Marketnode – the digital joint venture between the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Temasek Holdings – will be partnering with several international financial institutions ahead of its product launches for digital insurance services, ESG bond data and digital asset depository infrastructure.
These components will enable the buildout of an end-to-end Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-enabled fixed income infrastructure.
DLT is a digital system that records the transaction of assets in which the transactions and their details are recorded in multiple places at the same time.
Marketnode’s latest partners include Barclays, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Orient Securities International, Standard Chartered, Societe Genarale and United Overseas Bank (UOB).
“As the bank focuses our efforts on leveraging technology to bring more innovative digital solutions and ESG products to our clients, this partnership with Marketnode will enable us to advance our agenda and contribute to the industry’s digitalisation journey,” says Leng Hoe Lon, who head of financial markets Singapore, Australia, Brunei, and head of macro trading, ASEAN and South Asia at Standard Chartered Bank.
Priya Kini who heads the global banking arm of HSBC Singapore is also heartened by the collaboration with Marketnode.
See: Piloting a digital bond
“Our collaboration with SGX and Temasek since 2020 to streamline the Asian bond market reveals a glimpse of how technology could transform capital markets globally. Realising the full potential of DLT requires deeper industry collaboration, and Singapore's vibrant tech landscape makes it a prime location to accelerate this journey,” she explains.
Aside from being early adopters of Marketnode’s products, the 10 partner institutions will accelerate usage of the platform and provide market input towards its product development.
They will also co-create DLT solutions and explore product expansion beyond fixed income.
For now, Marketnode’s fixed income issuer services platform is slated to launch in 4Q2021. This will provide banks with products and solutions powered by data analysis such as documentation streamlining, investor engagement tools, ESG reporting and market access mechanisms.
Meanwhile, Marketnode will also work with RootAnt Global, a Singapore-based fintech player as well as SETL, a UK-based blockchain solution platform, to build its fixed income and multi-asset end-to-end infrastructure.
This comes on top of the platform’s existing collaboration with Covalent Capital. As part of this, both Covalent Capital and Marketnode have launched integrated offerings such as auto-ISIN generation and digital bond straight-through processing.
“We continue to embrace the paradigm shift that the financial industry is undergoing with the emergence of new technologies,” says Lee Beng Hong, head of fixed income, currencies and commodities at SGX.
“By collaborating with banking and technology partners, we are creating network effects and building scale and capability that can be applied cross-assets within a single platform, for the benefit of banks, issuers and investors,” he adds.
Agreeing, Pradyumna Agarwal, managing director of Blockchain@Temasek calls the participation of the banks on Marketnode’s platform, a significant milestone.
“It further validates the market for end-to-end infrastructure, and services for digital assets. Their contributions towards enhancing the platform’s offerings and capabilities will be invaluable,” he stresses.
Both Lee and Pradyumna are looking forward to have more market participants joining Marketnode to accelerate the digital transformation of capital markets.
Shares in SGX closed up 6 cents or 0.6% at $10.10 on Sep 27, before the announcement.
Cover image: SGX
