In other news, QuantHouse partners with Brave New Coin, DTCC launches a CD platform, and the Options Clearing Corp. has a new CRO.
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 services and solutions” that unite voice-based trading with natural language processing (NLP), officials say.
The combined offering to come “will accelerate trade flows, improve transactional accuracy, and extend back office and remote worker use-cases,” officials say.
The Cloud9 acquisition is likely “the first of several acquisitions for Symphony,” according to Symphony officials.
Brad Levy, CEO for Symphony, has told media outlets that it is in the market to “buy, partner with, or acquire strategic assets for the company and the industry,” Symphony officials acknowledge.
Symphony is “adding C9’s features to our secure and compliant communication stack, with chat, voice and video meetings, file, and screen sharing. Our combined capabilities will allow for more integrated and immediate conversational workflows, and front office users will be better served,” Levy says.
Marlin & Associates and Goodwin served as the financial and legal advisers, respectively, to Symphony, while Broadhaven and Wilmer Hale were financial and legal advisers, respectively, to Cloud9 for the acquisition, officials say. Both companies declined to release financial details of the transaction.
QuantHouse to Offer Brave New Coin Data & More
QuantHouse, a trading solutions and market data services vendor, will be offering Brave New Coin’s cryptocurrency data feeds, indices, and analytics to QuantHouse customers via a new partnership, officials say.
A data analytics and research company, Brave New Coin’s cryptocurrency market data solutions offer “insights around trading, valuations, portfolio construction, performance attribution and risk management,” officials say.
The QuantHouse indices are intended to help end-user clients with price discovery, pricing derivatives, and offering basket indices, officials say. “Upon launch, QuantHouse will feature Brave New Coin’s high-speed single asset indices for top ten crypto assets, plus the Brave New Coin DeFi Index,” officials add.
“For QuantHouse traders who have an established source for quotes, the availability of Brave New Coin’s data provides for an additional reference on settlement price and an understanding of real-time market conditions. This is particularly significant in the absence of formal standards in crypto trading,” officials add.
QuantHouse and its parent company, Iress, serve hedge funds, market makers, investment banks, brokers, and other trading venues
DTCC Launches Service for Electronic Certificates of Deposit
Post-trade infrastructure and systems provider the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) has launched an automated service for electronic Certificates of Deposit (CD), dubbed the Underwriting Central (UWC) platform, that is intended to increase “efficiency through automation, improving data quality, reducing risk, and providing greater transparency into the eligibility life cycle,” officials say. The service will be offered by DTCC’s subsidiary, The Depository Trust Company (DTC).
“The new, digital UWC platform provides a paperless process for the delivery of CDs … issuers can now streamline the underwriting process, seamlessly creating, signing, and delivering CDs within hours, instead of days or weeks,” DTCC officials say. “The new platform leverages electronic vaulting technology to transmit and store data, as well as an e-signature process to execute digital certificates, providing enhanced automation for CD eligibility and issuance processing, and ultimately providing more seamless delivery of these assets to the accounts of end clients.”
DTC officials say that the launch follows “a successful pilot with nearly 30 underwriters, including BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC., Fidelity Capital Markets and Multi-Bank Securities, Inc.” and more than 50 issuers from regional branches based across the U.S.
“The new electronic CD capability reduces the risk of potential disruptions in the physical transport and in-person delivery receipt of CDs, all challenges that were amplified during the shift to remote working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Ann Marie Bria, DTCC executive director, asset services business management, in a prepared statement. “This new paperless process eliminates shipping costs and manual processes and the risk of closing delays for the issuer.”
New CRO for the Options Clearing Corp.
David Ye
A former State Street and Nomura executive, David Ye, will be the new chief risk officer (CRO) for the equity derivatives clearing vendor, the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), starting in early July, officials say. Ye will also be a member of OCC’s management committee.
Ye is replacing John “J.J.” Fennell, who is leaving OCC on July 2 to pursue a new opportunity, officials say.
Ye, who is an executive in residence at Duke University, has previously served as a CRO for Guardian Life Insurance of America, State Street Global Markets and Global Exchange, and at Nomura Holding Americas, officials say. “Ye started his financial services career as a senior asset and liability analyst at PNC Financial Services Group, later advancing ultimately to chief market risk officer for PNC Group,” officials add.
The OCC operates under the jurisdiction of the SEC and the CFTC as a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), officials say.
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