British wealth manager Schroders has purchased a minority stake in blockchain technology and digital assets manager Forteus for an undisclosed sum.
Forteus is the asset management wing of Numeus Group, a Switzerland-based digital asset investment company led by Nobel Gulati, who was the ex-CEO of Two Sigma Advisers.
With the latest investment, Schroders aims to focus on its current education and research in the blockchain technology and digital assets sector.
Schroders noted that it also intends to study the benefits of blockchain in the asset management industry as well as create its own tokenisation strategy.
The company is expected to receive several investment offerings from Forteus such as customised portfolios of external managers, yield generation, thematic portfolios, tokenisation, among others.
Schroders plans to provide the Forteus solutions to its customers whenever required.
Tokenisation refers to the system of providing digital tokens to investors in place of conventional shares or funds.
The latest deal comes at the time when the cryptocurrency industry is facing turbulent times.
Schroders group CEO Peter Harrison said: “Blockchain will be a catalyst for fundamental change within asset management, financial services at large, and many other industries more broadly.
“It not only has the potential to transform the efficiency of existing solutions but will drive the democratisation of private assets; it represents a new frontier of technological and financial innovation.”
In April this year, Schroders announced that it had purchased 75% stake in specialist investment manager Greencoat Capital with an aim to provide environmentally friendly products to its client.
