Vermiculus Launches VeriIndex for Real-Time Index Calculation and Management

Vermiculus has launched VeriIndex, a real-time index calculation and management engine designed to help exchanges and marketplaces develop and operate specialised indices across traditional and emerging asset classes. The platform combines continuous index calculation, corporate action processing and index administration within a single system, initially supporting price-return and total-return indices.

VeriIndex calculates and publishes index values using live market data, with standardised interfaces for distributing results. A next-business-day simulation capability allows operators to assess and correct the impact of scheduled corporate actions and index changes before implementation. Its configurable architecture supports additional calculation methodologies, instrument types and pricing capabilities, enabling operators to expand their index offerings as market requirements evolve.

The system integrates natively with Vermiculus’ VeriTrade exchange trading platform but can also operate independently alongside third-party trading and post-trade infrastructure.

The launch extends Vermiculus’ market infrastructure portfolio as demand grows for indices covering emerging products, including tokenised assets, perpetuals and prediction markets.

DTCC Research Highlights Post-Trade Automation Gaps Ahead of Europe’s T+1 Transition

New research from DTCC and ValueExchange has highlighted significant gaps in European post-trade automation as the industry prepares to move to T+1 settlement in October 2027. The report finds that settlement volumes across Europe increased by 15% in 2025, while failed trades rose by 21%, adding pressure to already fragmented operational processes. Only 33% of European middle offices have invested in automated standing settlement instruction (SSI) storage and exchange, while approximately 68% of firms still rely on some manual trade matching. Just 62% appear prepared for upcoming place of settlement (PSET) requirements.

With T+1 compressing settlement timelines by approximately 83%, the research calls for greater standardisation, automated instruction flows and more consistent trade data across middle- and back-office systems. DTCC argues that existing matching infrastructure and reference data utilities provide a foundation for improving settlement efficiency, reducing exceptions and strengthening operational resilience ahead of the transition.

Xceptor Expands Japanese Operations with Second Megabank Partnership

Xceptor has expanded its investment in Japan following the selection of its data automation platform by another major Japanese bank, bringing its client relationships to two of the country’s three megabanks. The latest implementation, delivered in partnership with local technology specialist GRCS, will use Xceptor’s sovereign-grade SaaS platform to streamline fragmented post-trade workflows and reduce reliance on manual processes.

The company has also appointed Airi Iwamoto as Key Account Director and Satomi Hirono as Principal, Client Success, to support Japanese financial institutions, including banks and trading houses.

Its expansion focuses on automating operational processes such as trade affirmations, confirmations, end-user computing remediation and fund services. A Japanese-language interface is also being introduced.

FIX Trading Community Calls for Clearer Market Data Standards in UK Equities Reform

The FIX Trading Community has called for greater consistency, transparency and operational resilience in UK equity markets in responses to two Financial Conduct Authority consultations covering market structure reform and the proposed equity consolidated tape. Its recommendations include more granular liquidity reporting that distinguishes trading phases, execution mechanisms and genuinely addressable volumes, alongside clearer identification of automated and manual off-venue transactions.

FIX also advocates aligning UK trade flags more closely with EU standards, identifying technical and non-addressable trades, and introducing standardised, machine-readable communications for market outages.

For the consolidated tape, the association recommends keeping trading venue and systematic internaliser quote data separate, while prioritising completeness, reliability and resilience as trading models and operating hours evolve. FIX additionally cautions against extending transparency requirements to complex synthetic equity transactions without clearly defined scope, identifiers and assessment of regulatory implications.

The proposals aim to improve market data usability while reducing operational complexity for trading firms and data consumers.

Precisely Configures MCP for SAP Workflow Automation Integration

Precisely has released its Automate Model Context Protocol Server and native OData support in Precisely Automate, enabling artificial intelligence assistants and applications to interact with SAP’s automation workflows through a standards-based interface while supporting specific architectural requirements.

The company said the MCP comes as organisations face pressure to move away from legacy scripting approaches toward standard application programming interface integrations as they modernise environments and expand AI adoption.

“Organisations shouldn’t have to choose between accelerating AI adoption today and preparing for tomorrow’s architecture,” said Ashwin Ramachandran, senior vice president of product management at Precisely.

The Model Context Protocol Server exposes existing scripts and workflows as artificial intelligence-callable tools, providing a standards-based connection to automation platforms.

This release builds on previous investments in MCP support across the portfolio to connect trusted data and automation workflows to artificial intelligence through open standards.

SimCorp Axioma Risk Software Adopted by Canada’s Fiera Capital

Asset manager Fiera Capital has selected SimCorp’s Axioma Risk software for risk analytics and portfolio construction.

The integration provides the Canada-based firm with risk management systems and factor models for investment strategies. Axioma Portfolio Optimizer assists investment teams to construct portfolios and align decisions with client objectives.

