OpenYield Secures $6 Million Series A Funding and Partners with LeveL Markets

Bond marketplace OpenYield has closed a Series A funding round of over $6 million, led by LeveL Markets with participation from Draper Associates, Canapi Ventures, and Clocktower Ventures. Launched in 2024 as an alternative trading system (ATS), OpenYield provides an automated, equity-like trading experience for fixed income. To date, the platform has executed nearly $2 billion in volume across corporate, municipal, and US Treasury bonds, serving more than 60 institutional clients representing over $5 trillion in assets under management.

Alongside the investment, a strategic commercial partnership will see LeveL Markets integrate OpenYield into its equities platform. This integration grants LeveL’s institutional clients direct access to OpenYield’s bond liquidity through existing equity trading infrastructure, requiring no new development. For LeveL, which is backed by major institutions including Nasdaq and BlackRock, this marks its first strategic investment as it expands its equity-market connectivity into new asset classes.

OpenYield will use the capital to expand its marketplace by adding buy-side and sell-side firms, deepen institutional order system integrations, and grow its trading data products. The funds will also support the development of agentic trading workflows and advance tokenised bond trading. The expansion aims to capitalise on the fixed-income market’s ongoing shift toward automation, particularly within municipal bonds and separately managed accounts requiring efficient, low-cost execution.

STP Investment Services Named Premier Partner for Lightspeed TDMS Fund Services

STP Investment Services (STP) has been officially designated as the Premier Partner for Fund Services by Lightspeed Data Solutions. This formalises a commercial relationship that began in 2019, positioning STP as the preferred operational partner for investment firms using the Lightspeed Trade Data Management System (TDMS) platform. The two firms already share 18 investment managers and fund services clients under this combined operating model.

The partnership integrates Lightspeed’s post-trade automation technology with STP’s operational teams, allowing investment firms to outsource trade settlement, reconciliation, and middle- and back-office operations without building internal infrastructure. Clients can choose from flexible engagement models, including standalone trade settlements, full outsourcing, or a managed service model where STP operates directly within the client’s own TDMS environment.

This expanded collaboration addresses a rapidly tightening global settlement landscape, following the US transition to T+1 in 2024 and ahead of the UK and EU transitions scheduled for October 2027. To mitigate the increased operational risks and costs of settlement failures under these tighter timelines, the platform features SmartSettle AI. This predictive analytics module identifies potential trade failures before they occur, preparing clients for future shifts toward T+0 settlement cycles.

Xceptor Launches AI-Driven Features to Streamline Reconciliation Configuration

Xceptor, the data automation specialist for capital markets, has introduced two new features, AI Reconciliation Rule Builder and Live Tester, to simplify the creation and validation of reconciliation logic. Initially accessible through the Xceptor Reconciliations SaaS platform, these tools use artificial intelligence alongside proprietary evaluation logic to automatically suggest matching and comparison rules from sample data.

The launch addresses a growing challenge for financial institutions, where rising data volumes and shorter settlement cycles require fast control deployment without expanding headcount. Traditionally, configuring and deploying new controls has created an operational bottleneck. This update allows non-technical operations teams to generate and test rules quickly within a controlled environment, identifying potential issues before deployment.

By streamlining this process, the functionality reduces the technical expertise required and accelerates the time between uploading a source file and establishing a working configuration. Internal testing by Xceptor indicates that the AI Reconciliation Rule Builder can reduce rule validation times by over 50%. The workflow keeps human operators in control of reviewing AI outputs, aiming to improve operational efficiency while maintaining strict governance standards.

Aiviq Launches AI-Powered Native App on Snowflake Marketplace

Aiviq, the client data platform for the investment management industry, has launched an AI-powered Native App on the Snowflake Marketplace. The application deepens the integration between the two firms, allowing joint customers to securely access Aiviq datasets, including assets under management (AUM), flow, and net revenue data, directly within their Snowflake environments.

The app utilises Snowflake’s Streamlit and Cortex Agent functionality to enable natural language querying and automated dashboard generation. Built on a semantic model designed to ensure query accuracy, the app provides immediate access to mastered client datasets covering companies, contacts, legal entities, agreements, and financial terms.

By running the application directly within their existing Snowflake accounts, clients can deploy pre-configured dashboards without moving their data. This integration eliminates the traditional 12- to 15-week IT setup period, making insights available immediately. Consequently, the application removes the need for internal data engineering resources, saving customers an estimated £125,000 in development and warehouse build costs, according to the company.

Clearstream Partners with Ares to Boost Access to Private Markets

Clearstream, the post-trade business of Deutsche Börse Group, has partnered with alternative investment manager Ares Management Corporation to add Ares’ private market strategies to its fund platform. The collaboration aims to simplify the investment process for fund distributors, allowing them to access private market investments with the same operational efficiency as traditional mutual funds.

For Ares, the integration opens up a broad distribution network that connects the firm with diverse wealth management sectors, including family offices and private banks. This alignment supports Ares’ strategy to make private market assets a core component of diversified portfolios for a wider range of investors.

The initiative also aligns with wider regulatory goals within Europe. By unlocking private savings for broader investment opportunities, the partnership directly supports the European Union’s objective to establish a stronger Savings and Investment Union (SIU) and deepen continent-wide capital markets.

