Our FinTech roundup also covers people moves at Baton Systems and Broadway Technology, and an ESG partner for BNPPSS.
Canadian Regulators Say Current Law Covers Crypto
Just as cryptocurrency trading venues are gaining ground, Canada’s regulators for securities transactions are pointing to the securities law requirements that govern “crypto-asset trading platforms (CTPs) and how they may be tailored by regulators for the CTPs business model,” officials say.
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) have issued a public notice on the matter.
“The guidance in our notice details steps platform operators need to take to comply with securities legislation as they prepare to fully integrate into the Canadian regulatory structure,” says Louis Morisset, CSA chair and president and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers, in a prepared statement.
“To bring their operations into compliance, CTPs should contact their local securities regulator now to discuss the registration process and address applicable requirements,” Morisset says.
The notice offers guidance for platforms where crypto assets are traded as securities or derivatives, “or contractual rights or claims to underlying crypto-assets such as bitcoin or ether,” officials say. “The notice also outlines interim approaches that may be available to CTPs, that are intended to foster innovation and provide flexibility, while ensuring the CTPs operate in an appropriately regulated environment.”
The notice “also offers an overview of key risks related to CTPs and areas where requirements may be tailored, provided that key risks are addressed, and investor protection is not compromised. Finally, the notice outlines the process for submitting an application to the relevant CSA jurisdictions and IIROC,” officials say.
“We remind all CTPs that are dealing with Canadians, including foreign-based CTPs, that they are expected to comply with Canadian securities legislation,” Morisset says. “Failure to do so could result in CSA members pursuing enforcement action.”
Baton Systems Taps Credit Suisse for New Director
Aaron Ayusa
Baton Systems, a provider of post-trade systems for capital markets, has hired Aaron Ayusa from Credit Suisse to be its new director of client success, officials say.
The New York-based Ayusa has more than a decade of experience in the “FX space, both in settlements and automation,” officials add.
“In this role, he will work closely with customers to help solve FX-related issues and develop bespoke FX [foreign exchange] products,” officials say. Ayusa will report directly to Tucker Dona, the head of business development for Baton.
Ayusa worked for a decade at Credit Suisse in a variety of roles. He most recently served as assistant vice president, cash products and metrics analysis, “and oversaw various global FX initiatives and process improvements through robotics and technology,” officials say.
He has also served in roles as a senior analyst for prime swaps and senior analyst for FX operations, and represented Credit Suisse via industry forums and working groups such as the FX Operations Managers Working Group (FX OMWG), officials add.
“I’m excited to join Baton, which is leveraging distributed ledger technology to disrupt the FX settlement process in a more efficient manner, reducing risk and increasing visibility of funding sources and obligations to better manage liquidity,” Ayusa says.
BNP Paribas Securities Services Works With Clarity AI
Custodian BNP Paribas Securities Services (BNPPSS) is partnering with sustainability data science and technology vendor Clarity AI so that users of a BNPPSS platform can access Clarity AI’s sustainability data and insights, officials say.
The platform is known as Manaos and “enables institutional investors to store their fund data on a single platform in order to obtain a comprehensive and transparent view of their investments,” according to BNPPSS officials. “They can, in turn, estimate the Environmental, Sustainability, and Governance (ESG) impact of their portfolios through a panel of innovative companies readily available on the Manaos applications catalogue.”
Clarity AI’s sustainability insights and services cover “more than 30,000 companies, 400 country and local governments and 200,000 investment funds,” officials say. “This means Manaos users can instantly assess a range of insights – including the ESG risk and impact scores of their investments, their contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and climate change indicators — to facilitate the production of analytics and regulatory reports.
“This partnership arrives as the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) comes into force in 2021, requiring asset managers to disclose the ESG risks in their portfolios for the first time,” according to BNPPSS.
Broadway Technology Picks a New CEO & Chief Innovation Officer
Michael Chin
Front-office solutions vendor Broadway Technology has named Michael Chin as its new CEO and will appoint him to the board of directors, officials say.
The expansion of the executive team will include Broadway co-founder and board of directors’ member Tyler Moeller who “will become Chief Innovation Officer, continuing his leadership of Broadway’s innovation strategy and track record delivering long-term pioneering technology to the industry,” officials say. Chin, who is a 30-year fintech veteran, was most recently managing director, global head of trading at market data and systems vendor Refinitiv.
Tyler Moeller
Chin oversaw Refinitiv’s pre-trade desktop, execution platforms, real-time data, and analytics across equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, and commodities, officials add.
Broadway Technology provides fintech solutions to sell-side and buy-side clients, including more than half of the top 50 banks in the world. Founded in 2003 by experts in enterprise software and quantitative trading, Broadway has employees worldwide with offices in New York, Austin, London, Toronto, and Christchurch, officials say.
Broadway’s suite of hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) trading solutions includes order and algorithmic execution, customer quoting and e-commerce, pricing and distribution, risk and credit management, surveillance, and trade management, officials say.
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