Fluent Trade Strengthens NAB’s Global FX Trading Capabilities

National Australia Bank has expanded its use of Fluent Trade Technologies’ multi-asset trading platform, strengthening and broadening its end-to-end global FX trading capabilities to deliver an ultra-low latency trading platform to its customers worldwide. The project has helped the bank to extend its market access, improve response times and increase fill ratios significantly. Fluent Trade says this means the bank can now price a wider range of clients more accurately, while also connecting to more venues, and extending its range of trading services.

TP ICAP’s Parameta Launches FX Evaluated Pricing Solution

Parameta Solutions, interdealer broker TP ICAP’s data and analytics business unit, has launched a new evaluated pricing solution that aims to deliver transparent and observable prices for foreign exchange derivatives securities globally, using a proprietary data model to give frequent and transparent indications. The FX Evaluated Pricing (FEP) service, which provides coverage for G10 and emerging market currency pairs and includes FX Forward instruments as well as FX volatility surfaces, aims to enable price discovery, valuation of portfolios and the meeting of regulatory reporting requirements. The launch follows the launch of TP ICAP’s Bond Evaluated Pricing in June 2020.

Etrading and ITSA Create Task Force to Discuss Digital Token Identifier Issuance Process

Etrading Software, acting as exclusive registration authority for ISO standard 24165 digital token identifiers (DTIs), and the International Token Standardization Association (ITSA), a non-profit organisation aiming at setting market standards for the global token economy, have created a joint task force to identify synergies in the issuance processes of both the DTI and the International Token Identification Number (ITIN), the technical identifier issued by ITSA for both fungible and non-fungible DLT-based cryptographic tokens. The task force was established in May and is due to run for the next six to twelve months.

A key deliverable of the task force will be to produce a set of recommendations for collaboration to the Digital Token Identifier Foundation (DTIF) and ITSA boards, including an outline implementation plan. These might include aligning DTIs and ITINs, automatic notifications between issuing authorities or white-label access and/or a federated model. In order to facilitate transparency, the task force charter, meeting agenda and minutes will be available to the public on the DTIF website.

TBC Capital Selects Sweden’s Bricknode to Power Investment Suite

Georgian investment bank TBC Capital has chosen Bricknode’s SaaS-based brokerage software to power its suite of investment capabilities. By providing scalable operational infrastructure that integrates with the customer journey and existing processes, and by using automation and flexible APIs, Bricknode will enable TBC Capital to expand its brokerage capabilities while reducing operational costs, according to the company.

SmartSearch Adds Documentation Verification Solution for AML and KYC

SmartSearch, provider of a digital verification solution for anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, has added SmartDoc, a complementary document verification system that combines facial recognition technology and expert analysis at a level similar to that of border security officials. The solution supports fraud prevention and regulatory compliance in capital markets, and also offers firms document verification as part of customer due diligence.

TriOptima Connects to Tri-Parties Through Swift

Post-trade infrastructure and risk management specialist TriOptima has integrated its triResolve portfolio reconciliation and collateral management product with the four main tri-party agents; BNY Mellon, Clearstream, Euroclear and  J.P. Morgan, providing clients with direct connectivity via Swift for sending instructions as well as receiving status messages and end-of-day reports.

With phase five of the uncleared margin rules (UMR) coming into effect in September, firms in scope will need to ensure they have the right infrastructure in place to exchange initial margin (IM) efficiently. Using the company’s Swift automation will provide triResolve clients with direct connectivity without having to build and maintain their own integration to the tri-party agents.

MarketDesk, SAFRAS & Mercado, and CTDI Partner to Launch New Brazil Soybean Index

Market data solutions provider MarketDesk has forged a partnership with SAFRAS & Mercado, the South American agrispecialists owned by CMA Group, and index solutions provider CTD Indices, to launch a new Soybean index, which is intended to provide a more reliable and transparent national benchmark price for the global commodities futures markets.

Currently, the major South American Soybean futures contract (CME SAS) is based solely on the export price at the Brazilian port city of Santos, whereas the new SAFRAS CTDI Brazilian Soybean Index takes into account transaction prices from 37 different cities across Brazil, and adheres to the best practices of the IOSCO Statement of Compliance around financial benchmarks.

Under the tripartite agreement, SAFRAS & Mercado is providing the raw data, CTD is aggregating that data to calculate the indices, and MarketDesk is providing the technology that will enable the index to be fed into trading and data platforms around the world.

NovaSparks Launches FPGA-Based Market Data Aggregator

Low-latency trading appliance vendor NovaSparks has launched an entirely FPGA-based order book consolidator that aims to set a new benchmark for latency and determinism in high volume trading.

The consolidator, implemented as an additional FPGA layer on top of the existing 70 feed handlers already available in the company’s NovaTick appliance, can generate normalised order books or BBOs to be consumed by trading applications – either via PCIe or Ethernet, or by hardware trading applications through NovaLink – in under a microsecond, a speed never achieved before, according to the company. The FPGA-based consolidator is designed to relieve trading firms from developing and maintaining their own high-performance custom book or BBO aggregation solutions.

CME Updates FX Market Profile Tool With Additional Futures Markets and Cash Equivalents

CME Group has updated its FX Market Profile analytics tool to provide live and historical analysis for 18 FX futures markets and cash equivalents. The tool provides comparisons between CME Listed FX futures and products from EBS Market and EBS Direct, on a side-by-side basis.

Building on the 11 previously available, users can now analyse 18 FX futures markets, as well as 8 FX Link contracts, and the OTC Spot FX equivalents, choosing either daily, weekly, or monthly averages over a historic period of up to 6 months. Enhancements to the tool, which is available free of charge from the CME Group website, include historic data analysis, actual traded volumes in Listed FX, and also the inclusion of FX Link data.

Broadridge Integrates OpenFin into Portfolio Management System

Broadridge Financial Solutions plans to integrate OpenFin’s operating system into its next generation portfolio and order management system, allowing users to benefit from componentised apps with configurable layouts and intuitive workflows. The partnership should help portfolio managers manage their desktop real estate more efficiently and increase productivity by reducing effort and time needed to navigate across multiple windows and screens.