Cassini Systems

Cassini Systems, which rebranded to simply Cassini in November 2023, is a financial technology firm that provides a specialized analytics platform for derivatives market participants. Founded in 2014 by Liam Huxley, the company was established to address the increasing complexities and costs in the derivatives market stemming from post-2008 financial crisis regulations like Dodd-Frank and EMIR. Huxley, who serves as CEO, previously co-founded Syncova, a platform for hedge fund portfolio margin and financing, which was acquired by Advent Software in 2011. This experience in financial markets and prime brokerage informed the creation of Cassini.

The company's core business revolves around providing pre- and post-trade margin and collateral analytics, giving clients visibility and control over the total lifecycle costs of their trades. The platform serves a high-end client base that includes top-tier hedge funds, asset managers, and Tier 1 banks. A notable partnership includes the integration of Cassini's analytics into BlackRock's Aladdin platform, allowing users to factor margin analytics directly into their investment decision-making process. The business model is software-as-a-service (SaaS), offering its platform through deployment models like AWS, on-premise, or cloud-based, and it is ISO 27001 certified and SOC-2 compliant.

Cassini's platform offers a suite of tools for derivatives trading. It allows users to calculate initial margin for any cleared or uncleared derivative asset, which helps in assessing the lifetime cost of a transaction before it's even executed. Key features include 'what-if' trade testing, analysis of margin drivers, and optimization algorithms to reduce Initial Margin levels and enhance collateral efficiency. By integrating with major order management systems (OMS), execution management systems (EMS), and collateral systems, Cassini provides a front-to-back solution that automates calculations and helps firms comply with regulations such as the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR). This enables clients to optimize trading routes, reduce funding charges, manage liquidity risk, and ensure collateral resilience in volatile markets.

Keywords: derivatives analytics, margin calculation, collateral optimization, pre-trade analytics, post-trade analytics, financial technology, risk management, regulatory compliance, UMR, ISDA SIMM, asset management, hedge funds, capital markets, trade lifecycle cost, liquidity risk, clearing optimization, portfolio management, collateral management, financial software, derivatives trading