GMEX Technologies, GreenKey and Red Box Recorders also have FinTech announcements.
Major European Players Back LiquidShare
A European blockchain startup with a post-trade focus, LiquidShare, is being created via the support of BNP Paribas, CACEIS, Caisse des Dépôts, Euroclear, Euronext, S2Iem, Société Générale and Paris Europlace.
The financial technology venture is the result of a partnership launched by its shareholders in June 2016 to develop a post-trade blockchain infrastructure for the small and medium enterprise (SME) market, officials say.
LiquidShare’s mission is to harness “blockchain technology that consists of a virtual ledger that assembles data for shared distribution between many different users,” according to officials. “This technology has the potential to dramatically simplify the chain of post-trade operations, guaranteeing and facilitating the consolidation of securities registers, all while enabling a higher speed of execution with real-time settlement at T+0.”
LiquidShare’s backers say the startup will launch “shortly in a Parisian incubator where it will employ various profiles to implement the platform.” It will be led by Deutsche Bank veteran Thibaud de Maintenant, who will serve as CEO of the company.
The new CEO began his career in the 1990’s as an auditor at Mazars in Paris, before joining Clearnet SA in Paris, where he advanced to the post of vice president, officials say. In 2000, he joined Deutsche Bank in London as head of securities services of Western Europe. Five years later, he was named head of direct securities services (DSS) for the Asia-Pacific region in Singapore. In 2011, he became director of the global securities services division in London, and three years later took on the responsibility of Deutsche Bank’s transactional bank in France.
“With the launch of LiquidShare, we will use the great potential of the blockchain technology to become a key player in the post-trade industry,” de Maintenant says in a prepared statement. “Supported by shareholders across the European financial market ecosystem, this initiative is the first of its kind,” he adds.
In a related move, Anthony Attia, managing board member of Euronext, has been appointed chairman of the supervisory board of LiquidShare, officials say.
GMEX Technologies Wins Derivatives CCP Contract for Lebanon
Midclear S.A.L., described as the custodian and clearing center of financial instruments for Lebanon and the Middle East, will be working with GMEX Technologies to implement the AvenirClear CCP product as the core system of the first derivatives central counterparty (CCP) operation in Lebanon, officials say.
The CCP launch by Midclear “represents an important milestone in the reinvigoration of the Lebanese Capital Markets, part of Lebanon’s strategic plans for its economy and reconstruction,” officials say. The derivatives asset classes to be cleared are FX futures, equity index futures and options, and commodity futures, including precious metals.
“Since the inception of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), led by the Central Bank of Lebanon, important work has been carried out by the CMA to draw up the financial market rules and regulations to best international standards, paving the way for a strong capital markets development in the region,” officials say “The addition of a CCP will ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations in this market, and provide safeguards for members, traders and investors.”
The clearing and settlement support of the AvenirClear CCP is compliant with the CPMI-IOSCO principles for market infrastructures (PFMIs), officials say. Compliance with these principles is part of the Qualifying Central Counterparty (QCCP) criteria.
GMEX Technologies is a subsidiary of GMEX Group, a set of companies that serves exchanges, clearinghouses, depositories, registries and warehouse receipt platforms, officials say.
GreenKey & Red Box Recorders Partner for Compliance Recording Solution
GreenKey Technologies, maker of an AI-driven voice collaboration platform for the financial markets, has signed a global partnership with Red Box Recorders, a vendor of voice recording technology and services “to create an integrated solution for embedded compliance recording within GreenKey’s software-based trader collaboration offering,” officials say.
Red Box’s offering “records voice conversations over soft client phones, turrets and mobile devices on behalf of more than 500 financial firms globally,” officials say. “Now, clients can use Red Box voice recording technology with the trade and communications analytics, monitoring and archiving capabilities of GreenKey’s Enterprise Voice Collaboration platform and provide complete records of trade activities.”
“Compliance officers need a way to capture all communications and interactions around a trade in order to give regulators a complete snapshot of events. Integrating our data analytics capabilities with voice recording through Red Box helps us provide a complete and cost effective surveillance, record-keeping and trade reconstruction solution to our global client base,” says Nader Shwayhat, CEO of GreenKey Technologies, in a statement.
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