Invast Global Rebrands, Exits Retail

Australian Prime-of-Prime Invast Global has re-branded to 26 Degrees – the latitude that divides Australia from north to south – in an effort to boost its prime brokerage business. As part of the rebrand, the firm says it will be focused on institutional clients, meaning it will shutter services for retail traders.

The rebrand follows what 26 Degrees says is a shakeout in the prime brokerage market as broker-dealers, hedge funds and family offices are “left out in the cold.” It further cites the fewer number of global players in the sector and “the diminishing service levels and more costly access to liquidity offered by the larger Tier 1 banks as a result of this contraction”.

Gavin White, CEO of 26 Degrees, says, “The prime brokerage global market is in a state of flux. This has highlighted the strong position of prime broking independents such as 26 Degrees to step up and support these underserviced market segments.

“With the collapse of a number of international banks and the resulting headwinds, we have bolstered our relationships with Tier 1 investment banks including, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, NatWest and Morgan Stanley,” he adds.

The firm says the opportunity in the prime brokerage space is “significant”, adding it estimates the revenue attributable to clients with AUM under $100m as $3.2 billion or 15.8% of the industry. On the back of this, it adds it expects to “significantly grow” its market share over the next five years as it deepens relationships and capitalises on the changing market conditions that are seeing the traditional investment banks exit the market segment and creating a vacuum.