Professional services provider Vistra has completed its acquisition of the fund administration and transfer agency business of Phoenix American Financial Services, Inc., officials say. The acquisition did not include Phoenix American’s aviation services business. “This transaction will expand Vistra’s presence and capabilities in the business-critical U.S. market, allowing it to provide deeper and broader end-to-end… Read More >>
Rathbones Group Deploys Xplan from Iress
The London-based Rathbones Group is live on the Xplan advice software from financial technology provider Iress to support Rathbones’ financial planning business, officials say. Financial services firm Rathbones provides individual wealth management, asset management and related services to private clients, charities, trustees and professional partners, officials say. “Xplan will also be the financial planning platform… Read More >>
FINRA Explores Remote Inspections via Pilot Program
Nearly one-quarter or 22 percent of FINRA member firms have volunteered to participate in a pilot program that would allow them to complete their inspection obligations “without an on-site visit” from a FINRA official, according to the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for U.S. broker-dealers. FINRA notes that 741 firms are participating in the initial pilot, and… Read More >>
Gresham CEO Provides an Update on the Merger
(Gresham Technologies has merged with Alveo, a market data integration and analytics solutions provider, via a transaction led by Alveo’s majority owner private equity firm STG Partners. Before the merger, STG Partners and Alliance Bidco took Gresham Technologies plc private in April via a transaction that valued Gresham at approximately £146.7 million ($190.7 million). The… Read More >>
FIA Updates Best Practices for Credit Risk Mitigation
Post-trade controls, monitoring, and data collection are essential to mitigate the risk involved in the automation of exchange-traded futures, options, and centrally cleared derivatives. With the help of updated best practices, these controls can work well in conjunction with pre-trade controls to prevent credit events or unintended transactions. So says the Futures Industry Association (FIA)… Read More >>
Franklin Templeton to Deploy BlackRock’s Aladdin
Asset manager Franklin Templeton will be deploying the Aladdin platform from BlackRock to unify its investment management IT infrastructures across public market asset classes, officials say. The Aladdin portfolio management software offers investment firms “a way to view and manage daily investments,” according to BlackRock. “Aladdin is a comprehensive technology solution that supports the entire… Read More >>
Google Cloud’s Quant Collaboration Has Lessons for Ops
We at FTF and FTF News focus much of our attention on post-trade operations. But every once in a while we take a look at some of the breakthroughs happening in the front office. Such advances ripple through to the middle- and back-office Ops teams. A case in point is the quantitative trading firm Hudson… Read More >>
Global Relay Links to OpenAI’s ChatGPT API
Global Relay, a provider of communications compliance solutions, is embracing a generative artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology provider to help its financial services clients, officials say. For instance, the self-regulatory organization (SRO) Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has requirements for overseeing A.I. chatbot communications, “mandating that AI-driven communications must adhere to the same supervision, content, and… Read More >>
Gresham & Alveo Merge to Offer More Data Services
Following a complex set of financial maneuvers, data reconciliation vendor Gresham Technologies has merged with Alveo, a market data integration and analytics solutions provider, via a transaction that Alveo’s majority owner private equity firm STG Partners helped make happen, officials say. In fact, before the current merger, STG Partners and Alliance Bidco, a company owned… Read More >>
Can a Proposed Standard Stop SSI Failures?
Standard Settlement Instructions (SSIs) are important for securities transactions because they specify the location for delivery after execution. However, SSIs cause a high rate of failures at the settlement stage, and the Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) is taking steps to rectify the situation. The ongoing use of “manual SSI exchanges, which are prone to… Read More >>
