Citi’s Markets Strategic Investments (MSI) unit has made an undisclosed “minority investment” in Cicada Technologies, maker of an all-to-all electronic alternative trading system (ATS) for global institutional market participants trading in Mexican government bonds, officials say. Citi will also act as a liquidity provider for the trading platform. Although based in Greenwich, Conn., Cicada has… Read More >>
UBS Pays $500K to Resolve Audio Deletion Case
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an order “simultaneously filing and settling” charges against UBS AG for “failing to retain certain audio recordings for the time required under CFTC regulations.” Rather than retaining the recordings of more than 1,000 hours of audio data — including voice recording files that were required by CFTC regulations… Read More >>
Symphony Buys Cloud9 to Jolt Voice Trading
Symphony to Unite Voice Trading with NLP Symphony, a messaging and platform provider for trading firms, reports that it is trying to “tackle true pain points in markets’ workflows” via the acquisition of trader voice/electronic communication and analytics company Cloud9 Technologies. The acquisition will help Symphony “take the lead in front office communications with new… Read More >>
NICE Actimize Targets All Trading Floor Communication
Much of the communication happening in securities and commodities trading rooms has to be recorded for regulatory compliance purposes, and NICE Actimize has launched a solution that captures traditional, unified, and mobile channels via a single, cloud-based platform. The vendor says that the new NTR-X extends the capabilities of the NICE Trading Recording (NTR) compliance… Read More >>
RJO Expands MENA Presence via Acquisition
RJO Acquires Lombard Forte Securities R.J. O’Brien & Associates, a Chicago-based futures brokerage and clearing firm, is expanding its presence in the Middle East via its acquisition of Lombard Forte Securities Ltd. (LFS), a Dubai-based interdealer broker (IDB). RJO, which acquired LFS through its affiliate RJO MENA [Middle East & North Africa] in Dubai, is… Read More >>
IPC & Cloud9 Collaborate to Advance Voice-Trading
In a collaboration reflecting the complementary nature of their businesses, IPC, a voice-based trading communications and networking vendor, is working with Cloud9 Technologies, a cloud-based communications provider, to offer unified solutions for endpoint connectivity, mobility, advanced data analytics and business continuity planning, officials say. “IPC and Cloud9 have each been listening to, and are keenly… Read More >>
Mining the Metadata of Cloud-Based Voice Trading
(Editor’s note: Germán Soto Sanchez, president of Cloud9 Technologies, answers questions from FTF News about the metadata and operational benefits that can be derived from software-based voice trading that is supported via cloud computing. Sanchez also reviews the limits of hardware-based trading turrets that in the past have dominated trading desks relying on phone systems… Read More >>
IPC Buys Etrali from the Gores Group
Once fierce competitors in the trading turret business, IPC Systems and Etrali Trading Solutions are becoming one company as a private equity firm, the Gores Group, has sold Etrali to IPC, officials say. IPC and Gores Group officials decline to reveal the commercial terms of the acquisition. The Paris-based Etrali is a provider of voice… Read More >>
NICE Systems Hires a CFO
Voice-trading compliance vendor NICE Systems has hired Sarit Sagiv as its chief financial officer (CFO), officials say. Sagiv joins from Retalix Ltd., a provider of software and services to retailers, where she served as the CFO. Sagiv will transition into her new role over the next few weeks, and brings with her an extensive background… Read More >>
Blurred Lines: OTC Reforms for Voice Trading
(Editor’s note: This is the online version of the story appearing in the Fall 2014 edition of FTF News magazine, which will be available on the website later this month. The print edition of the magazine debuted at the SIBOS 2014 conference and exhibition in Boston last week. The event, put on by financial messaging… Read More >>
