In other news, BlackRock joins a new Allfunds effort, QUODD revamps & Capgemini acquires Exiger division.
Akber Jaffer Replaces Haytham Kaddoura as CEO
Akber Jaffer
SmartStream, the post-trade operations solutions provider, has appointed Akber Jaffer as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective September 19.
Jaffer replaces Haytham Kaddoura, who has stepped down from the CEO post. Kaddoura will join SmartStream’s board.
Jaffer has “spent several years immersed in both start-up and scaled software and technology businesses,” which makes him “the ideal candidate to guide SmartStream into its next phase of growth and innovation,” according to the SmartStream announcement.
Just prior to his appointment as CEO, Jaffer was working in a freelance enterprise software private equity advisory capacity, according to his LinkedIn page. He has also held senior leadership roles at Finastra and Colt Technology Services.
At Finastra, Jaffer served as executive vice president for treasury and capital markets; chief commercial officer — marketplaces, TEMS and corporate development; and chief strategy officer and chief of staff, according to his LinkedIn page. During his time at Colt, Jaffer held the posts of chief strategy officer and chief of staff; and general manager and vice president for strategy and business development.
“SmartStream expresses its gratitude to Haytham Kaddoura for his contributions during his tenure and wishes him success in his future endeavors while welcoming him to the board of the company,” according to the SmartStream announcement.
SmartStream’s Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions include: TLM Aurora (Corona), TLM Cash and Liquidity Management, TLM Collateral Management, TLM Corporate Actions, TLM Fees and Expense Management, TLM Reconciliations Premium, and TLM Trade Process Control. The provider also offers the SmartStream Air and SmartStream RDU lines of solutions.
BlackRock Joins Allfunds Initiative for Private Markets Access
BlackRock has joined a special program of wealth technology platform provider Allfunds, which will help the world’s largest asset manager make its products available to Allfunds’ distribution network, officials say.
The Allfunds Private Partners (APP) initiative was launched in July and focuses on “supporting client access to private market funds,” officials say.
The initiative will help BlackRock “broaden access to its leading private markets offering to clients across EMEA and APAC, whilst also improving services available to existing clients. BlackRock joins a select group of leading alternative asset management and financial services firms already signed up to the platform,” according to Allfunds officials.
The collaboration of “Allfunds’ technology and BlackRock’s investment expertise will streamline the complexities faced by wealth managers seeking to distribute private markets investments to their clients,” according to Allfunds. “The collaboration will focus on the distribution of global private markets strategies and solutions, including the European Long Term Investment Funds (ELTIF) – an increasingly important wrapper for the distribution of private markets in Europe.”
BlackRock oversees $320 billion in alternative investments, $156 billion of which is in private markets, and “continues to expand its private markets platform, and is committed to increasing its global wealth clients’ access to investment opportunities in this growing asset class,” according to Allfunds.
“This collaboration will allow us to deliver on our strategic priorities of broadening access to BlackRock’s private markets strategies, accelerating distribution in EMEA, and enabling our wealth management partners to scale their own distribution efforts,” says Ivan Pascual, head of the EMEA iShares & Wealth at BlackRock, in a prepared statement.
“As allocations grow, alternative investments play an increasingly critical role in Wealth portfolios. The need for an approach that is scalable, fiduciary, and technology-enabled, has never been greater,” says Fabio Osta, head of the Alternatives Specialists Team in EMEA Wealth, at BlackRock, in a statement.
QUODD Revamp Incorporates Xignite’s Technology
QUODD, a market data on demand provider for the global financial services industry has reintroduced its market data platform and application programming interface (API) marketplace — a revamp that integrates assets from QUODD’s acquisition of Xignite in February, 2023, officials say.
The QUODD market data platform, dubbed QX Digital Platform and QX Data, is based on QX Technology, a cloud-based infrastructure that provides for “the automation, control, and consumption of all types of financial market data information,” officials say.
The QX Digital Platform connects workflows from back to front office and encompasses “global security pricing, reference data, corporate actions, and analytics across all asset classes,” officials say. Content providers from “proprietary and third-party sources for funds, equities, fixed income, indices, and currencies integrate into QX Digital Platform’s bulk data download functionality with programmatic access to queries on customized asset masters that can feed into proprietary and/or third-party applications.”
QX Data, which has “an institutional-grade low-latency streaming infrastructure, now offers the QX Marketplace for advanced tech buyers seeking programmatic access to the largest cloud-based, integrated suite of market data APIs in the industry,” officials say.
Capgemini Acquires FCC Division from Exiger
Earlier this month, Capgemini signed an agreement to acquire the Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) division of Exiger, a financial crime practice, in a bid to strengthen Capgemini’s offerings in financial crime, risk management, and regulatory compliance services.
The transaction is slated to close in the coming months.
The FCC division of Exiger “comprises a team of experts located in North America, EMEA and APAC. This team specializes in advisory, analytics and managed services relating to anti-money laundering, Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-bribery & corruption, suspicious activity monitoring, sanctions, transaction monitoring, and fraud,” officials say. The client roster for FCC “includes major players in banking, capital markets and fintechs.”
“As financial crime compliance requirements evolve, many banks are struggling to keep pace with changing regulations and cost of compliance,” says Kartik Ramakrishnan, deputy CEO of Capgemini’s Financial Services, in a prepared statement. “This practice brings to Capgemini deep domain regulatory expertise to help us to further address growing client demand for these services.”
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