Citi Reaching for Bigger Piece of Hedge Fund Pie

We have read today in an article that Citigroup yesterday launched a new prime brokerage unit, called OpenPrime, as a means of expanding the services it offers to hedge funds. Citi is aiming to catch a trio of investment banks; Bear Stearns,  Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. These banks control the majority of prime brokerage business for hedge funds. The article says these prime brokerages lead the field through their ability to easily handle complex global market transactions. Prime brokers perform many of the back-end processing and administrative functions for hedge funds, as well as lend the investment pools money. OpenPrime is an amalgamation of new technology developed by Citi, as well as systems offered by French software firm, Linedata Services.