BNY Mellon has named a new head of its FX prime brokerage business which serves a client segment that includes banks, hedge funds, and other buy-side institutions in the $5tn a day global currency market.
The Wall Street bank said that Matthew Berson, who held senior roles within the clearing space, has been appointed as head of FX prime brokerage for North America. He joins from FXSpotStream LLC, the aggregator service of LiquidityMatch LLC, where he held the position of Senior Vice President, Product and Operations.
BNY Mellon’s FXPB product has been originally spearheaded by Jason Vitale, Deutsche Bank’s former co-head of clearing and FX prime brokerage, who joined BNY Mellon in May.
BNY Mellon has attracted several brokerage staffers from Deutsche Bank in the last two years as the bank ventures into the space by offering a product that leverages its existing pool of liquidity, collateral and funding capabilities and opens it up to institutional businesses.
The increase in banking regulation, which mandates increased minimum levels of capital and increases in reporting expenses, has resulted in a lot of banks leaving the prime broking space.
The new service is expected to cater to clients who do not have an FX prime broker, or that need additional credit lines to access either liquidity or execution services. The exit of legacy players in the prime brokerage space will allow new offerings, such as BNY Mellon’s product, to rapidly gain customers and fill the void.
FXPB is just one of a number of new services BNY Mellon Markets is introducing that will enable its clients to more efficiently access global currency markets, says Michael Cooper, head of FXPB at BNY Mellon in London.
(Photo: BNY Mellon)
