Our free FinTech roundup covers: NICE Actimize’s purchase of Guardian Analytics; Finasta’s new CMO; and the launch of the Small Exchange.
Bloomberg Works With JPMorgan Securities Services
Data integration and “frictionless” workflows are the main goals of a new collaboration between JPMorgan’s Securities Services and Bloomberg.
The news and market data vendor is working with the services provider business of JPMorgan to offer buy-side firms a new integration that will allow them to work from the Bloomberg AIM order management system (OMS) and use JPMorgan’s technology as an extension of their operations by sharing enriched transaction data sets and operational workflow, officials say.
The vendors are “centralizing and streamlining operational processes and data integration” to mitigate manual touchpoints, risk and costs and increase transparency, officials say. “This is the first of a series of ongoing front-to-back integration points between Bloomberg and J.P. Morgan’s Securities Services,” the vendors add.
The collaboration will revamp post-trade workflows via direct front-to-back process, product, and data integrations. The vendors have focused on a major area of operational friction — the relaying of instructions from the buy side to the custodian. Firms will now get real-time status reports on the instruction from processing to settlement, officials say.
The vendors also want to drive down costs by via a reduction in emails, phone calls, faxes, and the faster onboarding of new clients and funds, officials say. The new links between the systems will be facilitate by application programming interfaces (APIs) and message queueing.
“The offering is now live and in production with the first joint Bloomberg and J.P. Morgan’s Securities Services client and is being made available to other buy-side clients,” according to an official statement from the vendors. The identity of the joint client was not revealed.
NICE Actimize to Buy Guardian Analytics
Financial crime mitigation vendor NICE Actimize has announced a definitive agreement to acquire vendor Guardian Analytics, a financial crime risk management solution provider that uses could- and artificial intelligence-based technologies.
Vendor officials did not disclose the purchase price for the acquisition.
If approved by authorities, the acquisition would result in a cloud-based, financial crime risk management platform that exploits machine learning and analytics, officials say. Guardian Analytics uses real-time behavioral analytics and A.I./M.L. for its solutions. NICE Actimize provides financial crime, risk, and compliance solutions.
Vendor officials add that the combination would feature anti-money laundering (AML), fraud detection capabilities, fraud models, and data connectors.
“With criminals seeking to exploit the current environment, we need to make sure financial institutions and consumers are protected in a way that’s cost-effective and intuitive,” says Craig Costigan, CEO for NICE Actimize, in a prepared statement.
The acquisition is expected to close in the latter part of the last quarter of 2020, officials say.
Finastra Names New Chief Marketing Officer
Margaret Franco
Finastra has appointed Margaret Franco as chief marketing officer. She joins from Dell Technologies and will be based at Finastra’s London headquarters.
Most recently, at Dell, she was senior vice president for EMEA Marketing, overseeing marketing and demand generation activities, the vendor says in a statement.
Finastra characterizes itself as an “open platform that accelerates collaboration and innovation in financial services,” with clients that include 90 of the world’s top 100 banks.
Franco, who was at Dell for 13-years, also worked for chipmaker AMD where she served in global marketing functions such as vice president of integrated marketing communications. She will report to Eric Duffaut, president and global head of field and marketing at Finastra, officials say.
CQG Access Ready for ‘Small Exchange’ Launch
The Small Exchange, which characterizes itself as a new futures exchange aimed at retail customers, reports that its products are now available for trading through Denver-based CQG, which makes market technical analysis, charting, and electronic trading software for traders, brokers, commercial hedgers, and exchanges.
Market participants around the world have access to the Small Exchange and its suite of products via the CQG platform, the exchange notes in a statement.
The Small Exchange, based in Chicago, opened to investors for trading on June 1.
Its initial offering is for three “cash-settled contracts based on proprietary indices in equities, metals, and foreign exchange,” the Small Exchange’s statement adds.
The exchange also notes that it is a registered designated contract market (DCM) with the CFTC.
In addition to the CQG news, the Chicago-based Options Clearing Corp. (OCC), which characterizes itself as the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, saluted the Small Exchange on its launch.
“As the U.S. exchange-traded derivatives industry continues to expand, we are pleased to welcome the Small Exchange as a participant exchange,” OCC CEO John Davidson says in a statement. “I
n that role, the Small Exchange will be afforded the full range of clearing and risk management services available to all of our other participating exchanges.”
OCC points out that it “now provides central counterparty clearing and settlement services to 21 exchanges and trading platforms for options, security futures, financial and commodity futures, and securities lending transactions.”
Need a Reprint?