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Abu Dhabi state-owned conglomerate the International Holding Company’s (IHC) answer to capital markets, Finstreet, launched yesterday with a bell ringing ceremony at Asset Abu Dhabi as part of Abu Dhabi Finance Week. The platform, launched by IHC’s finance and trading arm Rorix Holdings, received the greenlight to operate in the ADGM in September.
Refresher: The platform includes a single blockchain-powered platform encompassing a digital multilateral trading facility (MTF), offering secondary market trading for securities listed on other exchanges; a central securities depository to hold assets in custody; and a private financing platform, allowing for trading in private markets. Finstreet’s portfolio includes three regulated financial subsidiaries — Finstreet Global Markets, Finstreet Global Clearing and Settlement, and Finstreet Capital.
The platform, which brands itself as a “360 degree” platform linking securities from the East and West, aims to “reimagine the capital markets landscape” and offer investors a chance to invest in private securities across markets across the globe, Finstreet CEO Sunidhi Pasan said during the ceremony. The platform also offers trading across different stages of capital raising and financing, covering the origination and issuance of a financial asset, up until trading, settlement and custody.
The idea is to tap into pockets of liquidity that are stagnant in the form of AUM: “Capital is capital — it doesn’t matter [in] which country [it resides] or in what [asset form,],” Pasan said at a panel. “Liquidity of capital is key,” she added, emphasizing that plenty of investors are seeking ways to invest in private capital, but a lot of that liquidity is held in assets under management by asset managers — Finstreet aims to liberate some of that liquidity.
