In other news, Volksbank Wien migrates with Murex, 3forge’s SOC 2 compliance & a key group pushes for more women traders.
TT Boosts Fixed Income Outreach
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT) reports that its multi-asset class expansion got a boost via its acquisition of London-based AxeTrading, a provider of fixed income trading solutions.
The acquisition for an undisclosed amount is a move “into full coverage of corporate, government, municipal and emerging market bonds as well as over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate swaps, strengthening TT’s leading position in fixed income derivatives and U.S. Treasuries,” officials say.
AxeTrading offers “connectivity to all major fixed income trading venues,” and offers a customizable pricing and quote management system, and automated workflow management tools intended to help with “the complexity of pricing, quoting and trading fixed income products across multiple venues and protocols,” officials say.
The fixed income market is “a major opportunity for TT given its size, considerable growth and ongoing adoption of electronic trading,” says Keith Todd, CEO of TT, in a prepared statement.
The combination of AxeTrading’s fixed income markets technology “with TT’s already established position in listed derivatives and U.S. Treasuries, will provide a comprehensive offering to customers globally,” says Greville Lucking, CEO of AxeTrading. “Leveraging the TT SaaS platform to deliver and distribute a true multi-asset offering is exactly what our customers are seeking.”
TT has been on a buying and partnering spree since 2022, when TT acquired RCM-X, a provider of algorithmic execution strategies and quantitative trading products.
The new partnerships include those launched with: KRM22 plc “to expand its risk management product portfolio;” Talos to “broaden its cryptocurrency offering;” ATEO Finance “to deliver post-trade allocation services;” and Bantix Technologies “to provide the QuikStrike options analysis software application through the TT platform,” officials say. “TT will further expand its product portfolio and asset class coverage through new strategic initiatives in 2023.”
Volksbank Wien Embraces Murex’s SaaS Environment
Volksbank Wien, the central entity of an association of Austrian banks, and Murex report that they migrated an MX.3 installation from bank premises into Murex’s private cloud hosting, Software-as-a-service (SaaS) environment.
The switch “also included an upgrade to the latest MX.3 release, with new features such as the SWIFT ISO 20022 format,” according to vendor Murex. “In such a project, Murex transfers the full MX.3 environment, including the database, customizations and interfaces, into the cloud hosting Murex SaaS,” officials add.
“The project took nine months to reach User Acceptance Test readiness, with a controlled budget. The project was accomplished entirely remotely. The remote way of working for all teams required continuous information sharing and alignment during design, deployment and validation,” officials say. “In essence, the Volksbank MX.3 instance is now managed by Murex. Volksbank no longer manages hosting and infrastructure services.”
Murex officials say the move helps Volksbank “divert efforts previously applied managing MX.3 to other core bank priorities. Volksbank, a retail- and small and medium enterprise-focused bank, and Murex have a 15-year history of working together to optimize capital markets software usage.”
“The project scope ranged from the MX.3 upgrade, which included using new collateral and risk management modules; to the lift-and-shift stream, which included adaptation on the global operating model and end-of-day housekeeping processes, as well as ecosystem integration and reporting adaptation with 28 interfaces and 57 extractions; to technical compliance with SaaS architecture and security principles,” officials add.
3forge Achieves SOC 2 Compliance
3forge LLC, a provider of historical data visualization and complex workflows, says that it has achieved Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type I compliance in accordance with American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) standards for service organizations, also known as SSAE 18, officials say.
“Achieving this standard … provides the industry with assurances that 3forge LLC has the appropriate controls and practices in place to ensure client data is managed with the highest standards of security and compliance and demonstrates their ongoing commitment to providing a secure and reliable service,” according to the 3forge announcement.
Prescient Assurance, a registered public accounting firm in the U.S. and Canada, conducted the audit, officials add.
Buy-Side Group Pushes for More Women Traders
The Buy-side Trading Community (BTC), which calls itself “a global unsponsored social initiative” has launched a #Buysidewomen Mentor/Mentee network to help increase the number of women traders
Anita Karppi
The free program for buy-side traders to join globally “is part of an International Women’s Day 2023 campaign to tackle gender diversity in a push for more female traders on the trading desk of asset managers and hedge funds,” according to the community, operated by Anita Karppi, founder of BTC.
“The inaugural #buysidewomen campaign in 2019 led to the #buysidewomen campaign data from 129 traders globally to be used by the Investment Association and AFME in their joint proposal for a review of market hours in Europe which led to consultations by the London Stock Exchange Group and Euronext on market structure and trading hours,” according to the announcement.
“The core mission of this #buysidewomen Mentor/Mentee network is to attract, retain and advance female traders and will provide a network” for junior traders to meet senior traders and share best practices, officials add.
“Since founding the Buy-side Trading Community network in 2009, the needs of traders have been a core focus and objective,” Karppi says in a statement. “I would like to encourage both senior male and female heads of trading to become Mentors and junior female traders to sign up to the program online #buysidewomen | BTC (buysideintel.com).”
Karppi can be reached at: akarppi@buysideintel.com
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