Goldman’s Simon platform goes ‘solo’

Simon Markets, the online distribution platform for financial professionals focused on structured investments owned by Goldman Sachs, has added of a group of investors and issuers including Barclays, Credit Suisse's Next Investors, HSBC, JP Morgan, Prudential and Wells Fargo, as the US investment bank completes the sale of a majority equity interest. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Under the terms of the transaction, Simon becomes an independent financial technology company with a mission to deliver a dynamic marketplace for financial professionals to access structured investments and insurance products with simplicity.

‘We launched Simon to help financial advisors learn more about structured investments and access the product class in a more efficient way, and this deal is an important step in our vision to create an industry standard and expand the platform to new investors, banks and advisors,’ said Jason Broder (pictured), chief executive of Simon.

"We're excited to open the platform to an impressive group of market participants and to have their thought leadership around the table as we drive the future of Simon as an independent, multi-issuer platform." 

Simon offers real-time access to a comprehensive suite of products and enable scalable education and enhanced workflow automation of this growing investment alternative for advisors and the retail market they serve. 

The core product, technology, sales and support teams will continue to develop and manage the platform under the new ownership structure and representatives from each of the investor and issuer firms will join the Simon board. Jason Broder will serve as the company's CEO, and a dedicated team will relocate to Simon's new headquarters in New York City.  

‘Through the development of Simon, Goldman Sachs (…) created a more efficient and effective platform to access structured investments,’ said Darren Cohen, head of principal strategic investments at Goldman Sachs. ‘As the platform gained market acceptance, we realized that opening the platform and building a collaboration of leading investors and issuers would enable Simon to unlock its transformative potential and create a more sound market structure for the entire industry.’