Aurum Advised on Launching a Bankruptcy-Remote Cross-Border Platform for Tokenised Index Issuance – Case Study

Overview

Tokenised index products require more than product documentation – they depend on a corporate architecture that can reliably map the product lifecycle (issuance, redemption, treasury movements, valuation, governance, approvals) into enforceable legal mechanics. The client’s objective was to create a repeatable issuance platform that could be reused for subsequent index launches without re-engineering the group structure each time, while maintaining institutional-grade separations of risk.

The Challenge

The mandate presented several structuring challenges common to sophisticated tokenised products, but rarely solved in a single coherent design:

• Ring-fencing at the index level: ensuring assets and liabilities attributable to one index were legally separated from other indices, the issuer, and the wider group estate.
• Bankruptcy remoteness and operational credibility: enabling the structure to interface with regulated service providers and institutional partners, with clear governance and control lines.
• Cross-border alignment of legal forms: combining distinct corporate mechanisms across jurisdictions while preserving a clean operational and diligence narrative.
• Turning lifecycle mechanics into governance: translating issuance/redemption workflows, approvals, and controls into enforceable corporate governance, delegations, and intra-group allocations of function and liability.
• Regulatory optimisation: achieving the intended operating perimeter, including reliance on relevant issuance exemptions where available.

Aurum’s Structuring Approach

We designed and implemented a multi-layered platform intended to be scalable and repeatable across future index launches, including:

• a series-based issuance model at the issuer level, enabling a distinct legal “ring” for each index;
• a parallel segregated portfolio framework to mirror the series ring-fencing and support asset/liability segregation at the operational layer; and
• an ownership/administration layer designed to enhance bankruptcy remoteness, governance integrity, and institutional operability.

Each new index is implemented through a new series and a corresponding segregated portfolio, allowing parallel operation without cross-contamination of risk.

What We Delivered

Our work included:

• designing the end-to-end cross-border corporate architecture, including jurisdiction selection and entity sequencing;
• establishing a bankruptcy-remote, ring-fenced multi-entity structure to segregate assets and liabilities by index;
• embedding governance, approvals and control procedures into the corporate mechanics (board/manager approvals, reserved matters, delegation frameworks and diligence materials);
• structuring the platform to support ongoing issuance and redemption, including operational readiness for institutional counterparties and regulated service providers; and
• aligning the corporate model with the client’s intended regulatory positioning for issuance activities.

Outcome

The result is a scalable, reusable issuance platform that supports multiple tokenised index products in parallel, with index-level ring-fencing, bankruptcy-remoteness features, and governance controls designed for institutional diligence and operational execution.

Key Takeaway

For tokenised indices, the differentiator is not only product design but institution-grade corporate architecture: ring-fencing, bankruptcy remoteness, and governance controls that accurately reflect the operational lifecycle and remain robust across jurisdictions and counterparties