Our FinTech roundup also covers Goldman’s Sustainability Bond, FD’s New AWS status, and Emerging Asset Management's milestone.
LME to Use Itiviti’s FIX-based Offerings
London Metal Exchange (LME) will be automating its client onboarding process with the help of FIX protocol-based offerings from technology and service provider Itiviti, officials say.
The exchange will use Itiviti’s FIX Conductor and VeriFIX Enterprise solutions for onboarding as part of the LME’s effort “to refresh its overall trading infrastructure, which includes fully rebuilding LMEselect, its electronic member-to-member trading system,” officials say.
“The new version of LMEselect will deliver FIX 5.0 protocol access through a convenience gateway, which will give clients access to all the partitions within the trading system,” officials add.
The new system will offer binary protocol partition-specific gateways, and “a fresh trading GUI [graphical user interface],” officials say.
Goldman Sachs Issues Sustainability Bond
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. reports that it has issued a Sustainability Bond that contributes to the investment bank’s sustainable finance commitment, which includes a target of $750 billion deployed in sustainable financing, investing, and advisory activity by 2030, officials say.
The firm “settled an $800 million Sustainability Bond to accelerate climate transition and advance inclusive growth across nine core thematic areas: clean energy, sustainable transport, sustainable food and agriculture, waste and materials, ecosystem services, accessible and innovative healthcare, accessible and affordable education, financial inclusion, and communities,” according to bank officials.
“Goldman Sachs was the lead book runner with a syndicate otherwise comprised entirely of diverse and minority-led broker dealers,” explains Carey Halio, deputy treasurer at Goldman Sachs, in a prepared statement. “The five-year bond, which is callable in four-years, will pay interest semi-annually at a fixed rate of 0.855 percent for the first four years, and then quarterly at a floating rate of SOFR+0.609 percent in the final year, if not called.”
The bond offering is “aligned with Goldman Sachs’ broader integration” of its themes across its businesses and “will further expand the bank’s role in catalyzing capital to address the pressing environmental and social issues facing society today,” according to the bank.
“We’ve said building a low-carbon, inclusive economy is a business imperative, and now we’re demonstrating our commitment by using the same financial toolkit we recommend to our clients,” says David Solomon, chairman and CEO at Goldman Sachs, in a prepared statement.
The Goldman Sachs Sustainability Issuance Framework has been reviewed by Sustainalytics, a second-party opinion provider, and allows for future programmatic issuances, officials say. The firm will publish an annual update of the allocation of the proceeds “which will include details on the expected and realized qualitative and, where feasible, quantitative environmental and social impact.”
AWS Designates FD as an Advanced Consulting Partner
First Derivatives (FD) reports that it has been named an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advanced Consulting Partner, a designation that strengthens FD’s relationship with AWS.
FD offers a combination of tools and certified consultants — onsite and nearshore — to provide transition capabilities in these key areas:
- Application migration and modernization: FD takes data-intensive applications and processes to the cloud;
- Managed Services: a hosting service for automating operational and management tasks that allowing firms to focus on other areas;
- Sandbox Environments: Access to A.I. and machine learning services that give customers “space to run analysis and modelling on data for better businesses outcomes without the worry of interrupting or disrupting ongoing business.”
FD officials say that they have more than “120 AWS certified consultants with a stated mission of training up to 2,000 consultants to help clients safely migrate their critical systems to the cloud. The announcement forms part of FD’s stated strategy of enhancing knowledge and services offerings in the areas of compliance, data management, risk, regulatory reporting, trading technology and financial services ISVs with cloud expertise.”
FD’s offerings include KX technology, incorporating the kdb+ time-series database, used for high-performance, in-memory computing, streaming analytics, and operational intelligence.
Emerging Asset Management Hits $1 Billion in AUM
Bermuda-based Emerging Asset Management Ltd. (EAM), which describes itself as a provider of turnkey solutions for fund launches, has reached a milestone of $1 billion in assets under management (AUM), officials say.
“EAM’s clients include new and established, small-to-medium-sized fund managers looking to start an alternative investment fund (including hedge funds, private equity, property, commodities funds) and/or launch new funds,” officials say. “EAM serves both onshore U.S. and offshore jurisdictions, guiding clients through the fund launch process covering all legal, fund administration, prime brokerage, and domiciliation requirements.”
As the market requires a continued focus on costs by managers, EAM’s solutions offer clients an attractive and cost-effective proposition, reducing their total expense ratio and facilitating access to the leading global service providers offering fund administration, accounting and investor reporting, legal and audit services.
“Since we were founded in 2008, EAM’s dedicated and expert team around the globe have helped to relieve our clients of the administrative burden of establishing a new fund, allowing them to dedicate more time to the success of their investment strategies,” says Bill Wiggin, managing director at EAM, in a prepared statement.
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