In other FinTech news, TraderTools moves to the cloud while deVere Group and Horizon Software get on the bitcoin bus.
More CSDs Expected to Work with SWIFT
Financial messaging and systems cooperative SWIFT has just signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with seven central securities depositories (CSDs) that commits them to demonstrating how distributed ledger technology (DLT) could be put to work for post-trade operations, including corporate actions processing, shareholder and related voting, and proxy-voting.
The CSDs are: Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Caja de Valores, Depósito Central de Valores, Nasdaq Market Technology AB, National Settlement Depository, SIX Securities Services and Strate Ltd. More CSDs are expected to join in the coming weeks, according to SWIFT officials.
DLT is the networking infrastructure that binds records of the usage of crypto currencies such as bitcoin, and forms the basis of their value.
The new SWIFT/CSD group will “investigate the types of new products that can be built using it, and how existing standards such as ISO 20022 can support it,” according to SWIFT.
SWIFT points out that despite many IT advances “securities processing, particularly in areas requiring multi-party contact, involve extremely cumbersome manual processes that can carry significant inherent cost and risk.” The MOU has caused SWIFT and the CSDs to define the product requirements for “an e-voting solution based on DLT that includes common standards (ISO 20022),” according to SWIFT.
“To ensure interoperability and smooth migration, it is crucial that new technologies support existing common standards such as ISO 20022,” says Stephen Lindsay, head of standards at SWIFT, in a prepared statement. “The promise of the technology on paper is great, but it is currently missing a key component around standardization. There is clear value in re-using established business definitions and facilitating interoperability amongst DLT implementations, which this project will demonstrate.”
The MOU is also intended to facilitate collaboration “among the CSD community in DLT research and development, helping define the role of financial market infrastructure providers in markets based on distributed ledgers and; identifying, defining and developing additional use cases for DLT in a CSD environment and the post-trade landscape, such as services for different kinds of DLT-based digital assets,” according to SWIFT.
The group will also focus on “creating and adapting common standards and principles for the use of DLT” among CSDs and the financial industry, and promoting the adoption of those standards and principles to other parties, including regulators, officials add.
The International Securities Services Association (ISSA) has endorsed the SWIFT/CSD group and included it as part of a new work stream within the association’s existing Working Group on DLT, officials say. “As a part of ISSA, the CSD Working Group on DLT will initially focus on digital assets with a goal to establish a business framework for how these assets could be used in the post-trade space,” according to ISSA. “The framework will identify key definitions, classifications, services and post trade service provider roles. Findings from the use case on digital assets are expected to be published in Q2.”
TraderTools Moves to Private Cloud Offering of Abacus
TraderTools, a financial technology firm serving foreign exchange market participants, reports that it has completed migrating its customers to the Abacus Private Cloud, officials say.
TraderTools, which offers solutions for liquidity access and distribution via its Unique Liquidity Network (ULN), will be leveraging Abacus’s tier-3 data centers in the U.K. and the U.S.
“Abacus provides us the global scale and infrastructure expertise to continue to expand the TraderTools ULN,” says Andrew P. Levine, CEO of TraderTools, in a prepared statement.
deVere Group to Launch Crypto Currency App
Citing “soaring global demand” and a defiance of convention, the deVere Group will be launching a crypto currency app over the coming weeks, says Nigel Green, founder and CEO of the firm.
The “deVere Crypto” app will the firm’s second major financial technology offering in less than 12 months, officials say.
Last year was “the true dawn of the financial technology era,” Green says. “Fintech is already fundamentally changing the way we access, manage and use money … Nothing has captured the imagination in this new fintech age quite like cryptocurrencies, specifically Bitcoin. No-one was really talking about it back in 2016. But those who invested in Bitcoin before the beginning of last year have enjoyed an impressive price increase.”
The new app will be available for the Apple and Android environments. It will let users store, transfer and exchange five major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, officials say.
“A team of some of the world’s leading blockchain – the revolutionary technology that underpins Bitcoin – and other fintech experts have created this new app which, I believe, is going to set a new standard in the thriving cryptocurrency sector,” Green says. “Traditionalists who declare cryptocurrencies ‘a fad’ are akin to King Canute trying to command the tides of the sea to go back.
An independent advisor, deVere Group has a network of more than 70 offices across the world, over 80,000 clients and $12 billion under advisement.
Horizon Debuts Connectivity to Crypto Currency Markets
Like other providers, Horizon Software, a maker of electronic trading solutions and algorithmic technology, is getting on the bitcoin bus via new support for crypto currency markets.
“The Horizon Trading Platform now provides users with the option of trading bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies, such as ether, ripple and litecoin, so clients can make the best use of algorithmic framework and automation capacities to trade all the major crypto currencies in a sophisticated way,” according to a company statement.
“Our clients are now engaging with Horizon for cryptocurrency trading. Although they have been around for a while, the successful launch in December of BTC Futures on CBOE and CME represents a strong signal of institutional recognition from market participants,” says Sylvain Thieullent, CEO of Horizon, in a statement. “The cryptocurrency market capitalization will reach $1 trillion in 2018, which further shows that this is a very exciting market for us.”
Horizon provides “native gateways” for connecting to the main cryptocurrency exchanges, including Kraken, Bitstamp, Bitfinex and GDAX and will be adding access to other exchanges in the future, officials say. The gateways have been developed via Horizon’s connectivity framework.
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