Digitalization of the wealth management value chain is moving closer in the international fund management industry, following the partnership between Aquis Technologies, a software and technologies division of Aquis Exchange Limited, and Investre, a London-based neo-exchange for value-driven investment funds. The partnership is set to enable the trading of tokenized actively managed funds, namely UCITS funds, with a launch scheduled for 2022.
Investre is developing an exchange that would enable retail customers to sell and purchase values-driven investment funds either direct from the asset management company on the primary market, or by trading with other users through an auction process on the secondary market. Aquis is playing an important role in this partnership as it is providing the technology to power the secondary market, by supplying a fully outsourced technology model to Investre.
Investre considers the partnership as a significant milestone for its business development. To actualize Investre’s vision of making tokenized funds trading online, Aquis will provide Investre with its Aquis Market Surveillance product popularly known as ‘Aquis Matching Engine’ and ongoing operational support to enable Investre to do the business. The duration of the contract between two partners will run for three years, but the value of the contract would not be disclosed, as agreed by the two firms.
Georges Bock, the Founder and CEO of Investre, talked about how the partnership would be important for its company: "Our vision is to have tokenised funds traded online and, one day, to trade 24/7. That means that retail customers will be able to buy actively managed funds when they want, at a known price, for the first time ever. This will significantly lower the cost of investing and reduce barriers to entry. To make this happen, we need a best-in-class order matching system so that the trading can take place: this is where Aquis comes in. They've been providing trading systems to marketplaces for 8 years now and their technology is the perfect fit for our vision. We're delighted to be moving forward with them as a key partner for the future of Investre, and the future of asset management."
Meanwhile, Adrian Ip, Director of Aquis Technologies Sales at Aquis, welcomed the collaboration: "We are delighted to have been chosen by Investre to power its new exchange. This is a great initiative for the funds market, and we are particularly proud to be producing the first EU-regulated totally cloud-native exchange for retail investors. For too long the retail market has been cut out of the loop, but Investre's blockchain approach is a great way to bring the end-user directly into the market."
How Trading Platforms Unlock Opportunities for Market Players
This is not the first time Aquis Exchange is providing its trading platform , a service that makes scale benefits more widely available and unlocks opportunities for various market players. In July last year, 21Shares AG, a Switzerland-based cryptocurrency ETP issuer, launched a Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) on the Aquis Exchange. The partnership enabled UK-based institutional investors to trade the Bitcoin ETP on Aquis Exchange.
Hany Rashwan, the CEO of 21Shares, talked about how collaboration with Aquis exchange was vital: “This is the right time to bring our successful crypto ETP to the institutional UK market. Our strong track record and existing institutional reach across continental Europe means that investors can confidently gain exposure to Bitcoin via a liquid and conventional investment product.”
