Our free FinTech roundup includes coverage of Zephyr Management & SS&C; ThetaRay’s new CRO; and EDI’s new dividend data service.
Northern Trust to Manage Equity & Bond Trading
Westwood Holdings Group, a Dallas, Texas-based investment management boutique and wealth management firm, will be outsourcing portions of its equity and fixed income trading, and middle-office trade settlement support to custodian and service provider Northern Trust, officials say.
The firm is using Northern Trust’s services “to optimize the entire trade lifecycle, including cost savings, risk controls, and compliance efforts,” according to the custodian. Northern Trust will provide services for the firm’s $12 billion in assets under management (as of Sept. 30, 2020) through its Integrated Trading Solutions (ITS) service, officials say.
Westwood’s clientele includes institutional investors, private wealth clients and financial intermediaries. The firm specializes in U.S. Value Equity and Multi-Asset, available through separate accounts, the Westwood Funds family of mutual funds, and other pooled vehicles.
“Partnering with Northern Trust to outsource portions of our front- and middle-office operations will provide benefits to both our operations and our clients’ performance reporting,” says Fabian Gomez, chief operating officer (COO) at Westwood Holdings Group, in a prepared statement. “Internally, we gain access to greater flexibility and scalability with our trading operations, as well as the accompanying cost savings. Meanwhile, we can serve our clients better by providing increased transparency into elements like execution, transaction costs, and detailed cost analysis.”
The Northern Trust outsourced trading support combines trading expertise in equities and fixed income, coverage from multiple trading locations, access to liquidity and foreign exchange trading solutions, and integrated middle and back office services, officials say.
Based in Chicago, Northern Trust offers wealth management, asset servicing, asset management, and banking support to corporations, institutions, affluent families, and individuals.
Zephyr to Use SS&C System for Bermuda Fund Launch
Emerging markets hedge fund Zephyr Management will be using the SS&C Eze Eclipse system to oversee its modeling, trading, and order management, and to facilitate its upcoming Bermuda fund launch, officials say.
The asset manager will integrate middle- and back-office operations with SS&C Technology’s fund administration services. “Additionally, SS&C will automate Zephyr’s investor experience, including digital investor onboarding via SS&C e-Investor. SS&C CORE-Sightline will enable regulatory reporting and data management,” officials add.
Zephyr specializes in “the creation and management of highly-focused private equity funds. Since its inception in 1994, Zephyr has sponsored and/or managed 26 investment funds in both public and private securities markets, representing approximately $1.2 billion in combined commitments and assets under management,” officials say.
SS&C provides services and software for 18,000 global financial services and healthcare firms.
ThetaRay Names New Chief Revenue Officer
Richard Perry
ThetaRay, a provider of big data analytics that leverage artificial intelligence (AI), has tapped behavioral biometrics company BioCatch for its new chief revenue officer (CRO) Richard Perry, who will be tasked with accelerating company growth.
Perry, who will oversee global sales, portfolio development and market strategy, has more than 20 years of commercial experience building and scaling cybersecurity and technology companies globally, according to ThetaRay.
For his previous role at BioCatch, Perry was general manager and vice president of sales, where he was responsible for leading growth across the U.K., Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific regions, officials say.
ThetaRay’s solutions help clients manage risk, detect money laundering schemes, uncover fraud, expose bad loans, uncover operational issues, and reveal growth opportunities, officials say.
EDI Launches US Dividend Reclassification Service
Exchange Data International (EDI) has just introduced its US Dividend Reclassification service, which is intended to help financial services firms sift through specific income classifications needed for “accurate and timely income tax reporting for each dividend payable on the security,” officials say.
The new service can help firms create 1099s for clients, and as a secondary source to validate the primary provider or as a tool for a client support team to research customer inquiries, officials say.
“EDI’s expertise supports the intense manual collection effort with this content set, thus facilitating the usage by EDI’s clients, of time critical data that can be easily exported into their security master and utilized for income tax reporting,” says Janet Battaglia, an investment funds consultant for EDI, in a prepared statement.
“EDI continues to expand its product and service offerings for US securities. Our goal is to cover all North American securities in detail. The US Dividend Reclassification service is another step in that direction,” says Jonathan Bloch, CEO of EDI, in a statement.
EDI’s data reference services include a content database of equity and fixed income corporate actions, dividends, static reference data, closing prices, and shares outstanding, delivered via data feeds and the Internet, officials say.
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