Our FinTech update includes news from DTCC, Northern Trust, the World Bank, ABN AMRO, Fenergo and TUNG-I.
ECPI Unit to Become Part of StatPro
StatPro Group, a cloud-based portfolio analysis and asset pricing services vendor, will be enhancing its benchmark offerings for environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings and indices via the acquisition of the ESG research and index business unit (ECPI) from ECPI Group, officials say.
The acquisition for a total estimated consideration (including deferred contingent consideration) of €2.9 million ($3.27 million) in cash will help StatPro meet the growing demand for ESG, officials report.
The ECPI unit provides ESG indices and benchmarks and related services including constructing client specific benchmarks, officials say. “It carries out ESG research and produces ratings on an active universe of approximately 3,500 companies (total universe of 4,500+) globally and uses these ratings to qualify companies for inclusion into a series of ESG investable indices, or to provide portfolio screening services,” officials add.
In addition, the ECPI unit’s business has annualized recurring revenues of approximately €0.9 million (£0.8 million) and generated €0.3 million (£0.2 million) EBITDA in 2018, officials say.
StatPro reports that it will “take on the employees of ECPI ESG research and index Unit in Milan, where they will be integrated with StatPro Italia’s existing operations.”
DTCC Lines Up More Partners for GTR
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC), a post-trade market infrastructure and systems provider, reports the creation of new partnerships with Catena Technologies, Compliance Solutions Strategies (CSS) and Finastra.
The partnerships’ purpose, DTCC says, is to “further support our mutual clients who will leverage DTCC’s Global Trade Repository (GTR) service in support of forthcoming Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR) obligations, which are anticipated to take effect in April 2020.”
In 2018, DTCC’s repository and derivatives services division established GTR SFTR partnerships with EquiLend, Trax, IHS Markit and Pirum as well as Broadridge, FIS Global, Murex, RegTek.Solutions and SimCorp, DTCC notes in a statement.
World Bank Taps Northern Trust for Custody Services
Northern Trust, a provider of asset servicing solutions to the global institutional investor industry, reports that it has signed custody agreements with the World Bank Treasury to provide global custody and related services for its investment management business.
The World Bank Group has two goals that drive its work in developing countries, according to the Northern Trust statement.
“The first is to end extreme poverty by 2030. The second is to boost shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population in the countries in which the Bank works,” officials say.
In addition, the World Bank Treasury “as part of its development mission provides capacity building to sovereign entities in portfolio and risk management, and middle/back-office functions,” among other functions.
Northern Trust, founded in Chicago in 1889, currently maintains offices in 20 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., and across 23 locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, per the statement.
ABN AMRO Fund Invests in ThetaRay
The Digital Impact fund of ABN AMRO has taken a stake in ThetaRay, an Israeli big-data analytics firm, the firm reports. The amount of the investment from the Dutch banking giant was not specified.
ThetaRay’s IntuitiveAI platform “mimics human intuition’s decision-making capabilities to detect both existing and previously unknown malicious activity of bad actors,” according to a statement from ABN AMRO, based in Amsterdam.
“Our investment in ThetaRay strengthens the current operational relationship between the bank and ThetaRay,” Hugo Bongers, director of the ABN AMRO fund, says in a statement.
“The market for these solutions driven by artificial intelligence is a major growth market across the world and is strategically relevant to all types of financial services,” Bongers says. “In addition, ABN AMRO stands to benefit from access to the Israeli ecosystem of cybersecurity and financial crime detection firms, as well as the leading venture capital investors operating in this business, such as JVP (Jerusalem Venture Partners) and OurCrowd.”
ABN AMRO’s Digital Impact fund is “dedicated for fintech that invests in innovative businesses specialising in the digitalisation of financial products and services. The EUR 50 million fund has stakes in Tink, BehavioSec, solarisBank, Ockto, Crosslend and Tealium, and previously invested in Cloud Lending Solutions (from which it exited in 2018),” according to the statement.
Fenergo Enters Taiwan via TUNG-I Partnership
Fenergo, a client lifecycle management solutions vendor, is entering the Taiwanese market through a partnership with TUNG-I Information Services (TUNG-I), a Taiwanese provider of solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI) in finance, information security, private cloud implementation and smart retail, officials say.
The agreement specifies that as an exclusive CLM partner, Fenergo will provide TUNG-I’s current and prospective Taiwanese clients access to know your customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) capabilities, officials report.
TUNG-I will provide local support, maintenance and implementation of Fenergo’s CLM solutions.
The partnership with TUNG-I “further solidifies our expansion into APAC,” says Julian Clarke, global head of partnerships and alliances, in a prepared statement.
“Our banking clients require a CLM solution that transforms how they manage clients from initial onboarding, KYC/AML compliance, client data management and KYC reviews,” says Tseng-Wei Chao, executive director at TUNG-I, in a statement.
“Regulatory rules are ramping up in APAC with differing requirements between countries. It’s important that firms in the region have a solution that fulfils all obligations and eases the pressure off compliance teams,” adds Kyoka Li, APAC director of sales, at Fenergo, in a statement.
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