Refinitiv and NRI complete successful launch of Refinitiv BETA and I-STAR/GX with Baird

New York – October 20, 2020 –Refinitiv and Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI), a leading provider of consulting services and system solutions, today announced the launch of the Refinitiv BETA and I-STAR/GX offering at Baird, an employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets, and private equity firm.

The go-live with Baird comes at a time when wealth management firms, their advisors and investors are actively seeking full-service digital and automated solutions that help to address the rising levels of market volatility and uncertainty amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. The successful client implementation of the integrated Refinitiv/NRI solution, will provide seamless back-office operation for cross-border trade processing and settlement.

“We remain committed to our wealth management customers, evermore so now that we are in the middle of a global pandemic requiring remote work and robust digital solution, while global markets struggle to inspire investor confidence,” said Joe Mrak, Global Head of Wealth Management at Refinitiv. “We continue to work around the clock to help enable our customer operations, as statistics from our brokerage transactions and operations service, BETA Systems - point to record trading volumes in recent weeks and months.”

Designed for institutional and wealth management investment firms, the integrated BETA and I-STAR/GX offering delivers fully automated settlement and straight-through processing of trades executed across all markets. The high-volume solution offers a single-stock record across all asset classes and markets, driving domestic and international corporate actions processing.

In October 2019, Refinitiv and NRI announced the successful go live of the Refinitiv BETA and I-STAR/GX offering, the implementation resulting from the strategic partnership between the two firms.Baird will now also yield the benefits of the combined offering’s automated international post-trade processing for multi-market and multi-currency securities.

“We’re excited about the operational efficiencies we expect to achieve and pass on to our clients through the integrated solution from Refinitiv and NRI,” said Veronica Arias-Maestro, Managing Director of Capital Markets Operations at Baird. “We look forward to being able to more efficiently service our clients from instructing our international custodial partners in real time through fully automated transaction monitoring, cleanup and reconciliation.”

“Our work with Baird has been extremely encouraging, and we are thrilled to bring them live on our combined offering with NRI,” added Mrak. “The partnership with NRI enables us to offer evermore global diversification with our retail and institutional clients, extending our solutions throughout the entire trade lifecycle.”

“The continued successful implementations of the BETA and I-STAR/GX is a testament to the strength of our partnership with Refinitiv and underscores NRI’s commitment to and growing business in the US and North America,” said Naohiro Sako, Senior Corporate Managing Director at NRI.

Refinitiv is one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure, serving over 40,000 institutions in approximately 190 countries. It provides leading data and insights, trading platforms, and open data and technology platforms that connect a thriving global financial markets community - driving performance in trading, investment, wealth management, regulatory compliance, market data management, enterprise risk and fighting financial crime. For more information visit: www.Refinitiv.com.

Founded in 1965, NRI is a leading global provider of system solutions and consulting services, including management consulting, system integration, and IT management and solutions for the financial, manufacturing, retail and service industries. Clients from all layers of these individual industries partner with NRI to tap NRI’s research expertise and innovative solutions across the organization to expand businesses, design corporate structures and create new business strategies. NRI has more than 13,000 employees in more than 50 offices globally including New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. NRI reports annual sales above $4.8 billion. NRI is rated “A” by S&P Global Ratings Japan. For more information, visit https://www.nri.com/en.

Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets, and private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1919, Baird has approximately 4,600 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Baird has more than $300 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2019. Committed to being a great place to work, Baird ranked No. 13 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list in 2020 – its 17h consecutive year on the list. Baird is the marketing name of Baird Financial Group. Baird’s principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird’s investment banking and private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird’s website at www.rwbaird.com.