Former BlackRock exec sets up ETF sec finance consultancy

Former BlackRock exec sets up ETF sec finance consultancy

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Securities finance veteran Andrew Jamieson has launched a new advisory business aimed at investment banks, broker dealers, asset managers and ETF issuers.

Jamieson, the former head of broker broker-dealer & market-maker relationships at BlackRock’s iShares ETF division, describes the new venture – Warriston Place Advisors – as a multi-discipline strategy & implementation advisory.

It is already helping a handful of clients and focuses on ETF strategy, lending and borrowing advice as well as helping firms navigate the significant re-pricing trend occurring across the prime brokerage space.

Peer analysis, network building, strategy & implementation and marketing are some of the services on offer by the business.

“In my role at Blackrock, it was clear that leading sell-side institutions often struggled to understand how to incorporate ETFs successfully into their distribution plans,” said Jamieson.

“Indeed the consequences of not being able to borrow, lend or finance ETFs was often misunderstood. Consequently, I have set up Warriston Place Advisors to help solve some of these challenges.

"I am also leveraging my prior experience in both prime brokerage and securities finance."

ETF assets globally have risen dramatically in recent years and look to be finally entering the mainstream as a viable form of collateral.

Leading agent lenders State Street and BlackRock accept ETFs as collateral, with many other institutions now reviewing them for the very first time according to a recent study by Euroclear entitled 'Securities lending: The next frontier for ETFs.' 

However, certain barriers remain, including uncertainty about the liquidity of certain ETFs and lack of oversight of total availability of the lending pool across different markets. 

Meanwhile Vincent DeLorenzo, a former Citi and Bank of America executive, joins Jamieson at Warriston to head the group’s FX advisory services.

DeLorenzo has also worked at Societé Generale, where he was global head of short term interest rate derivatives trading, managing teams in New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong. 

Charlotte Russell also consults across all four of Warriston Place Advisors fields on marketing materials, digital marketing, and pitching. 

She has over ten years of in-house financial services experience in sales and marketing and most recently worked at Man Group within the fund of hedge funds business managing relationships with consultants and large European institutional clients.

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