The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), Investment Company Institute (ICI), and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) released a report early last month declaring victory in the push for a shorter settlement cycle for markets in North America. However, the report fails to address some of the issues that have emerged over… Read More >>
Indus Valley Partners Expands Reach via IntegriDATA Acquisition
With backing from private equity firm PPC Enterprises (PPC), managed services provider Indus Valley Partners (IVP) has acquired IntegriDATA, an alternative investment software solutions provider, and combined their respective cloud platforms, officials say. A specialist middle-market PE firm, PPC is a minority investor in IVP, and the acquisition is intended to position the IVP Group… Read More >>
Derivatives Document Negotiations Need More Automation
After conducting a survey on document negotiation, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) is making a strong case for more digitization of derivatives documentation. ISDA officials are also arguing that firms use ISDA Create, an online platform for negotiating, producing, and executing derivatives documentation. This includes the ISDA Master Agreements, variation margin credit support… Read More >>
E.U.’s Buy Side Wants T+1 to Happen Sooner
The German buy side is advocating for the earlier adoption of shorter T+1 settlement, amid growing calls for harmonization with the U.K. and Switzerland. The German Investment Funds Association (BVI), which represents 115 fund companies and asset managers with €4 trillion ($4.4 trillion) in assets under management (AUM), is pushing for the European Union to… Read More >>
Vistra Bolsters Fund Admin Services via Acquisition
Professional services provider Vistra has completed its acquisition of the fund administration and transfer agency business of Phoenix American Financial Services, Inc., officials say. The acquisition did not include Phoenix American’s aviation services business. “This transaction will expand Vistra’s presence and capabilities in the business-critical U.S. market, allowing it to provide deeper and broader end-to-end… Read More >>
TS Imagine Launches a CCP Margin Calculator
TS Imagine, a global, cross-asset provider of trading, portfolio, and risk management solutions, has released a margin calculator offering intended to improve the way securities firms meet the minimum requirements of central counterparty clearinghouses (CCPs). The RiskSmart X’s CCP Margin Calculator is an extension of the RiskSmart X offering that launched last year, which helps… Read More >>
Why Manual Sanctions Screening Misses the Mark
(Too many compliance teams at financial services firms rely on spreadsheets and manual processes or internally developed systems to sift through securities data to find sanction risks. But these systems can miss the mark in monitoring and tracking exposures across entities, say officials at Innovative Systems, Inc., the maker of the FinScan offerings for anti-money… Read More >>
Gresham Applies A.I.-ML Breakthrough to Trade Breaks
Necessity is still the mother of invention especially when it comes to applying artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning (ML) to the investigation of trade breaks as Gresham Technologies has learned. By using A.I. & ML to investigate and then learn from trade breaks, a Gresham client facing repetitive trade breaks has had a 66… Read More >>
FTF Unveils the 2024 FTF Awards Nominees!
Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) has unveiled the nominations for the 2024 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards competition, and the list of nominees reflects the dynamics of an industry facing digital transitions, a major effort to shorten settlement, and a final push to eliminate manual processes. The winners of the FTF Awards competition are chosen by… Read More >>
Swift Explores CBDC Links to FX, Tokens & Liquidity
The global Swift financial messaging cooperative has completed a collaborative “sandbox experiment” testing the interoperability of an interlinking solution for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) intended to “simplify and speed up trade flows, unlock growth in tokenized securities markets, and enable efficient FX settlement,” officials say. CBDCs are the digital currencies likely to be issued… Read More >>
