Scaling to New Heights: Launching our Fixed Income Repo Platform

In 2019, Clear Street launched a principal Securities Lending business to facilitate borrowing and lending activity for its prime broker clients. As my colleague Madhu Subbu recently explained, Securities Finance is an important piece of the global market, consisting of trillions of dollars in lendable assets and facilitating order and stability within our financial system.

In a short period, that business has grown significantly. We’ve been able to build extensive distribution channels to support the liquidity needs of our clients and borrower counterparties. By the end of 2021, we had over 50 MSLAs across the street, a testament to the deep relationships we’ve cultivated with custodial banks and brokers.

Today we’re pleased to announce the continued expansion of Clear Street’s Securities Finance offering with the official launch of Fixed Income Repo.

Thanks to Clear Street’s technology-first approach, we’ve entered the marketplace in less than six months–and people are taking notice.

Over the next six months, we plan to scale our business and grow our client-base among institutional managers. We have ambitious goals for the business, but I am confident we will achieve them thanks to the expertise of our dedicated team. I’ve been in the repo business for more than 30 years, and I can confidently say that our team is comprised of some of the most seasoned professionals in our industry, including:

Victor Masotti — Director of Repo Trading

• Victor has been instrumental in the build out of Clear Street’s Fixed Income Repo platform. He has nearly a decade of experience, most recently serving as Vice President of U.S. STIR Trading at TD Securities.

John Laudadio — Director of Securities Finance Transactions

• John joined after more than 15 years in senior roles in securities finance at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities and HSBC Global.

We also are pleased to welcome an additional team member to the mix, Aldo Mannino as Director of Repo Sales & Trading. Aldo joins Clear Street after more than 25 years in financial services, working at UBS and Mizuho where he developed and operated a multitude of sales & trading strategies. When I talked to Aldo about his decision to make the switch to Clear Street after years at traditional banks, he said:

“I’m excited to join a modern, energetic and growing firm. There has been a severe reduction in repo capacity among players across the street, Clear Street is moving in the opposite direction and actively growing in the repo sector.I’m eager to help build out our repo business, offer clients new opportunities, and make Clear Street a household name for years to come.”

It’s a great time to be launching this business as there is vast potential in today’s market. Entering the repo market today presents a unique opportunity to meet rapidly growing customer demand. We are seeing strong interest in repo from institutional clients, ranging from municipal pension funds to corporates and everything in between. Our team at Clear Street is ready to partner with these managers to provide long-term liquidity solutions.

If you’re interested in learning more, shoot me a note at jdimartino@clearstreet.io.