IHS Markit acquires Singapore-based Catena Technologies

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
5th May 2020

IHS Markit, a London–based global information provider, has acquired Catena Technologies, a Singapore-based trade reporting solution provider.

The acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, will see IHS Markit gain control of Catena’s ‘TRACE Reporting’ platform, which it says will “fulfil their [financial clients’] global regulatory compliance needs”.

Catena’s platform offers cross-asset coverage, valuation, collateral reporting and reconciliation

IHS Markit, which has more than 50,000 business and government customers, says the acquisition will have a “non-material” financial impact on its earnings.

Founded in 2002 as a fintech consultancy, Catena was overhauled in 2014 and became a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider for trade reporting solutions.

Catena’s platform offers cross-asset coverage, valuation, collateral reporting and reconciliation. It covers financial regulations in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Europe. It also assists with reporting requirements under the Second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).

“As part of IHS Markit, we will be able to offer customers a seamless, single-vendor solution that integrates transaction reporting with other post-trade and compliance workflows,” says Catena’s CEO Aaron Hallmark.

IHS Markit says it has been working with Catena “for several years” in the trade reporting space to help investment firms and banks.

“Bringing the expertise and technology from Catena into MarkitSERV [a subsidiary of IHS Markit] and our other compliance platforms will enable us to provide even more comprehensive and efficient trade reporting services to customers globally,” says MarkitSERV’s head of Asia Pacific Julian Chesser.

The subsidiary currently provides end-to-end trade processing and workflow solutions for those clients participating in over-the-counter (OTC) trading.