“With Axioma, Fiera Capital is strengthening how risk insights are embedded throughout the investment process,” said Allen Zimmerman, senior managing director and head of americas at SimCorp.

The company’s data shows that half of investment managers rank risk management among priorities within their technology strategy.

EY and Watershed Collaborate on Sustainability Metrics for Investors, Regulators

Sustainability artificial intelligence company Watershed has forged an Aliance with Ernst & Young to assist companies in measuring and reporting environmental impact to satisfy investor expectations and regulatory demands.

The collaboration pairs Watershed’s platform with EY’s advisory, implementation and programme management services.

Derek Przybylo, EY-Watershed Alliance Leader, EY US said: “The alliance… helps organisations move from their sustainability goals to measurable action. The EY-Watershed Alliance helps clients strengthen emissions measurement, automate reporting and build scalable sustainability solutions that support their decarbonization initiatives and regulatory readiness.”

The partnership delivers end-to-end support covering data collection, emissions measurement, product carbon footprint metrics and sustainability advisory services, the companies said.

The initiative builds on prior digital identity work with the CARIN Alliance, expanding client access to automated reporting and decarbonisation planning tools.

S&P Global’s Visible Alpha Now Accessible via MCP

S&P Global’s Visible Alpha data is now available through the S&P Global AI Data Portal, enabling artificial intelligence applications supporting the Model Context Protocol to access broker consensus estimates, financial line items and segment data directly.

The integration provides direct, structured query access to extract information from sell-side broker models.

Peter Licursi, Head of AI and Growth, Kensho Data & Platforms at S&P Global Market Intelligence said: “With Visible Alpha’s rich sell-side data now available through the S&P Global AI Data Portal, customers can move from a headline consensus figure to the drivers underneath it in a single query, with answers grounded in verifiable S&P Global data.

“Because it sits alongside our company intelligence and credit ratings data, customers can assess the market’s expectations, fundamentals and credit ratings information in the same workflow,” Licursi added.

Users can access this financial information through third-party platforms including GPT, Gemini, Claude and Copilot. The update builds on previous launches within the portal, following the recent inclusion of credit ratings data and adaptive retrieval capabilities.

Texture, Obsidian Announce Tradecraft ATS on Canton Network

Broker-dealer Texture Capital and financial systems developer Obsidian Systems have announced the development of Tradecraft ATS, which is set to become the first US-regulated trading platform for tokenised securities built on the Canton Network. While Canton already supports asset issuance and settlement, this new venture introduces a fully regulated venue specifically designed for trading. Tradecraft ATS aims to bridge institutional finance with blockchain technology by featuring a continuous central limit order book that provides a transparent, “lit” display of the best available bids and asks.

The upcoming platform is engineered around institutional efficiency and security, offering tokenised equity, debt, and fund interests. A key innovation of Tradecraft ATS is its integration of atomic settlement against USDCx, meaning both the digital security and the cash move simultaneously within a single on-chain transaction to eliminate counterparty risk. Furthermore, the platform supports a strict self-custody model, ensuring that subscribers maintain full control of their securities and stablecoins in their own wallets right up until the exact moment of trade execution.

Kyckr Appoints Jack Rawden to Lead Expansion in Risk Intelligence and Perpetual KYB

Kyckr has appointed Jack Rawden as Head of Product to lead expansion across risk signals, registry intelligence and perpetual know your business (KYB). His remit includes developing products to address data quality, verification friction and fragmented access to company registers, which the provider identifies as challenges for regulated firms onboarding business customers.

Rawden brings more than 15 years’ experience building product teams in regulated environments. He was previously Chief Product Officer at Detected, where he led development of its KYB platform, and Head of Product at Fraudfinder. At Kyckr, he will oversee a programme intended to expand the company’s product offering across the three areas.

The appointment follows Kyckr’s State of Onboarding 2026 research, which the company says identified data quality, verification friction and fragmented registry access as regulated firms’ biggest onboarding challenges. Kyckr links its expansion plans to demand for live, verified sources of business information and pressure on firms to move beyond static, third-party data.

Kyckr connects regulated firms to live company and beneficial ownership data from more than 300 official company and beneficial ownership registers worldwide. The planned product expansion builds on that registry coverage. The announcement identifies risk signals, registry intelligence and perpetual KYB as priorities but does not provide individual product specifications or a release timetable.

Steve Lamb, CEO of Kyckr, said: “For our customers, this means greater expertise and experience being brought to our product development, and an expansion of the risk intelligence and KYB solutions that directly address the pain points of friction and fragmented data access.”

Rawden’s appointment continues changes to Kyckr’s senior team following Lamb’s appointment as CEO in August 2025 and Ian Jones’s appointment as Chief Technology Officer in early 2026. The company says it has significantly increased investment in Product and Engineering over the past twelve months, with further hires planned.

Rawden said: “With the mounting pressure on businesses to overhaul onboarding processes, there’s real scope to add value and simplicity for our customers, and I can’t wait to get started.”