Northern Trust Taps ICE ETF Hub to Enter U.S. ETF Servicing Market

Northern Trust CorporationNTRS is expanding its presence in the fast-growing exchange-traded fund (ETF) market by entering the U.S. ETF servicing business. It has teamed up with Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.ICE and will use ICE ETF Hub as the order-taking platform to support its new U.S. ETF servicing platform for institutional investors.

The move reflects Northern Trust’s efforts to benefit from the rising demand for ETFs among institutional investors. Strong inflows and increasing innovation across both passive and active strategies are driving the growth of the global ETF market. To capitalize on this opportunity, the company is strengthening its operational and technology infrastructure to support its ETF servicing platform.

ICE ETF Hub offers a reliable and scalable technology platform that helps simplify ETF primary market operations. It connects key participants in the ETF ecosystem, including authorized participants, market makers and distributors. By integrating this platform with its own automated ETF servicing system, Northern Trust aims to streamline ETF operations and improve efficiency for institutional investors.

Phil Nanof, Head of ETF Services, Americas at Northern Trust, said, "This proven platform supports critical ETF workflows and provides established connectivity with key market participants. This collaboration is an important step in deploying Northern Trust’s end to end, fully automated ETF servicing solution spanning fund administration, custody, and transfer agency."

Technology Integration Supports NTRS’ ETF Servicing Platform

The collaboration between NTRS and ICE also highlights the growing role of technology, automation and standardization in the ETF ecosystem. The ICE ETF Hub helps automate ETF creation and redemption processes, improving efficiency and connectivity. The platform has processed more than $5 trillion in ETF orders since launch, demonstrating its ability to support large-scale operations. By leveraging this platform, Northern Trust will be able to accelerate the expansion of its ETF servicing capabilities in the United States.

By stepping into the ETF servicing market, Northern Trust aims to strengthen its asset servicing business and broaden its technology-driven offerings for institutional clients. The initiative is expected to deepen client relationships and support long-term revenue growth.

NTRS’s Price Performance & Zacks Rank

NTRS’ shares have gained 1.7% in the past three months against the industry’s fall of 2.9%.
 

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Currently, Northern Trust carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Other Financial Firms Expanding Through Collaborations

In February, Franklin Resources, Inc.BEN and Binance announced the launch of a new off-exchange institutional collateral program, aiming to make digital asset trading safer and more capital-efficient. The launch is based on the strategic partnership between Franklin Resources and Binance announced in September 2025.

The current program enables eligible institutional clients to use tokenized money market fund shares issued through Benji Technology Platform of Franklin as collateral when trading on Binance. Under this plan, the value of the tokenized money market fund shares is mirrored within Binance’s trading system, while the actual assets remain securely held off-exchange in a regulated environment. 

In the same month, Apollo Global Management, Inc.APO entered into a strategic partnership with Schroders to develop next-generation wealth and retirement investment solutions for institutional and wealth clients across the United Kingdom and the United States.

The collaboration combines Apollo’s large alternative credit and private investment-grade origination platform with Schroders’ strong active management capabilities in public markets and specialist private markets expertise through Schroders Capital.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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