BusinessNews

Equities First Holdings Transitions to Digital Assets in Partnership with OSL

Securities-based lending firm Equities First Holdings adds OSL as digital custodian.

New news broke in mid-May about OSL, which is an Asian digital asset platform. The company announced that its Custody Service had been selected as the digital asset custodian to Equities First Holdings. This new development is part of a large-scale strategy on EFH’s part. Right now, EFH plans to scale its allocation of digital assets by quite a lot, which is a departure from the assets it has managed through its public equity portfolio for the past 17 years.

Why Did EFH Choose OSL?

One of the biggest reasons behind this move by EFH is that the company was looking for an investment firm suited to institutional investors—and OSL fit that need well. With that, EFH has been looking to significantly expand into the digital asset sphere. Lachlan Campbell, Asia’s CEO of Equities First Holdings, said that “The digital asset industry is undergoing rapid transformation as players from traditional finance have begun to take deliberate steps to participate in the space. Our background is the highly regulated space of public equities. With this at the heart of everything we do, we needed the same caliber and standards on the digital asset side.”

About OSL

OSL is a subsidiary of the BC Group. Among their many offerings, they provide software as a service, exchange and custody services to institutional investors, and brokerage services. Through OSL, it is possible to select over the counter services and gain access to liquidity pools.

Equities First Holdings’ History of Innovative Lending

EFH has a long history of providing innovative solutions to borrowers. The company’s CEO, Al Christy, saw an opportunity back in July 2016 to provide a unique offering. These would be loans that are backed by stocks as collateral to help provide individuals and businesses the working capital they need.

One issue that Christy addressed with this was the fact that banks had started reducing the number and types of options available to borrowers, which left many underserved since the qualification process for financing became more difficult. Oftentimes, even when borrowers could qualify, interest rates proved prohibitively high.

Christy’s new offering of stock-backed loans provided a wonderful alternative. Borrowers could obtain fixed-rate loans this way, and on top of that, the stock-based loans offered a loan-to-value ratio that was higher than one might find among margin loans.

The end result? Satisfaction among borrowers—and booming business for EFH and Christie. These days, the loans that EFH offers come with a loan-to-value ratio that rests between 50% to 75%, and interest rates as low as 3% to 4%, numbers that are extremely attractive to businesses who need capital for operations or expansion.

Weathering Troubles in the Stock-Based Loan Industry

Though Equities First Holdings offered an innovative solution to capital lending, it was not without troubles. One issue is that some firms who have offered this type of solution have employed less than stellar lending practices—and this means that financial advisors are prone to recommending against these types of loans.

However, Christie and EFH were able to overcome this by providing their clients with low risk and high-profit products. Because of this, EFH is now one of the most recognizable financial institutions, with offices in places like the UK. South Afrika, the US, Australia, China, Bangkok, Perth, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Equities First Holdings in the Beginning

EFH was founded in 2002 under several key values, which include discipline, integrity, and patience. This is what has made this company a world leader in the financial industry. EFH seeks to foster teamwork among its stakeholders and to innovate by bringing creative new solutions to borrowers and investors the world over.

Fifteen years after the company’s founding, they had completed over 700 lending transactions that abided by these concepts. Overall, this financial activity brought approximately $1 billion into American markets as EFH partnered with world leaders.

There are big things in store for the future, too. Not only is there this new partnership with OSL, but EFH has plans to give access to over $2 billion in funds to clients around the world through their unique stock-based loan offerings.

In fact, in another recent development, EFH entered into a transaction with Paul Benhaim, the Chairman at Elixinol Global, which is a prominent U.S. based cannabis company that has experienced great success. This is anticipated to be a highly successful margin loan, which will be backed by 17 million shares in Elixinol.

And that’s where EFH stands today. They’ve been in business for more than 17 years, and to date, they’ve completed more than 1,000 financial transactions. Their products are tailor-made to the client, and they specialize in creating efficient financial products that they deliver securely and transparently. With all of this success, and with strict adherence to their company values, they’ve become one of the most trusted financial brands in the industry. Now that EFH has partnered with OSL, it is expected that they will be able to offer even more unique financial products to borrowers.

Article Editor

Pamela is a television journalist, humor writer and novelist. Her first novel, Allegedly, was released in 2015 by St. Martin’s Press. The book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She and her husband, Daniel, have a 3-year-old son, Carter.

Related Articles

Back to top button