Rearranging risk
Pushing more complex products towards mandatory central clearing may increase the risks to which CCPs and clearing members are exposed. Frances Faulds examines whether CCPs can continue pooling risks in a safe and efficient way
Trading Technology
LSE/DTCC regulatory reporting tie-up shows the way for collaboration
London Stock Exchange and The Depository Trust & Clearing are partnering to provide clients with a connection to the LSE’s UnaVista Approved Reporting Mechanism. The service will allow DTCC clients to comply with the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation through their current connection from DTCC’s Global Trade Repository.
Saxo opens trading platform with advanced API
Saxo Bank is to allow access to its multi-asset trading and back office infrastructure through a new open API that will allow developers and partners to integrate Saxo’s trading functionality into their own applications and systems.
Iress acquires retail trading business from London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange has sold its Proquote market data and retail trading services business to Australian financial technology specialist Iress, which is expanding its capital markets and funds operations in the UK.
Bloomberg and Traiana to automate post-trade for FX options
Post-trade processing company Bloomberg STP Solutions and post-trade and risk specialist Traiana have begun a joint effort to develop a straight-through processing infrastructure for FX options. The partners say it will help to reduce post-trade costs for market participants, which have typically remained higher than execution costs.
Regulators seek input on harmonisation of unique OTC trade reporting identifiers
The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and the International Organization of Securities Commissions are seeking comment on proposals for harmonising the Unique Transaction Identifier used to be used for OTC derivatives trade reporting.
Project Neptune pilot goes live
Project Neptune, the fixed income trading initiative between a group of 42 large banks and asset managers, has gone live with its pilot production network, bringing the project closer to its ‘hard’ platform later this year.
GMEX signs Bank of America, prepares for launch
International derivatives market GMEX is due to go live on Friday after more than two years of development. Created by co-founders Hirander Misra and Vj Angelo, the new exchange has just signed Bank of America Merrill Lynch and will start by offering futures contracts backed by German derivatives giant Eurex.
The new face of risk management
Regulations aimed at transparency across financial markets may be making things simpler for the regulators, but they are making life more complex for banks, according to Sven Ludwig, senior vice president, risk management and analytics EMEA, at SunGard.
DTCC Data Products to centralise data provisioning and access
Post-trade market infrastructure the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has launched a new centralised data provisioning service, DTCC Data Products and expanded its exchange traded funds and ISO 20022 corporate actions data offerings.
Swift adds business intelligence for securities market
Swift has formally launched a new business intelligence solution for securities market participants following the completion of an early adopter programme. Watch for Securities is “ready for full scale use” by local and global custodians, investment banks, asset managers and broker/dealers, allowing them to monitor and gain business insights from their network traffic.
McKenna to head standards at Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation
Karla McKenna has been named head of standards at the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation on a year’s secondment from Citi, where she is director of market practice and standards.
London Stock Exchange acquires Exactpro Systems
The London Stock Exchange has acquired quality assurance specialist Exactpro Systems, taking 100% ownership of the company.
Swift extends KYC compliance services to securities users
Swift is extending its Know Your Customer compliance service into the securities area, making it available to fund distributors and custodians.
Nasdaq unit says risk and data capabilities give FS firms a way to rebuild client trust
Financial services firms should get a grip on their risk management and make more use of the data available to them as part of a two-way process in gaining user trust and building new revenue streams.
FIX protocol dominates in post-trade workflow
Three-quarters of market participants use the FIX protocol for confirmation and affirmation of their transactions, according to a new survey released by financial industry standards body the FIX Trading Community.
Nasdaq to introduce blockchain for private equities
Nasdaq is to use the blockchain technology behind controversial alternative currency Bitcoin, as part of a push to improve the exchange’s equity management abilities. The move is the first time a major global exchange has put the blockchain concept to use.
Cerutti out as Euronext appoints interim chief executive
Euronext has appointed Jos Dijsselhof as interim chief executive, accelerating its transition plan following the resignation of Dominique Cerutti at the end of last month. Cerutti will now leave immediately.
‘Hound of Hounslow’ highlights need for surveillance says Nasdaq
As greater convergence between asset classes and the unification of trading desks and trading strategies across multiple asset classes becomes more common, the opportunities for sophisticated market abuse may be on the rise. That may mean that the need for surveillance is greater than ever, according to Tony Sio, head of SmartsTrade Surveillance, exchange and regulators at Nasdaq.
Cerutti steps down at Euronext
Euronext has announced that its chief executive Dominique Cerutti will step down in July to become chairman and chief executive at advanced engineering group Altran.
Volante lays Foundation for faster payment systems integration
Financial messaging and data integration specialist Volante Technologies has taken a step into the world of packaged products with the launch of VolPay Foundation, a development platform “designed to ease the challenges of payment integration and payment processing projects”.
CounterpartyLink adds hierarchy profiles to legal identity service
CounterpartyLink, a provider of legal entity intelligence for buy- and sell-side institutions and law enforcement agencies, has announced CPL Hierarchy Profile, a new product designed to provide a single view of the client across complex client groups.
