RBC expands prime brokerage business with Global Prime Services Group

Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Author: HedgeWeek

RBC Capital Markets has announced the creation of the RBC Global Prime Services Group to provide comprehensive support to hedge fund managers, mutual fund managers and institutional asset managers via a single platform.

'We recognise that the lines between hedge fund and traditional institutional managers are becoming more obscure as their needs become more similar - hedge funds are going public and no longer using only long/short strategies, traditional fund managers are launching 130/30 funds, using leverage and shorting, while institutional managers need more robust services,' says Jeremy Frommer, head of RBC Global Prime Services.

'We decided to break down silos by bringing together, under a single umbrella, everything from prime brokerage to trading technology, securities lending to capital introductions, as well as financing. RBC Global Prime Services provides clients with the comprehensive and robust array of multi-asset class products and services they need in today's complex, rapidly moving markets.'

RBC says the establishment of the new business unit, featuring a single point of contact customer service platform, comes as fund managers, traders and other counterparties are seeking prime brokerage and service providers with strong credit quality and stability on which they can depend.

'While the past few months have seen unprecedented challenges in the brokerage industry, RBC's strength and stability has been - and will remain - a source of confidence for our clients, particularly those in alternative investments,' Frommer says.

'Our unique single-point-of-contact for multi-asset class service provides a consolidated view of a client's portfolio, enabling us to fully understand our clients' needs and provide the right products and the highest level of service possible,' says Daniel Dorenbush, head of relationship management for the prime services business.

RBC says the businesses making up the Global Prime Services Group have made a substantial investment in technology this year and seen a 20 per cent increase in clients and a related increase in assets under management in the past six months.

The group brings together services recently launched by RBC as well as several operational units including RBCAccel, a multi-asset class proprietary trading platform, the RBC Capital Introduction Group, which introduces investors to hedge fund managers seeking to grow their assets and offers the RBC Emerging Manager Allocator platform, a multistrategy growth fund of hedge funds, and the RBC Global Futures & Base Metals Group, which offers execution and clearing for futures and options traders as well as specialised interest rate, foreign exchange, equity, base metals, and commodity and energy product and service offerings.

'Building the Global Prime Services Group enables us truly to partner with our clients,' said Greg Mills, head of global equity sales and trading for RBC Capital Markets. 'We are now able to provide a fully consolidated platform that maximises the benefits to our clients and efficiently employs RBC's financing capabilities.'

RBC Capital Markets is the corporate and investment banking arm of RBC and is active in debt origination, sales and trading, foreign exchange, infrastructure finance, structured products, metals and mining, and energy. Its North American platform includes a US mid-market investment banking franchise and equity, underwriting, sales, trading and research businesses.