ALLIANCEBERNSTEIN AND ALLFUNDS BLOCKCHAIN ENTER COLLABORATION

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Jun 15, 2022, 02:45 ET

PARTNERSHIP AIMED AT INTEGRATING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY INTO THE FINANCIAL SERVICES ECOSYSTEM

MADRID and LONDON and NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB), a leading global asset management firm, and Allfunds Blockchain, the arm of Allfunds (AMS: ALLFG) specialized in blockchain technology, have announced a collaboration to adapt AB's asset services activities to the blockchain ecosystem.

Allfunds Blockchain's dedicated funds technology offers the possibility to transform operational processes in the fund industry value chain and provide legacy platforms with efficiency, agility, accuracy, and the increased safety blockchain technology delivers. AB will connect its global operational activity with the Allfunds platform to Allfunds Blockchain, where it will enjoy all the benefits of the solution, as well as Allfunds' global scale and growing offering. The collaboration will offer Allfunds Blockchain solutions across AB's EU domiciled-global platform.

Ronit Walny, Head of AllianceBernstein's Investment Innovation Center, added, "Across multiple departments at AB and in partnership with Equitable Holdings, we underwent a deep exploration of the value that the blockchain technology unlocks. We anticipate that this technology will be transformative to the asset management industry, uncovering significant transactional efficiencies and enhanced transparency as well as operational agility that makes investment solutions available to a broader investor base. We are committed to delivering solutions that our clients prefer today and in the future Allfunds Blockchain brings extensive fund industry experience and insightful and integrated solutions, and we look forward to partnering with them in our journey to offer solutions across our EU domiciled global-platform."

Karl Sprules, Global Head of Technology and Operations at AllianceBernstein, added, "Our interest in blockchain was born out of an internal, innovative ideation workshop, hosted jointly between AB and Equitable Holdings for employees. In 2021, more than 100 colleagues across both organizations participated in the program, working to increase firmwide knowledge of disruptive technologies and closely examine how blockchain and cryptocurrency can be used in the financial services industry. A year later, we are excited to announce this integrative collaboration between AB and Allfunds Blockchain, which we believe is an important step forward for the future of our firm – and across the industry."

Rubén Nieto, Managing Director of Allfunds Blockchain, said: "We are very excited to collaborate with one of the leading global asset management firms and deliver our bespoke solutions to such a renowned household name like AB. This emphasizes our clear strategy to team up and help to understand the incredible benefits of the technology and our value proposition to all the actors of the fund industry. It is about the future of the industry vs. the industry of the future."

About AllianceBernstein

AllianceBernstein is a leading global investment management firm that offers high-quality research and diversified investment services to institutional investors, individuals, and private wealth clients in major world markets. As of May 31, 2022, AllianceBernstein had $687 billion in assets under management. Additional information about AB may be found on our website, www.alliancebernstein.com.

Allfunds Blockchain is a standalone company within the Allfunds Group. Allfunds Blockchain develops a revolutionary technology with features that have not been available on the market to date, which generate a unique environment of security, privacy and data governance among financial institutions and enables new capabilities for programming and automating processes through smart contracts.

Allfunds (AMS:ALLFG) is one of the leading B2B WealthTech platforms for the funds industry, offering fully integrated solutions for both Fund Houses and Distributors. Allfunds, founded in 2000, has built and continues to evolve an ecosystem that covers the entire fund distribution value chain and investment cycle. It remains the sole fully integrated one-stop-shop in the industry. As of 31.03.2022 its assets under administration were of nearly €1.4 trillion.

SOURCE AllianceBernstein