iCapital to develop distributed ledger-based enhancements

By Edlyn Cardoza

iCapital, a leading global FinTech platform driving access and efficiency in alternative investments for the asset and wealth management industries, recently announced a consortium to develop a distributed ledger-based solution for the alternative investment ecosystem. The group, led by iCapital, will champion an industry-wide initiative to drive the next generation in operational efficiency, security, and convenience. The consortium includes leading asset managers, wealth managers, and service providers, including Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, BNY Mellon, Carlyle, KKR, Morgan Stanley, State Street, UBS, and WestCap will partner with iCapital to make it easier to acquire and service alternative assets.

“Leadership of this initiative, which brings together many of the most influential market participants to leverage emerging technology, is well aligned with iCapital’s mission,” said Lawrence Calcano, Chairman and CEO of iCapital. “We are completely committed to making investing in and owning alternative investments easier for advisors and their high-net-worth investors.”

Creating a secure, shared, auditable record for each alternative investment will augment the efficiency of the investment creation, management, and exit processes, thereby eliminating the need for each party to take in data, reconcile it to their records and share new versions of the data with others. The new model will also improve visibility throughout the process and across the value chain.

“We see the potential distributed ledger technology has to significantly improve both efficiency and security across the alternatives industry,” said Jerry Pascucci, Head of Global Alternative Investment Solutions at UBS Global Wealth Management. “We are excited to be working with this group on a distributed ledger initiative that will transform the service we can offer our clients.”

“With this next generation of technology, we are committed to optimizing the entire alternative investing experience so that advisors and their clients can meet their needs with efficiency and ease,” said Todd Myers, Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Private Wealth Solutions at Blackstone. “We are proud to join this group of asset and wealth management leaders in this imperative industry effort.”

While Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, BNY Mellon, Carlyle, KKR, Morgan Stanley, State Street, UBS and WestCap are the first to join iCapital in the effort to develop and test blockchain-based solutions, iCapital expects additional, prominent alternative industry participants to join the initiative to establish functionality for the entire global-alternative investment network.

“The value in a private, permissioned, distributed ledger solution is that it creates one single golden source of data – eliminating the need for multiple reconciliations, allowing all the parties in a transaction to read from and write to the same record,” said Tom Fortin, Chief Information Officer of iCapital. “This synchronized approach enhances reliability, security, and efficiency. It is the latest technical innovation that we are developing to enhance our platform capabilities, and the alternative investment ecosystem more broadly, for the benefit of all participants.”

iCapital plays an instrumental role in the global alternative investing ecosystem, facilitating access to private markets investments for advisors and their high-net-worth clients by providing intuitive, end-to-end technology and service solutions. Wealth management firms use iCapital’s solutions to provide clients with quality funds at lower minimums and simplified digital workflows. Asset managers, RIAs, and banks leverage iCapital’s technology to streamline and scale their private investments operational infrastructure.

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that Allfunds, a leading B2B Wealthtech platform for the funds industry, and iCapital had announced that their platform to provide private market investment opportunities to the Allfunds global distributor network is live.