In other news, Broadridge hires from TD Securities, ThetaRay focuses on financial crime, and GSR picks a CRO.
Tests Involve DLT & Non-DLT Technology
NatWest Group, Deutsche Bank, Bank of Ireland, and Banca Mediolanum have been working with treasury teams at other large banks to test a platform for intraday foreign exchange (FX) swaps trading that involves distributed ledger technology (DLT) and non-DLT systems, officials at Finteum say.
“The banks’ initiative to create an intraday FX swaps market is enabled by a platform built by Finteum … [which] has been improving its intraday FX swaps platform since the solution was first announced with R3 and Fnality in September 2019, recently adding Request for Quote (RFQ) functionality,” according to Finteum officials.
This latest effort “will integrate with the best possible settlement solutions, which could include non-DLT technology such as CLSNow, and also DLT-based technology such as the Fnality Payment System,” officials add. “The banks plan to support the initiative further with live transactions expected in 2021 or early 2022.”
The eleven banking groups that took part in in the trial are “a diverse group of large and mid-size players from Europe and North America, including clearing banks for five different home currencies — Canadian dollar, Euro, Pound sterling, Swiss franc and US dollar,” according to the firm.
The combined, balance-sheet value of the participating banks is $14.5 trillion, “making it among the largest groups of banks ever to trial a new piece of market infrastructure,” according to Finteum.
FX swaps processing has “traditionally been overnight and longer, and the technology has evolved very little in the past 15 years. This intraday FX swaps initiative from the banks creates a new tenor. An intraday FX swap involves a payment-versus-payment exchange of currency on the same day that the transaction is agreed, with a second exchange at a predefined time later that day,” according to Finteum.
“During the trial, the banks engaged in simulated trading and discussion sessions, focused on the capabilities and features of the software, and its potential benefits. Over the course of one of the hour-long simulated trading sessions the banks executed 76 intraday FX swap transactions, based on 66 orders in a central limit order book and 69 bilateral RFQs,” according to Finteum.
“While every bank treasury team is focused on controlling costs, efficient optimization of liquidity buffers is often overlooked by senior management. It is great to see the banks from the trial encouraging their peers to join the initiative and optimize the cost savings for all involved,” says Brian Nolan, Finteum co-founder, in a prepared statement.
Broadridge Taps TD Securities for New Head of Asia-Pacific
Ian Strudwick
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., a fintech and post-trade specialist vendor, reports the appointment of Ian Strudwick as managing director and head of the Asia-Pacific region. The appointment is effective immediately.
Strudwick has 23 years of experience in the financial services and technology sectors, the vendor says in a statement, “with over 16 years spent in leadership roles for global and regional teams across capital markets, trade finance and business services.”
He joins from TD Securities, where he was most recently managing director and head of global operations and business services for the Asia-Pacific region.
ThetaRay Debuts Financial Crime Detection System
ThetaRay, a data analytics provider, has launched SONAR, which the vendor characterizes as the “most advanced financial crime prevention solution for cross-border payments.” SONAR is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) system.
“By providing full visibility across complex, cross-border transaction paths, the SaaS solution enables banks, financial institutions and businesses to increase their volume of transfers without the risk of being exploited for money laundering, terrorist financing, human trafficking, and narco-trafficking,” the vendor says in a statement.
The SaaS debut “follows on the heels of ThetaRay’s recent $31M funding round,” the statement adds.
The new system is “designed to instill certainty and eliminate risks in cross-border payments, and to protect banks, fintech companies and private companies that conduct payment transfers,” the ThetaRay statement continues. “With its ability to detect even the earliest signs of illicit activity, SONAR enables users to rapidly increase revenues, significantly reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), improve customer service, and boost ROI.”
GSR Appoints Chief Risk Officer
GSR, a digital asset trading specialist firm, reports the appointment of Jon Loflin as chief risk officer and managing director. Loflin is a “hedge fund veteran and AI [artificial intelligence] / machine-learning expert,” the firm says in a statement.
Prior to joining GSR, Loflin was a principal and a senior portfolio manager of Mariner Coria RV, a fund manager, according to the statement.
Before that post, Loflin spent five years at BlueMountain Capital Management as a partner and a senior portfolio manager and an additional five years at Goldman Sachs, where he specialized in credit and interest-rate derivatives, per the statement.
GSR was founded in 2013.
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