ESMA Recognises ICE’s Data Indices Unit as Benchmark Administrator

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has granted recognition to Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) Ice Data Indices as a third-country benchmark administrator.

This recognition allows one hundred climate transition and Paris-aligned benchmarks offered by the administrator to remain available for use by supervised entities in the European Union. The fixed income benchmarks incorporate ESG screening criteria alongside a carbon reduction methodology.

Preston Peacock, head of Ice Data Indices, said that receiving this recognition expands the organisation’s reach and supports efforts to help investors make decisions to achieve emission reduction goals.

The administrator also manages other benchmarks that are not subject to the European Union benchmarks regulation. Ice Data Indices previously secured recognition as a third-country benchmark administrator from the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

EXL Integrates NVIDIA Foundation Model to Expand Proprietary Data Use

EXL has integrated the Build Your Own Transaction Foundation Model developer example from NVIDIA into its artificial intelligence and analytics offerings, enabling financial institutions to build and deploy transaction intelligence applications using their own data.

The application uses a foundation model designed to analyse billions of transaction events, such as payments, transfers and behaviour signals. Foundation models provide a unified intelligence layer across transaction activity rather than relying on separate systems for individual tasks.

“Every financial institution is sitting on decades of transaction data that holds the answer to their biggest challenges – fraud, risk, underwriting, customer experience,” said Kevin Levitt, senior director of global business development for the financial services industry at NVIDIA. “By integrating the Build Your Own Transaction Foundation Model developer example with EXL’s deep financial services expertise, financial institutions create a shared intelligence fabric that drives smarter decisions and better customer outcomes.”

The technology helps institutions transition from rules-based systems to automated transaction monitoring by embedding the tool into the EXLerate.ai platform.

The development expands a collaboration between the two companies to help enterprises deploy industry-specific AI solutions.

Diginex Adds Supply Chain Risk Tech to Platform

ESG, sustainability and compliance specialist Diginex has integrated Risk-to-Remedy as an end-to-end supply chain due diligence solution.

The framework combines worker-level evidence, prioritised remediation and regulator-ready reporting to verify company declarations. It builds on the technologies of Lumen for risk assessment and Apprise for worker engagement, alongside the acquired expertise of The Remedy Project in grievance mechanisms.

Future features will enable clients to manage assessments, collect evidence, monitor non-compliance and maintain records.

Taskize and Global Relay Add Evidence Layer for Financial Services Operations

Taskize has partnered with Global Relay to add API-based communications archiving to its investment operations collaboration platform, supporting stronger evidence of cross-firm resolution workflows.

The integration uses the Global Relay Open Connector API to capture activity within Taskize Bubbles, the platform’s shared spaces for resolving operational issues between firms. The archive can record transcripts, metadata, participants, attachments and system events, creating a more complete record of how issues were raised, discussed, escalated and resolved.

The partnership comes as operational teams face growing pressure to evidence control over communications and workflow processes across regulated markets. Europe’s planned move to T+1 settlement in October 2027 adds to that pressure by compressing post-trade timelines and increasing the need for faster issue resolution without weakening recordkeeping.

For Taskize users, the integration adds tamper-proof recordkeeping and unified searchability across communications channels. That can help firms reconstruct activity across operational processes, while reducing the manual burden associated with preserving records from collaborative workflows.

Anthony Crespy, senior vice president of business development at Global Relay, said the partnership reflects the role of structured data capture in compliance operations.

“Our API-driven approach to structured data archiving complements Taskize’s strategy perfectly. Through this partnership, we not only offer customers the confidence that their communications meet the highest compliance standards but also significantly reduce the operational burden associated with regulatory recordkeeping.”

Diederik Geeraerts, CEO of Taskize, said financial services operations teams need stronger assurance as regulatory expectations evolve across jurisdictions.

“Amid an evolving cross-jurisdictional regulatory environment, operational teams in financial services need total assurance. By partnering with Global Relay, Taskize can capture all interactions in line with regulatory requirements. It’s the latest example of how Taskize is helping firms transition into a digital- and AI-first landscape.”

Zema Global and Natural Gas Intelligence Enhance North American Energy Data Partnership

Zema Global and Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) have announced an enhanced data partnership designed to provide energy market participants with expanded natural gas pricing and flow data. Building on an existing seven-year relationship, the collaboration integrates NGI’s extensive datasets into Zema Global’s Decisioning Infrastructure to support curve analytics, portfolio valuation, trading, and risk management in the North American markets.

Under the expanded agreement, Zema Global customers can access NGI data covering more than 150 monthly and 170 daily physical natural gas price indexes across the US and Canada, alongside over 80 forward price curves and 40 Mexican price locations. The partnership also introduces additional NGI datasets, including North American LNG flow indicators, shale basin pricing, pipeline flow data, and indicative intraday pricing.

Furthermore, the integration includes NGI’s Entropic Analytics pipeline flows, which capture and normalise over 20,000 daily flow data points from more than 180 interstate North American pipelines. This data automation reduces manual ingestion and improves enterprise system consistency. The collaboration is also structured to support future customer demand, allowing Zema Global to develop new data processors in response to evolving client requirements.