BlackRock and Cassini Systems, a leading provider of pre- and post-trade margin and collateral analytics for derivatives markets, announced today that the two firms have entered into a strategic partnership to integrate Cassini analytics into BlackRock’s Aladdin® platform. The integration will allow mutual clients to factor margin-based analytics into their pre- and post-trade decision-making.

Integrated into the Aladdin platform, Cassini’s margin analytics capabilities will empower traders, portfolio managers and operations professionals to better understand and control margin requirements at all stages of the trade lifecycle. This includes the ability to analyze drivers and movement in margin exposure, identify opportunities to optimize collateral, and maximize margin efficiencies across the entirety of a firm’s book of business.

“We are excited to partner with Cassini to help clients more efficiently manage their margin by leveraging analytics at multiple points during the derivatives lifecycle,” said Sudhir Nair, Head of the Aladdin Business at BlackRock. “The combination of the Aladdin platform’s derivatives capabilities with Cassini’s margin analytics will enable our clients to best utilize their derivatives and collateral operating model on Aladdin.”

The partnership builds on existing Aladdin derivatives capabilities to provide pre-trade margin comparison and collateral optimization.

“At Cassini, we’re delighted that Aladdin chose our technology for this integrated offering. Mutual clients, including BlackRock itself, will now be able to leverage all of Cassini's front-to-back margin and collateral analytics and optimization tools, natively within Aladdin. The ability to optimize and manage margin thresholds, as well as carry costs, at pre-trade time and execute post-trade margin and collateral optimization natively in the same platform represents a new step forward in the industry,” said Liam Huxley, CEO of Cassini Systems.

The announcement is part of BlackRock’s multi-year investment in the Aladdin platform’s derivatives functionality to enable clients to comply with post-financial crisis regulations, including those subject to the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR).  BlackRock and Cassini will first offer joint pre-trade initial margin capabilities in September.