LONDON-- June 27, 2023 -- Calastone, the largest global funds network, today announces it is collaborating with Schroders to explore the capabilities of a tokenised investment vehicle for variable capital companies (VCCs). The collaboration follows a multi-year investment by Calastone into Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and tokenisation, with the ultimate aim to manufacture and distribute tokenised investment vehicles through Calastone’s Distributed Market Infrastructure.

Digitalising the core operations of collective investment vehicles presents the opportunity to transform the value chain and create better value for investors by reducing costs, and laying the foundation for more flexible investment products that are more aligned to the digital experiences consumers find elsewhere.

Adam Belding, CTO, Calastone, commented: “We’ve been working with DLT for many years, exploring different types of DLT and looking for the use cases where it can add real value. Tokenising fund units will not provide the transformation that the industry is looking for, however operating collective investments on a native DLT platform, and applying DLT and tokenisation at all levels of the fund from trading, to administration and distribution, provides a much more fundamental transformation.

Our work with Schroders shows that this future could be much closer than some imagine. We believe that used in the right way DLT is a powerful platform for providing, managing, securing and distributing tokenised assets, helping to unlock meaningful improvements in operational efficiency and product innovation.”

Peter Hilborne, Chief Operating Officer, Operations at Schroders said: "We are in a transformative era where distributed ledger technology will redefine finance with a positive impact on asset management. At Schroders, we understand the vital role tokenisation and digital assets may play in modern economic arrangements, and we are delighted to be working with Calastone to contribute to the advancement of the digital asset ecosystem. We look forward to collaborating with various industry players to bring this pioneering technology to market, ushering in an era of exciting possibilities.”