BNY Mellon, the global leader in investment management and investment services, has been awarded a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a key process enabling the secure management of collateral between counterparties via its Margin DIRECT(SM) service.
Margin DIRECT(SM) was created by BNY Mellon to help clients limit exposure to trading counterparties. The patented Margin DIRECT(SM) product provides custody and liquidity services for posted margin collateral in counterparty transactions, offering a strong element of risk mitigation between counterparty relationships and helping to facilitate marketplace liquidity through the use of a third party custodian.
“One of the most important lessons learned from the financial crisis is that institutions require capabilities that help maximize liquidity and access to collateral,” said Kurt Woetzel, CEO of BNY Mellon’s Global Collateral Services business. “With today’s new regulatory requirements, there is an increased emphasis on collateral – clients need to know where to find it, how to protect it and how to unlock additional investment potential, while also working to reduce counterparty exposure.”
“The Margin DIRECT process helps our clients achieve their investment goals, while also helping to minimize counterparty exposure,” said Jonathan Spirgel, head of liquidity services and sales and relationship management, Global Collateral Services at BNY Mellon. Spirgel, the named inventor in the patent added, ”This patent demonstrates both innovation and the powerful combination of BNY Mellon’s expertise and its market-leading practices.”
Global Collateral Services offers a comprehensive suite of services to help BNY Mellon’s clients address their collateral, liquidity and securities financing needs. As they face evolving global regulations and rapidly changing market requirements, clients can leverage BNY Mellon’s products and services to better manage counterparty and market risk in their collateral transactions, engage in more investment opportunities to help maximize their investment returns and access new financing alternatives. BNY Mellon currently services $2 trillion in global collateral (including tri-party repo collateral worldwide) and approximately $100 billion in assets through its Liquidity DIRECT(SM) investment portal, and operates one of the industry’s largest securities lending programs, with $3 trillion in lendable assets.
