Clear Street is putting in the work to make an impact in the prime brokerage industry — and it’s paying off.

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I’m proud to share that Clear Street was ranked in Global Custodian’s 2022 Prime Brokerage Survey, and that we placed as the top Prime Brokerage provider for Stock Borrowing and Lending. Our high standing is a sure sign that we’re delivering for our clients in our mission to improve access to capital markets for all types of investors.

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Global Custodian’s annual prime brokerage survey allows clients to rate their providers. This year’s survey collected 420 responses from prime brokers of all sizes, from institutions to boutique firms.

Clear Street achieved an overall rating of 6.17 out of 7, beating the 5.94 overall average score and scoring above the mean in seven categories. Here’s how our clients ranked us across services out of 7:

• Capital Introduction: 5.21
• Client Services: 6.58*
• Operations: 5.84
• Technology: 5.70
• Risk Management: 6.42*
• Asset Safety: 6.00
• Trading and Execution: 6.58*
• Financing: 6.50*
• Stock Borrowing and Lending: 6.85*
• Fixed-Income: 5.36
• OTC Clearing: 6.63*
• Listed Derivatives: 6.42*

In just our fourth year, Global Custodian put us head-to-head against established, decades-old firms, many of which still use tools, like COBOL and mainframe computers. This technology can create friction in the ecosystem, which is where Clear Street comes in. We went down to the bare metal to build a proprietary, cloud-native, clearing and custody system to replace the infrastructure being used across capital markets.

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We’re using best-in-class contemporary software engineering and deploying our code in the cloud to improve access to capital markets through our cloud-native, single source of truth platform. Instead of siloing by asset classes and geography, we’re building a platform that enhances transparency with realtime data, and improves experience for traders, software engineers, and operators alike.

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We are honored by the client feedback captured in the Global Custodian results, but we’re also not surprised. We work closely with clients to understand their pain points and address them with both back-end and front-end technology enhancements.

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We are sympathetic that many legacy primes have limited options when it comes to upgrading their toolset: to radically change their infrastructure would be like removing the engine from a jet airliner while it’s in the air. We’re talking about critical systems that move billions a day in securities. But while it’s a difficult decision for legacy primes, it’s a less complicated one for their clients.

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This is the Clear Street I am proud to lead as CEO. And we’re just getting started. We’re building out and refining our client-facing position, risk, operations, and reporting portals. In the last year, we replaced our core transaction processing system with a faster, more scalable model that will support our growing business. As our platform and client base grow, and our asset class diversity does so along with them, we look forward to strengthening across categories in the years to come.

See the full Global Custodian rankings here.