J.P. Morgan has become a strategic investor in the Series B funding round for distributed ledger technology (DLT)-powered securities finance platform provider HQLAx.
The funding will be used for accelerating market adoption of the HQLAx platform by expanding product scope and functionality, while further extending connectivity to the industry.
In January, HQLAx closed a €14.4 million strategic investment round led by BNY Mellon, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas Securities Services and Citigroup, with additional participation from longtime strategic partner Deutsche Boerse.
J.P. Morgan has already connected to the HQLAx platform as triparty agent, and J.P. Morgan will also connect its agency securities lending business next year.
HQLAx’s core clients are financial institutions active in securities lending and collateral management. Its platform enables market participants to transfer ownership of securities across disparate collateral pools at precise moments in time.
This allows participants to optimise their liquidity management and collateral management activities, thereby generating operational efficiency gains and capital cost savings, HQLAx explains.
Guido Stroemer, chairman and CEO of HQLAx, says: “J.P. Morgan’s strategic investment in our company and its commitment to connect to our platform speak volumes towards validating our shared vision to accelerate collateral mobility across the global securities finance ecosystem.”
Ben Challice, head of trading services at J.P. Morgan, adds: “We’re happy to support HQLAx as they continue to grow the collateral management blockchain ecosystem.”
J.P. Morgan declined to disclose the size of the investment.
