well-capitalised business with a global reach and strong suite of prime products. Clients want a real dialogue on their needs rather than a complete focus on the lowest price,” notes Max Hayden, global head of institutional sales prime brokerage, IG Prime, “We will deliver efficiency for clients through cutting-edge technology and product development. IG Prime tailors its solutions to those needs while allowing them to easily plug into our systems.”
From an institutional perspective, the firm has a robust roadmap to adapt quickly to the needs of the marketplace. Over the next 24 to 36 months, there will not only be tech advancements and geographic growth from IG Prime’s perspective, but also further announcements such as new product offerings that the firm envisages launching over the next couple of years.
“We also have quite a broad set of asset classes that we can extend to our clients given that we’re a synthetic prime. IG Prime has been making substantial investment in its infrastructure and API connectivity. Our tech estate is designed to be scalable, stable, reliable and flexible, delivering innovation at speed and in a cost-effective manner,” details Hayden.
While recognising that all clients have their own needs, and IG Prime provides a service built for their business, the firm’s core approach is the same and its strategy simple. “We focus on working in partnership with our clients, using our strength and resources to help them achieve more,” the IG Prime expert explains.
The volatility in the market over the past two years, driven by an unprecedented range and number of events has emphasised and de-emphasised hedge fund strategies in a shorter time horizon than usual. This meant managing investor expectations and investment choices has been challenging for managers.
“Consider this in a context were there has been increased scrutiny following the Archegos event and the tightening of financing exposures due to the sanctions on Russia, then having a reliable prime broker to help navigate this turmoil is fundamental to the survivability of the business,” he states.
Outlining the outlook for the industry, Hayden observes that the number of new launches in Europe recently broke numbers from 2008 which reflected the congestion of delayed funds due to the pandemic. With the perception that this sector has now demonstrated balanced and reliable returns during times of stress, the inflow of investor money is also breaking records.
According to Hayden: “On the supplier side firms are pulling out or consolidating so there is less choice for funds at the same time as their buying power is increasing. IG Prime is very aware of this, and our business is being positioned to provide a credible alternative to the incumbent default prime’s by focussing on reliability, assurance and efficiency.”
Max Hayden, global head of prime brokerage sales at IG, has over 30 years of experience in the prime brokerage field. He recently joined IG from ITI Capital where he was CEO and prior to that Max was MD of PB at BCS Global Markets, a Russian-based specialist broker. For the majority of his career, Max was at BAML where he performed a number of leadership roles in prime brokerage and equity financing.
