11/01/2012 Author: Will Wainewright

BNY Mellon begins client push ahead of Solvency II

BNY Mellon has embarked on a major push to win new clients seeking managed account or data aggregation services upon the 2014 introduction of Solvency II, regulation which will re-shape the European insurance market, HFMWeek can exclusively reveal.

Mick Murphy, managing director within BNY Mellon’s Global Client Management group, told HFMWeek that the company was focusing on offering Solvency II solutions, be it through managed accounts or a new data aggregation service.

The regulation will require hedge funds with investors from insurance firms to give up more information on the positions they take, which experts say could lead to a surge in managed accounts and associated services.

“Through our affiliate HedgeMark, BNY Mellon is offering a hedge fund managed account solution, which includes a service where we collect and aggregate data for insurance companies without revealing specific positions of any particular hedge fund manager,” said Murphy.

He revealed that he has spoken to more than 100 insurers about the demands of the regulation and ran a Solvency II-focused event on the issue last month, which was attended by more than 50 hedge funds.

Theo Brennand, a senior manager at Deloitte, said data aggregation services offered an alternative to funds unwilling to offer complete visibility. “Even 12 months ago, hedge funds were saying that they would not provide the information required. But some are now working out how they can provide the data without having to disclose potentially commercially sensitive information.”