Acquisition Marks Broadridge Financial's First Foray Into Crypto Services

Broadridge Financial Solutions can soon offer post-trade services for cryptocurrency after acquiring fintech company Shadow Financial Systems. 

The Lake Success, N.Y.-based company, an investor services firm with $4 billion in revenue and a $15 billion market cap, has invested heavily in blockchain projects, but the Shadow deal will be its foray into cryptocurrency.

Broadridge did not disclose the terms of the deal or reveal what parts of post-trade processing for crypto the firm would implement. According to Justin Llewellyn-Jones, head of capital markets for North America at Broadridge, over the next month, the firm will perform due diligence on Shadow Financial to determine what its software can do for crypto post-trade services.

“There are not that many [firms] that want to settle and clear Coinbase trades,” Llewellyn-Jones said. “If we have those capabilities it opens up an interesting arc for us to go forward.”

Shadow Financial is a provider of multi-asset-class solutions based in Piscataway, N.J. It offers post-trade software for exchanges, inter-dealer brokers, broker-dealers, agency brokers and proprietary trading firms. In August 2018, Shadow Financial announced its support of cryptocurrencies in ShadowSuite, the firm’s reconciliation, clearance, settlement, treasury and accounting system.  

In addition to millions of dollars of investments in the blockchain space, Broadridge has participated in blockchain pilots focused on proxy voting and bilateral repurchase agreements. Still, this is the first Broadridge investment to dabble in cryptocurrency itself.

Earlier this year, Broadridge purchased Northern Trust’s blockchain platform for private equity. In response to the European Commission's amendment to its Shareholder’s Rights Directive, Broadridge announced that it was building a blockchain shareholder disclosure platform. 

Broadridge image via CoinDesk archives