Our free FinTech roundup also covers: Torstone’s new hire, CQG & BTS, and INTL FCStone & Integral.
Settlement Service Run by CLS & IHS Markit
Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has joined a cross-currency swaps settlement service developed by financial data and systems vendor IHS Markit and a firm specializing in settlement CLS, officials report.
With its latest member, the payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement service has eight settlement members “live on the service, including some of the largest global banks,” according to CLS.
The service is an extension of a PvP service from CLS “and uses the MarkitSERV trade confirmation platform to allow CLSSettlement members to send their cross-currency swaps into CLSSettlement for settlement,” according to CLS. “The cross-currency swap flows are multilaterally netted against all other FX transactions in CLSSettlement, resulting in a significant reduction in daily funding requirements for clients and considerable liquidity optimization benefits across the industry.”
“Becoming a participant of the cross-currency swap service provided by CLS and IHS Markit helps us to further mitigate settlement risk, and we expect to see further operational and funding efficiency benefits as more counterparties join the service,” says Richard Chambers, global head of Short Macro Trading at Goldman Sachs, in a prepared statement.
“As the community of global financial institutions connected by the MarkitSERV network continues to grow, the addition of Goldman Sachs to the cross-currency swaps settlement service demonstrates the industry’s ongoing support for such initiatives,” says Chris Jackson, managing director at IHS Markit, in a statement.
David Pearson Joins Torstone Technology
David Pearson
Industry veteran David Pearson is joining Torstone Technology’s product team as product manager to “help strengthen Torstone’s product focus and delivery,” officials say. Torstone is a provider of cloud-based post-trade securities and derivatives processing services.
Most recently, Pearson was with Genesis Global, where he oversaw post-trade workflow solutions. Before that post, he spent 25 years at Fidessa, officials say.
At Fidessa, Pearson initially worked with sell-side brokers and dealers “to build and implement front and middle-office workflow solutions for equities,” officials say. More recently, though, he has been working with buy-side firms “to challenge the status quo in other asset classes including exchange-traded derivatives and repo.”
Pearson has more than 35 years of experience of developing IT solutions for workflow and automation in the front office and post-trade space. He says that he will helping Torstone “further evolve its leading cloud platform, helping firms to move away from legacy systems and future-proof their operations,” in a prepared statement. “Market volatility has recently become a key characteristic of capital markets, and there has arguably never been a more interesting time to bring new digital solutions to the post-trade industry.”
In addition to his vendor roles, Pearson is also former co-chair of the FIX Trading Community’s Global Post Trade Working Group and has been involved in the global industry debate around new post-trade business workflows. Pearson will be based in London at Torstone’s headquarters. Torstone has offices in New York, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo.
CQG Licenses Software & Hires from BTS
Front-end software systems vendor CQG is licensing software assets from Blue Trading Systems (BTS) to give CQG end-users access to a suite of customized algorithmic strategies and to new low-latency spread routing for spread traders, officials say.
CQG’s clients include traders, brokers, commercial hedgers, and exchanges.
The BTS technology “is designed to give traders access to strategies offering the best execution across a range of markets,” according to CQG, which will integrate the algorithms and execution logic into its own trading products.
The vendor also announced that Kevin Darby, the former co-founder and managing partner of BTS, has joined CQG as a product manager, to oversee product strategy for CQG’s spreader and algo offerings. “In that role, he will also oversee the integration and implementation of the new customized CQG offering based on the BTS software,” officials say.
“We’ve known the BTS team for a few years and have always admired the care that has gone into its products,” says CQG President Ryan Moroney, in a statement. “When the opportunity came up to license the BTS code as well as to bring Kevin on to lead the new offering, we seized on it. This approach provides us with the basis for building a high-performance algo and spreading platform that will allow our customers to thrive in markets like these.”
INTL FCStone Launches NDFs via Integral Platform
Foreign exchange (FX) technology vendor Integral has announced that INTL FCStone Ltd. has begun trading non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) via Integral’s BankFX Platform, officials say.
“Initially, INTL FCStone will support the Brazilian Real (BRL), the Chilean Peso (CLP), and the Columbian Peso in Latin America along with the Indian Rupee (INR), South Korean Won (KRW), the Taiwanese Dollar (TWD), and the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) within the Asia region,” officials say.
INTL FCStone offers financial services execution, risk management, market intelligence, post-trade services, and trading and clearing for a range of over-the-counter (OTC) foreign exchange (FX) instruments, officials say.
“The addition of NDFs through INTL brings new levels of efficiency for a global client base seeking enhanced risk management and customization in emerging market currencies,” says Mike Wilkins, head of FX Trading at INTL FCStone, in a prepared statement.
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