India operations to offer post-trade products to global clients: OSTTRA

London-based company says Indian team supports its international clients, solves operational problems

London-based company OSTTRA will use its Gurgaon development centre to find post-trade solutions to its global clients, including investment bankers, hedge funds, asset managers, and prime brokers facing volatility amid geo-political tensions and the impact of Covid-19.

"All my innovation, all my new products in the currency market, equity, both cash and derivatives, are coming out of our centre of excellence in Gurgaon," Joanna Davies, heads foreign exchange and securities division at OSTTRA, told Business Standard.

OSTTRA is a joint venture between MarkitServ and CME group for post-trade solutions. All OSTTRA developers for testing and technology innovation in currency and equity markets are in Gurgaon.

"We also have big operations deployment in Gurgaon. We are supporting our clients all over the world from India. They talk to customers and solve their operational problems. The Indian team is extremely effective. So, we have two deployments—technology and operations to support OSTTRA business globally from India," Davies said.

The Gurgaon centre has made a product that enables participants to watch the progress of transactions in the futures market, post execution by linking clearing counterparties (CCPs).

"We have built connectivity for two of the largest F&O CCPs globally – CME and Eurex--  with many more still to come such as for SGX in Singapore,” she said.

Davies said volatility in the futures markets have increased after the outbreak of Covid-19 and geopolitical tensions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

To manage those risks, the Gurgaon centre has made a product to track trades in the futures markets real-time and increase certainty and accuracy.

"We are talking to all the market participants to sell this product, called OSTTRA ETD (exchange traded derivative client link," she said.

Besides Covid-19 and geopolitics, market participants across the globe have to meet new regulations. For instance, The Futures Industry Association in the US has mandated that a trade should be cleared within 90 minutes of execution.

"We facilitate that trade in real time. We don't need that 90 minutes,” said Davies. All these products are either new or upgraded by the Gurgaon centre for OSTTRA global clients in currency and securities markets.

Cryptocurrency

Davies said cryptocurrency is a new opportunity in the currency space. "OSTTRA is crypto ready. We have developed our India team, we have developed the capability to process cryptocurrencies in the same way we process any other currencies."

However, trading volumes in crypto from institutional investors are very small. ”If I get institutional investors who trade crypto, I can process for them the same way I process NDF (non-deliverable forward) today. Currently very limited volumes come on crypto from institutional investors. The market is waiting for standardised regulations which would allow institutional investors to trade more wholeheartedly in crypto."

OSTTRA has said before that it will ramp up its "centre for excellence" to 400 heads in 2023 and 600 by 2024. "We already have 300 people working in the centre. We are on track to meet the numbers we have talked about," Davies said.

Centre of attraction

• OSTRAA Gurgaon centre caters to investment bankers, hedge funds, asset managers, and prime brokers facing volatility amid geo-political tensions and the impact of Covid-19   
• The Haryana facility has two deployments — technology and operations — where employees get in touch with global customers and solve their operational problems   
• At present the firm has 300 people working in the centre and plans to increase the number to 400 in 2023 and 600 by 2024   
• The company has developed the capability to process cryptocurrencies in the same way as it processes any other currency