Buy-side builds confidence as home-brew smart order routers gain ground
Buy-side firms stand to gain from developing their own smart order routers and carrying out their own capital markets research. But the growing independence of the buy-side must still be weighed against sell-side advantages of scale, according to speakers at the Trade Tech conference in Paris on Tuesday.
New Canadian exchange Aequitas goes live on MillenniumIT platform
New Canadian exchange Aequitas NEO has gone live for the first time, using the MillenniumIT trading platform built by the London Stock Exchange’s Sri Lanka-based subsidiary.
Buy-side lacks confidence in US and EU regulators as fear of HFT grows
Long-term investors are deeply concerned about their ability to find liquidity, with nearly 90% afraid that predatory high-frequency traders are preying on their flows, according to a new survey by block-trading network Liquidnet.
BATS brings Hotspot FX matching engine to London
Hotspot, the institutional foreign exchange market owned and operated by BATS Global Markets, is to expand its European presence with the launch of its first Europe-based FX matching engine later this year. The new matching engine will be located in the London Slough Campus data centres and will target Europe and Asia and specific FX currencies that dominate the European and Asian trading hours.
An industry imperative: Swift FIN to ISO 20022 migration
As international regulators demand more detail from banks on payments to individuals and companies, the first order of business is to ensure compliance with mandates. Migrating Swift MT payment formats to ISO 20022 will allow the industry to shape the transformation of payment messaging standards rather than have others shape it – but there is a need to set timelines for implementation or cede control.
Velocimetrics doubles data capture rates for trading analytics
Real-time business performance monitoring and analysis specialist Velocimetrics has announced that its TipOff product can now capture network packets to disk at a sustained rate of 40 Gigabits/sec, almost double its previous performance.
Temenos buys into funds market with €235m purchase of Multifonds
Temenos has moved into the fund administration business with a €235 million acquisition of Luxembourg-based Multifonds, which counts a number of Tier 1 institutions as users of its fund administration platform.
Taking stock in fixed income
Fixed income markets have historically been a bastion of high-touch trading, with manual processes, large tickets and little standardisation. But as recent years have seen inventory slashed and balance sheets cut in face of rising regulatory pressure, finding liquidity has become more of a challenge. A group of banks are hoping to reinvigorate the market though a standardised messaging system.
FCA approval takes Bloomberg into European trade reporting space
Continuing its policy of offering products that fit across user workflows, Bloomberg has moved in to the transaction reporting space in Europe. The company’s Trade Order Management System has been granted approval by the Financial Conduct Authority to report securities with an ISIN and OTC derivatives as part of the UK’s Approved Reporting Mechanisms regime.
Avox offers API connections to legal entity data
Avox, the DTCC’s legal entity reference data subsidiary, has launched a series of web-based application programming interfaces designed to support faster access to data, including legal entity identifiers, legal names, addresses, industry classifications and corporate hierarchies.
Deutsche Börse connects commodities traders with new platform
Deutsche Börse has signed a trio of commodities trading entities to use its new M7 trading platform, developed as part of a complete renewal of its trading infrastructure. Singapore-based regulated futures exchange Cleartrade Exchange, London-based Freight Investor Services Ltd., a broker of freight and commodity derivatives, and Norexeco ASA, a commodities exchange for pulp and paper based in Norway, will start to use the M7 trading platform in the next few months.
Bringing it all together
From the early days of internet distribution, New York-based Alacra has been aggregating reference data. Chief executive Steve Goldstein told David Bannister the company’s story
SmartStream acquires Algo Collateral business from IBM
SmartStream Technologies has acquired the assets of IBM’s Algorithmics Collateral solution and will add it to its existing solutions for the automation of the end-to-end post trade lifecycle, rebranding it as TLM Collateral Management. The system provides collateral lifecycle automation for buy- and sell-side institutions, custodians and asset servicers, large and small.
Regulators set to clamp down on HFT market abuse in 2015 warns report
Securities market regulators are beginning to clamp down on market abuse linked to complex high-frequency trading strategies – but there is much more to be done, according to a new report by financial consultancy Kinetic Partners.
Taking care of business
With a string of client projects in flight, the immediate effects of the financial crisis weren’t a problem for Dublin-based Information Mosaic, but as projects that had run for two or more years started coming to an end, things got a little tougher. Fortunately, the company has one major shareholder that has both funds and a long-term view …
Bitcoin exchange Netagio brings in debit and credit cards, seeks to legitimise cryptocurrency
Bitcoin market Netagio has launched credit and debit card payment options, as part of a push to make it easier to buy and sell Bitcoin with pounds, euros and US dollars. The exchange, which was founded in 2013, is seeking to popularise the alternative currency and improve its controversial public image.
Derivatives markets brace for Basel III margin crunch in 2015
Derivatives market participants are concerned about the impact of new margin requirements for non-cleared derivatives under Basel III, with a large number unsure whether they will even have to comply with the rules, according to new survey published today by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.
ICAP brings BrokerTec and EBS under one roof
ICAP is combining its EBS foreign exchange and BrokerTec fixed income electronic trading platforms into one business unit. The change is“an internal management reorganisation” and the platforms will remain separate for the foreseeable future.
