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CHAPTER FIVE | GOING GLOBAL
In 1997, NSCC had launched the Emerging Markets Clearing Corporation in coordination with the Emerging Market Traders Association, a valuable resource for the automated trade comparison, settlement and risk management of emerging markets debt transactions. Working outside the United States was becoming common for DTCC, which opened an operational site for the Global Corporate Actions service in Shanghai in the early 2000s. The firm hired employees in local markets to handle customer service 24 hours a day due to the time zone differences. DTCC reached out to customers and asked them how DTCC could help them, just as it did in its early days to minimize certificate movement. “Those conversations led to client acquisitions to the extent that they were in a position to move other types of activities over to the depository,” said John Colangelo, former managing director of operations, Business Re-engineering and Client Services. DTCC’s global focus would also mean it had to learn about and understand different cultures. “Cultural differences tend to get very much embedded into how people perceive standards, how they perceive where we’re going to go, how they perceive regulation,” said Jill Considine, DTCC’s chairman and CEO from 1999 to 2006. “We need to get on top of how we are going to have a global regulation that really provides the safety and soundness that we need.” As DTCC continued its global expansion, it found a partner in an old foe: Thomson, which at one point had been a fierce competitor in London. Though Thomson already had a mature presence in the UK, it also had a presence throughout the rest of Europe and in Asia. In a 50-50 joint venture, Thomson and DTCC aligned to form Omgeo in 2001. The new entity would serve as a launching pad for DTCC to further expand globally and prove to be a successful, long-standing joint venture. Initially, however, the partnership caused some confusion at DTCC because it was a not-for-profit integrated with a publicly listed company. The joint venture was successful and helped DTCC expand its global reach, as Robert McGrail, DTCC managing director of business management and the founding chairman of the Board of Omgeo, explained: The Omgeo joint venture grew into the leading global provider of post-trade processing for institutional trades, and leveraged the strengths of both parent companies. It was successful for both parents for 13 years, an unusually long term for a joint venture, and was structured in a way to ensure that if Thomson’s strategy changed to focus more on other parts of their broader businesses, DTCC would acquire their stake.
Above: DTCC’s former Chairman and CEO Jill Considine made it a top
priority for the firm to expand beyond its US borders while expressing the importance of developing a standard for global regulation.
In 2014, DTCC acquired Thomson’s half of Omgeo and rebranded it as DTCC Institutional Trade Processing. ■
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