For more than 45 years, DTCC has played an integral role in helping to reshape the global financial services industry. Now, as the industry undergoes an unprecedented transformation, DTCC has reinforced that commitment with a refreshed business strategy and brand that illustrates our deep expertise and proven track record for innovation.
The strategy and brand promise exemplify “our partnership and collaboration with the industry, our ability to lead transformation and it speaks to the opportunities we create and the challenges we solve for the industry,” says company President and CEO Mike Bodson in his letter to stakeholders that opens DTCC’s 2019 Annual Report, Advancing Financial Markets. Together..
Looking forward, DTCC teams are dedicated to “delivering an experience that ‘wows’ our clients and demonstrates the value they derive from their investment in DTCC. This is more than aspiration; it is a declaration,” he says.
Published as the coronavirus pandemic is creating an unprecedented global health crisis and roiling financial markets, the report delivers a message that has never been more relevant: DTCC plays an essential role in providing market stability when it is needed most, and its partnership with market participants and regulators enables it to develop the solutions the industry needs in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
“We protect the integrity of the global financial system,” Bodson says. “It’s the foundation of our organization and serves as the rallying cry that unites our employees and gives peace of mind to the industry, especially during times of crisis.”
Multi-Faceted Performance
2019 was a year of strong financial and operating performance for DTCC. Volumes and revenues in its three Systemically Important Financial Market Utilities (SIFMUs) exceeded targets, and the value of financial transactions processed rose 16% to hit $2.15 quadrillion, a new record. The company refreshed its brand and fine-tuned its strategy to reflect and reinforce its collaboration with the industry in solving problems. This collaboration manifested itself in the launch of new products and the growing client uptake of other solutions that are helping firms streamline operations and manage regulatory compliance. And the company continued to exert thought leadership on critical industry topics, win recognition for its open and inclusive workplace and expand career development opportunities for its diverse employee population.
Guided by the theme of reimagining the role of market infrastructures in providing solutions to the industry’s ever-evolving needs, DTCC in 2019 updated its Strategic Goals, which are spelled out in the “Leadership” section. As Bodson says in his opening message, these goals—protecting the capital markets, transforming the post-trade ecosystem, rearchitecting our services and elevating the client experience—will “chart our course forward. Our promise to you is that the initiatives we undertake in the future will be sharply focused on solving our clients’ most pressing problems and ‘moving the needle’ for them.”
These accomplishments, and more, are presented in the digitized and interactive report.
High Volatility, Increased Volumes
The report presents the highlights of DTCC’s 2019 activities through text, videos and graphics that include key volume and revenue statistics across business lines; summaries of key accomplishments around technology, risk management, regulatory compliance, industry efficiencies, and product development and enhancement; and employee testimonials about career growth and the workplace culture.
Solutions, which comprises Institutional Trade Processing (ITP), Repository & Derivatives Services (RDS) and Data Services, experienced strong community build and uptake for several important products that address critical operational challenges for clients: Margin Transit Utility (MTU), the new trade reporting solution for the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR), the FRTB Real Price Observations service now in beta version, and new Kinetics data services. DTCC maintained strong capital and cash positions as well as minimal leverage on the balance sheet.
Additionally, DTCC in 2019 continued to invest in new technology-driven client solutions. The company built a new online application programming interface (API) “app store” (launched in 2020) that gives clients, partners and internal developers direct programmatic access to DTCC products and services and enables them to create proprietary products and services that can be used when and how they want them.
Click here to access the report online.