SOPHISTICATED YET SIMPLE PRE-TRADE ONBOARDING
SAPHYRE
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
02
SOPHISTICATED YET SIMPLE PRE-TRADE ONBOARDING
03
www.sa phy r e. com
SAPHYRE
Stephen and Gabino Roche, President and CEO, discuss overcoming risk-aversion in finance and how Saphyre is disrupting an inefficient system
I
n an era of increasing digital sophistication, the extent to which out-dated technologies, techniques and processes
continue to weigh down even the largest companies in finance is surprising. Not content with simply disrupting the pre-trade space with an integrated onboarding platform, Saphyre offers 04
clients an intuitive, easy-to-use experience that belies its sophistication. Founded in 2017, it is an iconoclastic company that desires to break down barriers in a sector easily siloed and fundamentally believes in creating a streamlined and user-friendly alternative that enables customers to generate revenue faster. “I’ve always built technology products from scratch; that’s always been kind of my thing,” states Gabino Roche, CEO. An experienced and successful business-technology leader with 20 years of expertise gained from executive roles at some of the world’s most prestigious organisations, he says that the knowledge gained from these companies regarding product R&D has been invaluable to the development of Saphyre. “I learned
05
www.sa phy r e. com
SAPHYRE
“ I’ve always built technology products from scratch; that’s always been kind of my thing” — Gabino Roche, CEO, Saphyre
what five of the major US banks were doing in this space and then also what their clients in the arena needed.” The process of mapping these two aspects together would prove crucial to the company’s development. Also adding to Saphyre’s strong leadership is Gabino’s brother, Stephen Roche, President. With a background focusing on business development and emerging communications tech, Stephen says that new innovation has always “enthralled” him. “I’ve worked with a
06
lot of Fortune 1000 entities and it’s always been a challenge to introduce new technology: companies always view it and the associated operations as an expense. However, it’s also been a good learning experience because I would help them realize a successful model, and that has allowed me to advise the Saphyre team on how best to allocate resources and grow.” Allowing clients to digitise their emails, faxes and spreadsheets through an accessible platform and powered by ATTOM ((AI Tracking of Transactions and Operational Metadata), its patented artificial intelligence (AI) workflow management
Speed Your Onboardings CLICK TO WATCH
|
0:41
07 technology, Saphyre integrates data
by focusing on both cost-reduction
sharing, real-time messaging and
and increased revenue, the company
transparency. Developing a successful
has been able to gain attention quickly.
product for pre-trade was an inte-
“Clients can start trading and making
gral part of Saphyre’s development.
money straight away, meanwhile the
However, as Gabino explains, this
custodians are also making money
was only half the battle in establishing
by collecting interest and fees. Our
the company’s place in the market.
overall strategy is to digitize the pre-
“The other half was actually planning
trade space, not just for the benefit
the adoption strategy; how do you
of trading, but also for trading and
get clients, individual users, or even
post-trade.”
institutions to adopt a new technology
Core to Saphyre’s ethos is the idea
that’s never existed before?”
of ‘levelling the playing field’ or, in
A believer in appealing to the “selfish
the company’s own words, “disrupt-
interests of the client”, he relates that,
ing a broken system”; it is adamantly www.sa phy r e. com
SAPHYRE
08
opposed to the innovation-stifling
Wary that some firms were initially
bureaucracy that permeates so many
reticent to take notice at first because
aspects of finance. “We chose to
of (unrelated) unfruitful tech initia-
take on this endeavor because the
tives that spawned risk-aversiveness,
status quo wasn’t serving people’s
Saphyre’s first mission was to prove
best interests,” explains Stephen.
that it could outperform expectations,
which, Stephen continues, it soon did.
designers, and a second team of
“I started with the company in May of
coders, to whom the middle and back-
2017. We released our first product in
office operations are taught in order to
the fall of 2017 and we went live with
establish the appropriate context as
our first client in March of 2018. We
they work. “What that does is structure
just cut through the bureaucracy and
things so that the technology team
deliver what the client actually needs.”
is uninterrupted, and they know what
Maintaining a spirit of innovation
we give them is solid because we’ve
among its staff is also highly important
already validated it several times with
at Saphyre, which it achieves through
our innovation team,” Gabino explains.
genuine employee empowerment and
“Working at some other financial
a dual-layered workforce dynamic: one
institutions three and a half years ago,
team consisting of product managers,
you would never have seen those two
industry experts and user experience
things combined together.”
