What is Prime Brokerage? The Complete Guide

Our multi-asset Prime Services offering provides clients with access to one of the broadest product capabilities across prime brokerage, clearing, and FX prime brokerage. Institutional investors usually require more robust investment services than traditional retail investors need. Prime brokers provide expanded tools for investors with significant capital to conduct financial activities. However, choosing prime brokerage services that best meet institutional needs requires careful consideration.

Helping hedge funds, asset managers, and institutional investors meet the demands of a rapidly evolving market. The Prime Brokerage team also realizes the importance of a strong global footprint, according to Novick. “While we’ve always been global, we’ve been at the forefront of building new capabilities and products for hedge funds and investors around the world, as regional markets have evolved,” she says. We have business professionals and experienced prime brokerage technologists available to provide training and support, and our global Client Technology Services team responds to client inquiries 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The majority of prime brokerage clients are made of large-scale investors and institutions. Money managers and hedge funds often meet the qualifications, as well as arbitrageurs and a variety of other professional investors. In the case of hedge funds, prime brokerage services are often considered significant in determining a fund’s success.

Clients have access to a full global suite of equity exposure across index, sector, custom basket, futures and single stocks. Clients can trade cash equities, futures, options, foreign exchange and fixed income instruments. Jefferies is one of the world’s leading full-service investment banking and capital markets firms. XYZ is an investment firm with $100 million generated from its clients.

Clearing is ensuring the transaction settles with a timely transfer of funds and shares to both parties. It is a complex process and requires a specialized organization to act as a middleman to ensure transactions are settled properly. These can include risk management, capital introduction, securities financing, and cash financing. Some go as far as to offer the opportunity to sublease office space and provide access to other facility-based benefits.

prime brokerage sales

A prime brokerage is a large institution typically used by hedge funds, family offices and large traders to help execute and finance their trading or portfolio strategy. Consider a prime brokerage like a primary care physician that provides most of your medical treatment. Primary care physicians may refer you to a specialist that is also housed What Are Prime Numbers 1 To 102 under the same umbrella under the medical group. The banks which captured these flows to the greatest degree were Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, and Deutsche Bank. During these market changes, HSBC launched a prime brokerage business in 2009 called “HSBC Prime Services”, which built its prime brokerage platform out of its custody business.

  • For example, a prime broker may also be in the business of leasing office space to hedge funds, as well as including on-site services as part of the arrangement.
  • For many large institutions, a prime broker can be a one-stop-shop that makes doing business much easier.
  • The platform allows for various structures and can be flexible according to clients’ preferences.
  • Security holders who allow borrowers to use their security to short the stock receive a rebate from a prime broker.
  • Liquidity penalties may be established using a rule-of-thumb for days-to-liquidate that 10% of the daily trading volume can be liquidated without overdue influence on the price.

With trading hubs in London, New York, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, our global team provides 24-hour access to over 50 developed and emerging markets. We have a strong reputation for significant and longstanding relationships built on the fundamentals of client service, borrow liquidity and borrow protection. We understand the importance of supporting our global clients across a wide range of investment strategies and products. Our flexible infrastructure allows for customizable solutions to meet clients’ specific needs. We offer a wide range of data formats and secure delivery options, and we work to integrate our solutions with our clients’ existing systems.

We offer a global, multi-asset class, multi-currency reporting and technology platform that scales with clients as they expand into new strategies, markets and products. Our Consulting Services team helps hedge fund managers launch, support and build their businesses. With over a decade of experience and offices located across the US, Europe and Asia, we combine local focus with global expertise and coordination.

A prime brokerage is an institution that offers a host of financial services, such as securities lending, trade and execution, clearing and settlement, cash management and risk analysis. Prime brokers usually work with hedge funds, large institutional investors and private equity firms. Prime brokers service investment managers like hedge funds, private equity firms, pension funds or even other commercial banks. In some cases, high-net-worth investors may also qualify for prime brokerage services, although clients must generally meet prime brokerage qualifications and minimum asset requirements. Another important service is capital introduction for the fund manager.

IBKR has no mark-ups or built-in spreads and offers low and fully transparent commissions on bonds. Access a vast universe of more than 1 million bonds and trade US Treasuries around the clock five days per week. IBKR GlobalAnalyst is designed for investors who are interested in international portfolio diversification. It helps you find new opportunities to diversify your portfolio and discover undervalued companies that may have greater growth potential.

The basic services offered by a prime broker give a money manager the ability to trade with multiple brokerage houses while maintaining, in a centralized master account at their prime broker, all of the hedge fund’s cash and securities. Additionally, the prime broker offers stock loan services, portfolio reporting, consolidated cash management and other services. Fundamentally, the advent of the prime broker freed the money manager from the more time consuming and expensive aspects of running a fund. These services worked because they also allowed the money manager to maintain relationships with multiple brokerage houses for IPO allocations, research, best execution, conference access and other products.

prime brokerage sales

Prime brokers have access to client holdings and can offer research and data to help identify cash and securities management risks. Performance analytic reports also help clients better monitor their investments. Most investment firms are not set up to settle and custody its own assets, requiring prime brokers to step in and work with the executing brokers to settle and transfer assets. Prime brokerage services also offer margin and financing options so that clients can borrow funds and increase their financial leverage.

prime brokerage sales

The service is offered by investment banks such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. Short sale locates, access to dark pools and clearing are all part of the core business of prime brokers. Leverage is one of the primary benefits of using a prime broker since they have custody of its clients assets, the prime broker is capable of using those assets to lever more buying power to its clients. The ideal prime brokerage client will make generous use of its available leverage while having plenty of margin available so as not to trigger any margin calls, force liquidation or defaults. An essential prime brokerage service involves risk management and performance analytics.

prime brokerage sales

Capital introduction is essentially the process of connecting hedge fund managers to potential investors in the form of the prime broker’s asset management and private banking clients. PB Sales is all about convincing hedge funds to use your investment banking services. For sales, yes, its most likely all fit but you should have an understanding what type of services PB provides. For example, global custody and clearing of trades for HFs, financing, and at the value-added end of the chain, capital introduction and risk management. Most likely given your ops background, you’ll be a good fit for the custody/clearing component of the job since you’ll interact with middle/back-office on client EOD reporting.


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