Investment Insights

Custody and clearing services are a vital part of the trading process, even if they tend to go unnoticed by investors. Our parent company GIS UK Ltd has been involved in more than 250,000 transactions over the last three years, with a combined value of £50 billion. We have a robust clearing and custody service, but how does this fit into the overall trading process?

There are many aspects to consider when looking at trade execution-only services. First, of course, there is the quality of service, charges and the scope for trading different markets, but you also need to consider low latency execution. While latency itself is a complex subject, the concept is relatively straightforward.

Global investment services is a term regularly used for an array of different investment services, including clearing services, safe custody, trade execution and market coverage. Each of these services is an integral part of the investment jigsaw, providing a seamless trade to settlement process and everything in between. Here at Global Investment Strategy Hong Kong Ltd, we use cutting-edge technology to provide the complete package to our clients.

The execution-only trading services of 20 years ago are a distant memory, overtaken by innovative technological-based trade execution. We can’t offer advice or guidance as an execution-only broker, but we offer fast low latencyexecution-only trading services. In addition, our local knowledge and understanding of the latest trading technology ensure that we lead the way while others follow.

Due to different time zones and markets around the world, it is now possible to trade a vast range of investments 24-hours a day, five days a week. The investment world is truly international, and while efficient low latency trading is essential, post-trade services are often overlooked. Is your broker delivering on global clearing and safe custody services?

If you’re starting a hedge fund in Hong Kong, a key concern should be on-the-ground knowledge and experience in the territory. To a large extent, the success of prime brokerage will depend on its ability to leverage relationships for mutual gain. Therefore, it’s important that they have proven and established commercial relationships within Hong Kong and the wider region.

For trade execution to take place efficiently and for all parties to have confidence in an individual trade and the markets overall, it requires the services of several different providers. Market infrastructure has evolved over the decades to provide an increasingly efficient and reliable prime brokerage service.

Prime brokers are a vital aspect of the global market architecture. Prime brokerage services facilitate large, active and complex trading operations. They provide services to hedge funds among other clients and co-ordinate extensive trading in various financial instruments.

Clearing is the process through which purchases and sales of a variety of assets and securities are reconciled. Funds will be transferred directly from one financial institution to another, and the safe custody of funds will be guaranteed before settlement.

There is a vast range of industry terms used across global markets. Many of these terms can be confusing, with some overlap between the range of services and technicalities they describe. One instance of this is global clearing and safe custody services. Here we’ll take a look at some of the tasks that clearing firms and custodian firms take care of and the difference between the two.