HQLAX announced it’s closed a Series C strategic investment round led by HSBC, with contribution from existing shareholders including BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citigroup, Deutsche Börse Group, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan. The funding will fuel the continued development and expansion of the HQLAX Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform and support the growth of its client footprint.
As part of HSBC’s investment, Jamie Anderson, head of Collateral Treasury Trading at HSBC, will join HQLAX’s Board of Directors. Financial details are not disclosed.
Anderson said in a statement: “Digital asset innovation is accelerating at pace around the world, which is why I’m looking forward to working closely with HQLAX to enable us to collaboratively build on our strengths as partners, and to optimize liquidity management and collateral management activities.”
John O’Neill, global head of Digital Assets Strategy for Markets and Securities Services at HSBC, said in a statement: “By combining the scale and international network of HSBC with HQLAX’s distributed ledger technology for managing collateral, together we can help drive innovation and efficiency in global markets.”
Moran Levinovitz, head of Ventures at HSBC, said in a statement: “HSBC is committed to undertaking investments in leading companies in the capital markets space, including those that support our digital asset strategy.”
Guido Stroemer, CEO of HQLAX, said in a statement: “In addition to investing in our company in support of our strategic platform vision, HSBC is also connecting to our platform, both as an Agent Lender and as a Bank Borrower. We are proud of completing the transaction and grateful for the strong and continued commitment from our existing investors.”
The HQLAX proprietary platform enables clients to execute frictionless, precise and real-time transfer of ownership to meet a wide variety of collateral obligations. It helps the securities finance industry address collateral fragmentation by extending its connectivity to leading triparty agents, custodians and market participants.