Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) has announced that Tourmaline Partners’ execution services are now available to provide BBH clients with flexible front office trading solutions in global equities, derivatives, and ETFs.
The firm writes that Tourmaline’s tailor-made trading solutions complement BBH’s robust foreign exchange and investment operations solutions and provide clients with choice and flexibility in their operating model. This expands BBH’s Connectors program, a cohort of specialist third-party fintech and service providers that can help drive outcomes for BBH clients, the firm adds.
“This announcement is great news for the industry. BBH and Tourmaline are two first-class organisations that have been our partners for a long time. Through their respective solutions we are able to augment our internal capabilities with stellar external expertise and build our best-of-breed operating model,” says Evan Fire, COO of Pzena Investment Management. “With Tourmaline we have enhanced our trading effectiveness and increased operational resiliency. Our use of BBH for trade messaging and FX trading helped increase STP resulting in a dramatic increase in efficiency and improved execution quality.”
Market demand for outsourced trading is growing among larger investment managers as they seek to expand their reach, enhance trading performance and efficiency, and better manage costs, BBH writes. According to a report by Opimas, outsourced trading is expected to grow 45 per cent to USD1.7 billion in revenue in 2023, as larger asset managers seek to “outsource part of their trading activity and right-size their trading desks.”
Through Tourmaline’s inclusion as a BBH Connector, BBH writes that asset managers can combine their usage of Tourmaline’s trading solutions with BBH’s technology, data services, and FX trading solutions, helping to create their optimal operating model. Key benefits include:
Flexibility: Ability to outsource trading, fully or partially, while easily integrating with BBH’s investment operations platform and managing the full trading lifecycle.
Customisation: Clients can connect their preferred solutions with BBH’s efficient and scalable data delivery solutions. Option to easily leverage BBH trade management solutions to provide a hosted service for trade capture, matching, settlement monitoring, and fail management.
Connectivity: Seamless integration with the asset manager’s operating model through BBH’s data integration engine, Infomediary.
“Clients preparing their operating models for the future are more often demanding front office trading solutions,” says Chris Gothard, Partner for Markets at BBH. “We are pleased to welcome Tourmaline’s experienced team into the BBH Connectors program. Tourmaline provides clients with trading capability across global equities, derivatives, and ETFs and flexible whole or partial outsourcing that best support their existing operating models.”
“In the past decade we have seen managers of all sizes, from emerging hedge funds to asset owners with AUM up to USD1 trillion+, supplement their in-house capabilities with trading solutions to expand their reach to global liquidity and market intelligence,” says Aaron Hantman, CEO of Tourmaline Partners. “We are excited to be part of the BBH Connectors Program as BBH’s history and expertise in FX trading and technology complements our areas of expertise. Tourmaline can offer unique trading solutions for both supplemental trading and those clients looking for full- service solutions.”
