Castine Conversations

In this conversation we meet Rudolf Siebel, a Managing Director at the BVI German Investment Funds Association. 

The German Investment Funds Association represents the interests of over 100 large German funds with almost E5 trillion under management; Rudolf is responsible for several different areas, including regulatory affairs, industry standards, and market research. He is a member of the European Commission Expert Group on European Data Space, has authored papers through that group and has participated on panels at several CSA-focused conferences in the UK. He has been with BVI (with a break or two) since 1991. The conversation was recorded on July 9, 2026.

For more information on the BVI German Investment Funds Association, please visit BVI.de.

For more information on Castine LLC, including our commission management, research invoicing, compensation, and compliance solutions for investment managers and retail and institutional brokers, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation, several members of the Castine team discuss the key takeaways from the June 11, 2026 Unbundling Uncovered conference in New York. 

John McGough, Moe Ahmed, Tom Smith, and Robin Hodgkins represent teams from our Business Development, Implementation, and Sales teams and provide their insights on where the CSA market is headed globally, but with a special focus on where they're heading in the United Kingdom. We also cover the many comments about AI that surfaced during the conference.  

The opinions made are solely those of the Castine members and do not represent any specific participant at the conference. 

For more information on Castine, including our commission management, research management, compensation, and research evaluation and payment  solutions, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation, Aaron Walter and Steve Stone discuss the status of CSAs from a global perspective with Robin Hodgkins, president of Castine. Topics include the current state of CSAs in the USA but focus more on how CSAs and "payment optionality" are being re-introduced to the United Kingdom. Where brokers and asset managers stand on rolling out CSAs, what actual and perceived hurdles exist, and when full use of CSAs is likely in the UK.

Aaron Walter is the Head of Research Management at Janus Henderson, a global investment manager and has over 30 years of experience in research and commission management.

Steve Stone is the head of the financial institutions law practice at Morgan Lewis. Steve is a recognized expert in commission management in the US, England, and Europe and represents clients before the SEC and FINRA.

Robin Hodgkins is the president of Castine and has been involved in providing solutions to the CSA space globally for 25 years, both at Castine and its predecessor firm, Cogent.

For more information on Janus Henderson, please visit JanusHenderson.com. For more information on Morgan Lewis, please visit MorganLewis.com.

For more information on Castine LLC, including our commission management, compensation, and compliance solutions for investment managers and retail and institutional brokers, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation we meet with Brijesh Malkan, the CEO of Singletrack.

Brij has been an integral part of Singletrack for several years, both as a product manager and heading strategy before becoming the CEO of the firm. His experience with markets, CSAs, CRMs, and where AI can bring value to capital markets and beyond makes for a conversation that dives deep into many different arenas, winding up on where CSAs are heading in the UK and beyond. 

Our conversation starts with Brij's background and the different firms and roles that led to where he is now, running one of the most innovative firms in the capital markets CRM and engagement space.  This conversation is with Robin Hodgkins, Castine's President.

For more information on Singletrack, please visit Singetrack.com.

For more information on Castine LLC, including our commission management, research invoicing, compensation, and compliance solutions for investment managers and retail and institutional brokers, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation we meet with Bomsi Billimoria, Founder and President at EvoXvantage.

Bomsi is a Global Transformation Executive that has spent the last 25 years at large global firms driving operational discipline and cost transformation at scale.  He founded EvoXvantage focusing on cost transformation, process optimization, AI enabled operations and technology modernization to quickly deliver measurable efficiencies and cost savings.

Our conversation covers Bomsi’s background, his executive roles at large global organizations and the reasons he founded EvoXvantage.  This conversation is with Tom Smith, Castine’s Executive Vice President.

For more information on EvoXvantage, please visit EvoXvantage.com.

For more information on Castine LLC, including our commission management, research invoicing, compensation, and compliance solutions for investment managers and retail and institutional brokers, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation we meet Doug Leo, the Head of Commission Management at Raymond James.   

