State Street Hires Edwards as UMR Shift Edges Closer
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: August 17, 2021
State Street has hired Sam Edwards as head of collateral management for Asia Pacific, he will be based in Hong Kong and report globally to Staffan Ahlner, global head of collateral management, and regionally to Michele Hardeman, head of global markets, Asia Pacific.
Edwards joins from Credit Suisse, where he was head of the Asia Pacific central collateral desk, having worked at the Swiss bank for 12 years.
The appointment comes as the financial world gears up for the latest stage of the development of the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR), when the threshold for those firms in scope falls in September to 50 million dollars or euros as measured by average aggregate notional amount (AANA) and the need for capital efficiency ramps up a little further.
“Collateral management is fundamental for institutions to manage capital, risk, liquidity and regulatory compliance” says Ahlner. “Market evolution has not only highlighted the importance of liquidity management but also its efficiency large buffers could represent a drag on portfolio balance. Whilst there are several opportunities in the market the evolving regulations are adding operational complexity and creating liquidity challenges for investors if collateral is not managed properly.”
Last year, State Street published a survey of clients that found more than 80% of respondents were not ready to comply with all the rules under UMR, however it says some buy side clients have taken the UMR regulation as an opportunity to review their end to end and front to back strategy when it comes to collateral.
“With State Street’s collateral management solution, Collateral+, clients will have a strong understanding of their regulatory obligations through our complementary assessment of their portfolios and prepare them to meet new requirements with confidence, minimising their cost of collateral with our analytical tool and driving efficiency in their operating models with our end-to-end capabilities,” says Hardeman. “With this integrated, data-driven platform, combined with Sam’s local knowledge and expertise, we are well positioned to support our Asia Pacific clients in improving operational efficiency, achieving UMR compliance and managing risk and liquidity by streamlining their collateral program.”