State Street has launched its new peer-to-peer financing platform Venturi, which will connect buy-side firms with new sources of liquidity in the global repo space.
Venturi, built through a partnership with FinOptSys, aims to support trade negotiations, as well as enhance trade settlement and collateral management. Its objective is to help traders manage and diversify their counterparty exposure.
In helping to centralise liquidity pools and enhance transparency, Venturi seeks to open up new trading opportunities for the buy-side, lower transaction costs and improve returns.
The platform looks to provide increased efficiency, improved flexibility in regards to eligible collateral and margin requirements, seamless confirmation of State Street’s guarantee to repo buyers, and transparency of trade and margin call settlement.
Users are able to negotiate economic terms of peer repo transactions on Venturi. A programme master repo agreement streamlines the documentation process and supports ready scalability, according to State Street.
With links to State Street’s Collateral+ Triparty Solution for peer-to-peer repo, Venturi displays confirmed trade matches, collateral valuation and margin calls, as well as collateral movements between counterparties.
Gino Timperio, global head of Financing Solutions at State Street, says: “As a result of elevated market volatility and the changing liquidity and rate environment, buy-side firms are increasingly seeking new and diversified sources of financing.
“We are excited to further expand our product suite with the launch of Venturi to help foster the growth and scale of the peer-to-peer marketplace. Akin to our 2005 launch of FICC’s Sponsored Repo Service, which has also provided our clients with critically needed liquidity solutions, we believe Venturi will empower our clients to discover new liquidity pools and make better, data-driven investment decisions.”
The launch of the platform — designed in large part through extensive development and feedback from State Street clients — is a milestone for the firm and the evolution of its peer-to-peer initiatives, Timperio concludes.
