In other news, the FCA takes on greenwashing via innovation, STT helps clients with FINRA compliance, and the CFTC & BoE focus on CCP concerns.
TNS Adds to Global Connectivity Footprint
Transaction Network Services (TNS) has acquired BornTec’s managed hosting and co-location business, which will add to TNS’ global connectivity footprint and bolster previous TNS acquisitions, officials say. The latest acquisition was completed on March 21, 2023.
The BornTec co-location acquisition adds to TNS’s global deployment of Layer 1 ultra-low latency trading infrastructure in 2019, officials say.
The acquisition is intended to expand the range of connectivity options for TNS’s portfolio of exchanges and trading venues, buy- and sell-side institutions, market data vendors, software developers, and cloud service providers around the world, according to TNS.
“BornTec is a capital markets visionary, and this acquisition fits seamlessly into TNS’s managed hosting strategy that we embarked on five years ago,” says Tom Lazenga, general manager, financial markets for TNS, in a prepared statement.
BornTec’s sale to TNS was strategic because the divestiture allows BornTec “to sharpen our focus on our industry-leading CrossCheck trading data analytics platform, bringing us to the forefront of at-trade and post-trade operational resilience, data intelligence and automation,” says Derek Haworth, CEO of BornTec, in a statement.
“We vetted several acquirer candidates, and, with TNS, we found a partner that shares our customer-centric values,” Haworth says. “We’re confident that our managed hosting customers will be well served within TNS’s global co-location infrastructure.”
TNS serves financial market participants worldwide via a range of connectivity, co-location, cloud, market data and virtual private network (VPN) solutions that are part of its infrastructure as a service (IaaS) portfolio, officials say.
The BornTec flagship application CrossCheck offers a real-time, at-trade, and post-trade global view of private trade flow, officials say.
FCA & GFIN Launch ‘Greenwashing TechSprint’
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a regulator for the United Kingdom (U.K.), and the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) are launching a virtual Greenwashing TechSprint that will bring together international regulators, financial services firms, and innovators to “address sustainable finance as a collective priority,” officials say.
The event, hosted via the FCA’s Digital Sandbox, is intended to foster the development of “ a tool or solution that can help regulators and the market effectively tackle the risks of greenwashing in financial services,” according to the FCA.
“The number of investment products marketed as ‘green’ or making wider sustainability claims is growing. Exaggerated, misleading or unsubstantiated claims about Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) credentials damage confidence in these products and the FCA wants to ensure that consumers and firms can trust that products have the sustainability characteristics they claim to have,” according to the FCA.
The FCA is encouraging U.K.-based firms to apply starting April 17 and the application window will remain open for four weeks, officials say.
To help the application process, GFIN is offering an information pack for firms that want to participate. Firms that successfully apply will proceed to onboarding which will take place June 1-2. “This will provide firms with training on the Digital Sandbox and an in-depth overview of the TechSprint process,” officials say.
The TechSprint will launch on June 5 and will run for three months, ending with a showcase day in September 2023, officials say.
Firms can contact the FCA regarding the GFIN Greenwashing TechSprint via the following email address: GFIN@fca.org.uk .
STT Launches FINRA Calculation Compliance Service
Sterling Trading Tech (STT) has launched a calculation service that will help broker-dealers meet FINRA’s recently announced enhancements to its portfolio margining requirements, officials say.
The system enhancement is part of the vendor’s REST API cloud-based Risk & Margin System.
“STT has developed and launched a service to calculate and produce the data elements required for this additional reporting, including concentration position requirements and global margin supplement details, for firms approved by FINRA for portfolio margin,” according to STT.
The new requirements, set to go into effect April 1, will take effect later in 2023, notes STT, a provider of order management systems, risk and margin solutions, and trading platforms.
“As regulations continue to evolve, broker-dealers and other market participants constantly face challenges in being able to comply, and FINRA’s new requirements are no exception,” says Ravi Jain, chief product officer of STT, in a prepared statement.
“Existing Sterling clients can directly subscribe to this service offering, and any firm, regardless of whether they currently use STT’s Risk & Margin System, can use the service by uploading their portfolios,” officials say. “The portfolio margin reporting enhancements announced by FINRA are meant to provide more insight into the options and concentrated position exposure of member firms’ client accounts.”
CFTC & Bank of England Strengthen CCP Ties
The Bank of England (BoE) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have announced “a further strengthening of their commitment to close cooperation and mutual understandings on the supervision of cross-border central counterparties (CCPs),” reports the CFTC.
The bid to provide post-Brexit clarity is a follow-up to their existing 2020 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The BoE and the CFTC already have a longstanding relationship “with respect to the supervision and oversight of cross-border CCPs and recognize the importance of deference in regulation and supervision where appropriate,” according to the CFTC. “The deferential approach is in line with the G20 commitments made in St. Petersburg in 2013 and reduces the risk of regulatory duplication while preserving the benefits of cross-border clearing activities.”
The Bank and the CFTC “share a common understanding of mutual practices in connection with certain U.S. and U.K. cross-border CCPs within the MoU’s scope. Duly authorized officials have set out arrangements which detail and support the practices of the existing MoU,” according to the CFTC.
“The nature of the cooperation exhibited in these practices includes periodic engagements between staff of the Bank and the CFTC to exchange views on relevant supervisory issues, take into consideration each other’s views as appropriate, and provide assistance on specific matters of concern where they arise.”
The agreement covers the sharing of information such as “data on the clearing services provided to market participants; notifications of material events, including those related to financial resilience or business continuity of the CCPs, in accordance with the MoU; and regular engagement on areas of supervisory focus,” officials say.