Doug's leadership at Raymond James has helped them grow to be a major player in commission management. At the same time, Doug is very involved in the invoicing for the research that Raymond James creates. Hundreds of clients require invoices for the research they consume, and Doug has expanded his remit to cover that as well.  

Our conversation covers Doug's award winning childhood (!) and his work at different brokers focusing on commission management. We discuss his experience with research invoicing and his observations about the re-introduction of CSAs into the UK. This conversation is with Robin Hodgkins, Castine's President.  
For more information on Raymond James, please visit RaymondJames.com.

For more information on Castine LLC, including our commission management, research invoicing, compensation, and compliance solutions for investment managers and retail and institutional brokers, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation, several members of the Castine team discuss the key takeaways from the November 5, 2025 Unbundling Uncovered conference in London. 

Clive Riddle, Pedro Fernandes, Tom Smith, and Robin Hodgkins represent teams from our UK, EU, and USA groups and provide their insights on where the CSA market is headed in the United Kingdom as well as other points brought up in the conference. 

The opinions made are solely those of the Castine members and do not represent any specific participant at the conference. 

For more information on Castine, including our commission management, research management, compensation, and research evaluation and payment  solutions, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation, Robin Hodgkins speaks with Caroline Bayman and Chris Newson of FGA Consulting Ltd, a UK-based consultancy that is working with brokers and their clients to help educate them on CSAs and to demostrate the benefits of CSAs to asset managers and their clients. 

Caroline's background includes many years in the commission management space working with both brokers and asset managers before becoming an entrepreneur in the real estate development world and, more recently, re-focusing on providing expertise to the buy- and sell-sides in front office operations, client strategy, and of course commission management.

Chris's background also covers the buy- and sell-side, with senior roles at Henderson Global, Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, and Citi. Most of those roles covered research and commission management, giving Chris visibility on how the field has developed and, with Caroline, how firms can best use them.

Our conversation covers their backgrounds and where asset managers stand in regards to considering returning to using CSAs or, if they've never used them, how to get started with them. 

You can connect with Chris and Caroline on LinkedIn at FGA Consulting Ltd: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fga-consulting-limited

For more information on Castine, including our commission management, research management, compensation, and research evaluation and payment  solutions, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation, Robin Hodgkins speaks with Hester White, an expert in building client relationship teams and focusing broker attention on using CSAs and commission management to fuel growth. Her background at firms such as Nomura, Jefferies, and Peel Hunt establish her as a true leader in her field and one to pay attention to. 

Hester's experience covers everything from sales to corporate access and from managing CSA teams all the way to sitting on management committees. She brings a depth of expertise to the brokerage community that colleagues, clients, and even vendors can benefit from.  

Our conversation covers Hester's background as her career unfolded and her thoughts on the latest developments in the UK and the EU around commission management.

You can connect with Hester on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hester-white-7694a3b/

For more information on Castine LLC, including our commission management, compensation, and research solutions for investment managers and retail and institutional brokers, please visit CastineLLC.com

In this conversation, Michael Mayhew joins Robin to discuss recent the current status of CSA re-adoption in the UK. Mike is the founder and chairman of Integrity Research Associates, the premier source of information about research firms as well as the leading CSA blog. We recommend everyone signs up for his premium blog, which is often described by leading asset managers as a "must read". 

Mike's background on the research side led to the creation of Integrity Research in 2000. Mike is also a partner at Alpha Tech Partners, which runs a strategic investment fund in the solutions space for professional wealth and asset management firms. 

The conversation covers Mike's background in research and the early days of soft dollars before jumping into the latest developments there and with his new venture.

For more information on Integrity Research, and to sign-up for Mike's wonderful blog, please visit www.integrity-research.com.

For more information on Castine LLC, including our commission management and research solutions for investment managers and retail and institutional brokers, please visit CastineLLC.com