In other news, Laser Digital invests in ClearToken, newcomer Taiko upgrades its platform, and GTN taps Saxo Bank for key Americas post.
LTX Seeks to Leverage AWS Migration
An electronic trading platform for corporate bonds LTX has migrated its platform to Amazon Web Services (AWS) with the intention of helping buy-side investors and dealers leverage the scale of AWS cloud services, officials say.
The migration is also intended to help clients better optimize data science processes that might help clients “make more informed corporate bond trading decisions based on transparency and real-time insights,” say officials of the subsidiary of Broadridge Financial Solutions.
“As LTX and AWS continue working together, we will modernize e-trading technology while providing increased privacy, agility and scalability for LTX clients,” says Scott Mullins, managing director, worldwide financial services at AWS, in a prepared statement.
LTX officials will also “take advantage of improved machine learning monitoring and scalability, using the vast quantities of LTX platform data to securely create more robust datasets,” according to LTX. “The migration will allow LTX to provide more advanced analysis of its Liquidity Cloud, the LTX network of anonymous real-time buy- and sell-side indications of interest.”
The AWS move will enhance the platform “pricing, dealer selection, client recommendation, and similar bonds functionalities,” LTX officials add.
Nomura Subsidiary Funds Digital Asset Clearinghouse
Laser Digital, the digital assets subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, has invested in ClearToken, described as a London-based startup that will introduce a clearinghouse to the digital asset marketplace, officials say.
ClearToken has announced that it is building a central clearing counterparty (CCP) that “will remove bilateral counterparty risk for settlement, financing, and derivative transactions by centralizing clearing, settlement, collateral and risk management arrangements, akin to traditional exchange-traded assets,” officials add.
The CCP to come “will enable all participants … to face the CCP rather than each other, thereby streamlining transactions, increasing capital efficiency, and reducing risk for all participants,” officials say. “ClearToken’s CCP is not native to any individual exchange or platform and can act to clear bilaterally-agreed transactions over the counter.”
ClearToken will also focus on introducing “traditional market structure best practices,” officials say.
The CCP to come would facilitate “the scale and structure required for mass institutional engagement with digital assets,” according to officials. The investment by Laser Digital will result in its CEO, Dr. Jez Mohideen, joining the board of ClearToken as a non-executive director.
“Laser Digital was launched by Nomura to spearhead its digital asset ambitions and is chaired by Steven Ashley, who previously led Nomura’s wholesale division,” officials say. “Headquartered in Switzerland, Laser Digital’s investments are focused on DeFi, centralized finance (CeFi), web3, and blockchain infrastructure to solve the challenges institutions currently face in digital asset investment.”
The officials behind the new CCP will need to work “with regulators globally to develop regulation to which ClearToken will comply, in order to stabilize the current ecosystem,” officials say.
The startup adds that it will also reach out to “digital asset exchanges, liquidity providers, prime brokerages, custodians, and asset managers as contributors and members to accelerate the next phase of the project.”
Startup Helps RIAs Pick Investment Strategies
Newcomer Taiko, a boutique, outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) services provider, has launched the Strategy Gallery feature as part of a platform upgrade that “sources investment solutions for advisors,” officials say.
“Taiko was recently launched by Taiber Kosmala & Associates, an institutional consulting firm advising on more than $15 billion in client assets that creates and implements custom investment programs,” officials say.
Taiko offers “a personalized investment and operations back-office, and an integrated technology stack,” officials say. Taiko targets registered investment advisors (RIAs), national advisory firms, broker-dealers and trust companies.
The platform upgrade “provides access to exclusive alternative investments, along with a highly curated gallery of separately managed accounts (SMAs) and custom portfolio strategies,” officials say.
The new Strategy Gallery helps advisors “access an array of pertinent information regarding investment managers, due diligence, holdings and performance. Each firm’s investment solutions will be unique to their identity, featuring custom managed and approved third-party strategies,” officials say. The new feature will “give advisors the option to allocate across client accounts to a particular strategy or select a custom combination.”
The Strategy Gallery feature “provides our advisors with valuable insight when sourcing investment strategies,” says Brian Vendig, president of MJP Wealth Advisors, an RIA, in a prepared statement. MJP reports that it has approximately $1 billion in assets under management (AUM).
GTN Taps Saxo Bank for CEO of Americas Post
Eric Krueger
GTN, a fintech vendor that says it’s focused on making “investment and trading accessible for all,” reports that it has appointed Eric Krueger as CEO of GTN Americas as part of its effort to expand in the U.S. and the Americas.
Krueger is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of cross-asset trading experience for institutional and retail clients, GTN says.
Before GTN, Krueger was serving as global head of digital engagement and client services at Saxo Bank. Prior to Saxo, he was managing director and head of EMEA cash equities distribution at Barclays, focusing on the firm’s equity business in Europe. He also worked as head of the equity program and electronic sales trading — EMEA at Merrill Lynch.
“This latest appointment is part of GTN’s ongoing global expansion efforts, which have seen the company bring on prominent specialists in trading, investments, and fintech from around the world to build the most comprehensive electronic trading and investment platform outside its home market in Dubai,” according to the vendor’s announcement.
GTN says it serves brokers, banks, asset managers, and fintech clients.
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