Our free FinTech roundup offers news from BidFX and ICBC Standard Bank, ICE’s Bakkt execs, and CACEIS’s recent migration of funds.
Online Report Center Will Become a Cloud Service
Northern Trust is relaunching a client-facing portal, the Online Report Center, as a cloud-based service with a redesigned user interface, officials say.
The revamped service “is currently in its beta phase with a select group of clients. The full release for all clients will be available later this year,” according to Northern Trust. The cloud-based version will be available through Northern Trust Passport.
The portal “was redesigned following extensive client research and generates more than 3 million reports per month,” according to Northern Trust. The company “applied a human-centered design approach to create a contemporary user experience that enables global clients to access an extensive range of information.”
The new features of the service include:
- Enhanced scheduling and interactive reporting and report packaging capabilities;
- Event-based and time-based report generation triggers;
- And secure email attachments, email notifications, and SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) report delivery.
The established portal has been previously “used by more than 80,000 asset manager and institutional investor clients globally,” officials say.
ICBC Standard Bank Joins BidFX Liquidity Pool
BidFX, an electronic solutions provider for foreign exchange (FX) trading, reports that ICBC Standard Bank Plc, is the latest liquidity provider for the vendor’s execution management system (EMS).
Based in London, ICBC Standard Bank describes itself as a global markets banking specialist offering commodities, fixed income and currency financial products that have a focus on emerging markets.
“We look forward to partnering with the BidFX team to distribute our emerging market liquidity,” says Simon Goldberg, director, corporate and banks sales at ICBC Standard Bank, in a prepared statement. “BidFX is a natural partner in the space given its client base. Its strategy fits well with our regional focus on Africa and Frontier Asia markets, in which we have a substantial network due to our unique shareholding structure.”
“As the latest BIS survey on FX indicates, currencies of emerging market economies (EMEs) are gaining market share, reaching 25 percent of overall global turnover,” says Roger Lee, BidFX head of EMEA sales, in a prepared statement. “To that extent, it has become increasingly evident that electronic provision of EM liquidity, both deliverable and non-deliverable (NDF), has become a must. With that in mind, having the addition of a ‘frontiers pairs’ FX specialist such as ICBC Standard will be valued by the BidFX client base.”
ICE’s Bakkt Shuffles Executives
Mike Blandina has left his post as CEO of Bakkt, a digital assets and trading platform, to become the head of wholesale payments technology for JPMorgan Chase, a bank spokeswoman tells FTF News. Blandina’s start date has not yet been determined.
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which owns a majority of Bakkt, has appointed David Clifton as the interim CEO, officials say. Adam White, who was named president of Bakkt earlier in 2020, will continue in that role.
Clifton, who is also ICE’s vice president, M&A and integration, joined ICE in 2008, serving previously as associate general counsel, M&A, officials say. Clifton has been involved in many of ICE’s deals such as the 2013 acquisition of NYSE Euronext.
In his role as interim CEO, Clifton “will focus on completing the integration of Bridge2 Solutions, which Bakkt acquired earlier this year, while also driving forward Bakkt’s growth initiatives,” officials say.
“I also want to express our gratitude to Mike Blandina for his work to help grow Bakkt during an important transformational period for the company and wish him all the best in his new endeavor,” says Jeffrey Sprecher, founder, chairman and CEO of ICE, in a prepared statement.
ICE owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), other exchanges, clearinghouses and market information services.
CACEIS Migrates Funds Amid Pandemic
Officials at CACEIS, the asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole and Santander, report that they completed a major funds migration amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“On 16th April, Popular Asset Management S.G.I.I.C and Popular Pensiones E.G.F.P, two companies merging with Santander Asset Management and Santander Pensiones, switched to CACEIS as their depositary bank in Spain,” according to CACEIS officials.
“Since January, staff from Popular Asset Management, Popular Pensiones and CACEIS have all worked closely to prepare the migration. During the lockdown period, with all staff working from home, 107 funds were migrated to CACEIS in Spain, (59 investment funds and 48 pension funds) accounting for some €9.4 billion euros in assets [$10,189,829,428.40],” according to CACEIS officials. “This remarkable achievement was made possible due to the close cooperation between staff from all companies involved.”
CACEIS serves asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds, banks, brokers and corporate clients.
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