ION Continues Acquisition Spree with Purchase of Dash Financial

ION Investment Group – owner of such esteemed trading technology brands as Fidessa, Dealogic, Caplin, FfastFill, Iris Financial, OpenLink, FSS and others – has added another property to its portfolio, in the form of New York-based options trading tech specialist Dash Financial Technologies. ION has agreed to acquire Dash from private equity firm Flexpoint Ford. Jefferies LLC served as financial advisor to DASH and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Flexpoint Ford and Dash.

Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank Chooses Fenergo for CLM Solution

The world’s first digital trade finance bank, Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank (AGTB), based in the UAE, has chosen Fenergo to deploy its CLM platform.

Fenergo will enable AGTB to meet its strategic objective to disrupt the trade finance market with a cloud-based, digital-first and client-centric model leveraging emerging technologies such as data analytics and API connectivity.

AGTB aims to address the gap in the trade finance market by becoming the first digital bank servicing the sector. Fenergo’s API-first CLM solutions will provide AGTB with a single client view across all departments, jurisdictions and products, while expediating Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) processes and time to revenue. 

InvestCloud Recapitalisation Creates Global SaaS Wealth Solutions Platform

InvestCloud has completed a recapitalisation that values the business at $1 billion. New financial investors are led by Motive Partners with Clearlake Capital Group and include InvestCloud client shareholders. Under the terms of the agreement, Motive will contribute two portfolio businesses, Finantix and Tegra118, to InvestCloud, creating a global Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) wealth solutions platform. The combined company will offer a wealth advisor platform, private banking platform, financial supermarket, and custom financial platform. InvestCloud CEO John Wise says the recapitalisation will help meet InvestCloud’s ultimate objective of building the world’s largest financial supermarket.

Broadridge Partners Third Economy to Offer ESG Advisory Services

Broadridge Financial Solutions has weighed into the ESG investment market with advisory services offered in partnership with Third Economy, a provider of sustainable investment research. The ESG advisory services combine Broadridge’s data, technology and communications expertise and Third Economy’s proprietary methodology for systematically evaluating sustainable investment efforts of companies and enabling clients to move from ESG strategy through to execution.

FCA & FRC Remind Firms Of Extended Financial Information Timelines

The FCA and FRC have issued a statement reminding companies of the measures issued in 2020 that provide more time for the work necessary to ensure that published financial information continues to be of the quality that preparers and users of financial information expect. These include allowing listed companies an additional two months to publish their audited annual financial reports.

“This is because we recognise that we are now in the busiest period of the year for preparing, auditing and publishing financial information. This has coincided with further restrictions imposed through the recent national lockdowns in the UK,” says the statement. “The FCA and FRC would like to encourage all stakeholders including in particular boards of listed companies to (1) re-familiarise themselves with the measures and (2) use them in light of any resourcing constraints in finance and/or audit teams to ensure the quality of reporting is not compromised during this period.”

EBA Announces Timing for 2021 EU-wide Stress Test Exercise

The European Banking Authority (EBA) will launch its 2021 EU-wide stress test exercise with the publication of the macroeconomic scenarios on 29 January at 18:00 CET. The EBA expects to publish the results of the exercise by July  31, 2021.

TA Associates Sells ITRS Stake to Montagu Private Equity

Montagu Private Equity has agreed to acquire a majority position in ITRS Group, a global provider of real-time monitoring and analytics software, from TA Associates, which will remain a minority holder alongside Montagu and Management. Financial terms were not disclosed but completion is expected next month, subject to regulatory approvals.London-headquartered ITRS Group has over 3,000 clients worldwide, including nine out of the ten Tier 1 investment banks. In September 2020 it acquired Uptrends, a Netherlands-based web performance monitoring solution, to strengthen its product suite.

Xenomorph Opens Boston Office

Xenomorph has extended its reach in the US with an office in Boston. Founded in London 25 years ago, the company opened its first office in the US in New York City in 2005. The company’s presence in Boston builds on a number of client engagements. Naj Alavi, president, Xenomorph Software, Inc, is leading the expansion. He says: “We have long supported the thriving Massachusetts capital markets community from NYC, but as we continue to service a growing list of asset managers and hedge funds, we felt the time was right to open doors in Boston.”

KBC Bank chooses Finastra for LIBOR transition

KBC Bank, a Belgium-based bank with operations across Europe, US and Asia Pacific, has chosen Finastra to help manage its transition through the upcoming interbank references rates changes. It has selected Fusion Loan IQ Alternate Reference Rates (ARR) module to manage new rates and to expand its lending business. The bank has also opted for the Fusion LIBOR Transition Calculator to help calculate rates ahead of the transition period.

DTCC Releases White Paper on Managing Post-Covid Risk

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a provider of market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, has released a white paper identifying key priorities where financial market infrastructures (FMIs) should focus in the coming years to proactively and effectively manage risk in a post-pandemic environment. FMIs around the globe performed remarkably well amid unprecedented market volatility and record trade volumes in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. However, the pandemic’s impact will likely cause structural changes to the financial services industry, as well as the regulatory landscape and legislative agendas.