Consortium Seeks to Develop DLT solution for Alternative Investments

A consortium led by fintech iCapital has been unveiled to develop a distributed ledger technology (DLT) solution for the alternative investment ecosystem. The venture is being backed initially by Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, BNY Mellon, Carlyle, KKR, Morgan Stanley, State Street, UBS and WestCap, however iCapital says it expected additional firms to join.

The group will, iCapital says, “Champion an industry-wide initiative to drive the next generation in operational efficiency, security and convenience.”

“Leadership of this initiative, which brings together many of the most influential market participants to leverage emerging technology, is well aligned with iCapital’s mission,” says Lawrence Calcano, chairman and CEO of iCapital. “We are completely committed to making investing in and owning alternative investments easier for advisors and their high-net-worth investors.”

The consortium says that creating a secure, shared, auditable record for each alternative investment – effectively a ‘golden’ copy – will augment the efficiency of the investment creation, management, and exit processes, thereby eliminating the need for each party to take in data, reconcile it to their records and share new versions of the data with others. It adds the new model will also improve visibility throughout the process and across the value chain.

“We see the potential distributed ledger technology has to significantly improve both efficiency and security across the alternatives industry,” says Jerry Pascucci, head of global alternative investment solutions at UBS Global Wealth Management, while Todd Myers, senior managing director and COO, private wealth solutions at Blackstone, adds, “With this next generation of technology, we are committed to optimising the entire alternative investing experience so that advisors and their clients can meet their needs with efficiency and ease.”