E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :
Gabino Roche Title: CEO & Co-Founder
Industry: Financial Services
Location: United States Gabino is an experienced and successful business-technology leader with 20 years of expertise gained from executive roles at some of the world’s most prestigious organisations, including McKinsey, AT&T and JP Morgan Chase. “I’ve always built technology products from scratch; that’s always been kind of my thing.” Holding a BSc in Business Management Information Systems from Seton Hall University (1993 to 1998) and an MBA in Global Management from the University of Phoenix (2000 to 2003), he is highly knowledgeable on industry trends, industry-leading approaches and the contemporary needs of clients. www.sa phy r e. com
09
SAPHYRE
10
E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :
Stephen Roche Title: President & Co-Founder Industry: Financial Services Location: United States Stephen has a background focusing on business development and emerging communications tech. He has acquired a large amount of experience working for AT&T prior to co-founding Saphyre with his brother. “I’ve worked with a lot of Fortune 1000 entities and it’s always been a challenge to introduce new technology. However, it’s also been a good learning experience because I would help them realize a successful model, and that has allowed me to advise the Saphyre team on how best to allocate resources and grow.”
to support a business, that would undermine how advanced our platform really is.” In some respects, market differentiation hasn’t been difficult for Saphyre at all: possessing a portfolio of 48 patents and a unique offering in the pre-trade market, Gabino states that, prior to the company’s formation, there was no competition at all. Therefore, Saphyre’s team has been able to instead focus on raising the digital transformation of pre-trade to a higher standard. “When institutions in the finance space make investments, they invest in trading and post-trade because that’s where the money’s to be made. I’m not suggesting that pre-trade gets ignored, but you’d be Boosting Saphyre’s standing in a
surprised by the amount of Windows
cautious industry has been one of its
95 and legacy infrastructure that still
key challenges, particularly when other
exists out there.”
companies in the space compound the issue by over-promising and underdelivering. “And then, when you have a fintech startup saying, ‘We can do all these things too,’ people might look at our size and question it,” says Stephen. “However, we’re bringing a phenomenal user experience,” Gabino adds, “If we needed to hire armies of people
“ We chose to take on this endeavor because the status quo wasn’t serving people’s best interests” — Stephen Roche, President, Saphyre www.c o mpa www.sa ny wephy bsitr e. com
11
SAPHYRE
“ Our overall strategy is to digitize the pre-trade space, not just for the benefit of trading, but also for trading and post-trade” — Gabino Roche, CEO, Saphyre Any ‘glass ceiling’ that might have impeded Saphyre has been coun12
tenanced by the announcement in mid-September that it had struck a partnership with JP Morgan and BlackRock. Deployed to digitize their account opening workflow, produce
news.” Indeed, the partnership can be
improved scalability and remove
viewed as simultaneously a validation
manual processes, the two companies’
of Saphyre’s value and an illustration
choice to leverage Saphyre’s technol-
of the importance of collaboration, no
ogy has given it a significant credibility
matter how large a financial institution
boost. “We were selected because
might be, a conclusion that Gabino
Saphyre is the only one in this space,
concurs with: “If you try to be the
and [JP Morgan and Blackrock] were
master of many things, you’ll be the
tired of pseudo-monopoly financial
master of none. Saphyre has opted to
firms dealing with 1980s technology or
be the master of one thing, which we
faxing data information,” says Stephen.
do extremely well.”
“It’s our reputation and consistency of execution that has led to this great
Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic relatively unfazed, owing
13
S A P HY RE’S SU PP O RT
Saphyre’s new partners have been vocal in their support for the company: “Saphyre has been instrumental in transforming the account opening experience for our clients. J.P. Morgan was an early adopter of Saphyre and is now live in production after successfully testing its value proposition for over 6 months,” said Naveen TV, Managing Director, JP Morgan’s Securities Services.
“With powerful workflow features and enhanced visibility into the account opening lifecycle, Saphyre has enabled BlackRock to eliminate manual processes to support the account opening workflow across custodians and broker-dealers,” commented Liliane Ancona, Managing Director, BlackRock. The full details of Saphyre’s momentous partnership with JP Morgan and BlackRock can be found here.
www.sa phy r e. com
SAPHYRE
14
to its high-tech operational infrastructure, Gabino even posits that certain aspects of the business, such as setting up meetings, may have become easier. “Traditionally, I would have to fly across the world, go to people’s offices, make pitches, etc. Now, relying on Zoom and Microsoft Teams, I’m actually more busy because I don’t have to allocate that additional travel
“ If you try to be the master of many things, you’ll be the master of none. Saphyre has opted to be the master of one thing, which we do extremely well” — Gabino Roche, CEO, Saphyre
15
time; I’ve got meetings back-to-back.”
streamline the entire experience and
Subsequently, Saphyre has been
make it more user friendly,” concludes
able to concentrate on its mission
Gabino. “In the world today everything
for 2021: eliminating 70% of manual
is siloed, but we’re breaking down
post-trade activities, a complement to
those walls and bringing it all together.”
its uncontested work in the pre-trade space and demonstrating its holistic, end-to-end grasp of the trade process. “Our model is sophisticated yet simple; we’re constantly exploring how to www.sa phy r e. com
P0WERED BY
www.saphyre.com