FIS Ventures to Fund ‘Flutterwave’ Financial technology specialist vendor FIS reports that its new “corporate venture investment division” FIS Ventures has launched “an effort to invest a target of $150 million in promising fintech startups over the next three years.” The first FIS Ventures investment is in Flutterwave, a Lagos, Nigeria and San Francisco-based… Read More >>
HSBC Halts Layoff of 35,000 Staffers
HSBC is putting the brakes on a layoff of 35,000 staffers that was originally announced in February, in a move to ease hardships during the pandemic. Other firms such as Morgan Stanley either have or are mulling similar halts to staff reductions. “I take the well-being of our people extremely seriously,” says Noel Quinn, group… Read More >>
Firm Launches Trading System Despite Pandemic
An Australian specialist fund manager, Atlas Infrastructure, went live with Indata’s Architect AI OMS and portfolio management solution this month despite the disruptions cause by the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the vendor’s help, completed a deployment remotely. The travel restrictions caused by the pandemic meant that Indata worked with Atlas “completely on a remote basis… Read More >>
Hosting is a Serious Business: Fiserv
(Editor’s note: Many securities firms are embracing the hosted option be it a cloud-based offering, an application service provider (ASP) model or a “something-as-a-service” implementation. While much is made about the hands-off aspects of these hosted situations, operations staff members still have a lot of interactions with third-party suppliers. Tirdad Shojaie, senior vice president, product… Read More >>
Credit Suisse Moves U.K. Prime Services to Greener Pastures
Although Britain mulling an exit from the European Union (Brexit) may be a motivating factor for many companies to leave the U.K. if the population decides to head for the European door, the decision for Credit Suisse to move its U.K. prime brokerage operations to Dublin was part of a long-term plan, according to a… Read More >>
PIMCO Adds Distressed Credit EVP
Pimco Hires from Bayside Capital Pimco, the Newport Beach, Calif.-based investment management firm, reports that it has hired Lionel Laurant as an executive vice president and portfolio manager focusing on distressed credit strategies. He will be based in the London office, reporting to Marc Seidner, managing director and chief investment officer — non-traditional strategies. Laurent… Read More >>
Vendors Are Rushing to Fill Voids in Ops Offerings
Front-office financial technology vendors are moving quickly to expand their reach into the middle and back office while traditional portfolio accounting systems providers are moving upstream into the middle office in attempts to provide a fuller suite of asset management operational services, according to a new report from market research firm Celent, a division of… Read More >>
The First Conviction in the LIBOR Scandal
The situation sounds almost like a bad, high-concept synopsis for a Hollywood movie — maybe “Rain Man” meets “Wall Street” — but the reality is far less glamorous. In the U.K., Tom Hayes, described by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as “the first individual to be charged and stand trial” in an ongoing criminal investigation… Read More >>
Bank of America Vet Joins Holley Holland
Bank of America (BofA) veteran Marty Rose has joined Holley Holland, the self-described “business transformation experts” to build the change management consultancy’s U.S. business, including opportunities in Charlotte, North Carolina, and throughout the region, officials say. Rose, who will be based in Charlotte, has left her post as chief operating office (COO) of the EST… Read More >>
Five Years On, Dodd-Frank’s Ops Changes Are Here to Stay
The U.S. financial services industry — including its collective back- and middle-offices in particular — has undergone sweeping changes since the Great Recession, the vast majority of which are directly attributable to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. The law was contentious from the very beginning, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that opinion on its… Read More >>
