Axioma Launches New Linked Models in Risk Model Machine

Enterprise risk management and regulatory reporting specialist Axioma has launched Linked Models, a new feature of its Risk Model Machine solution, offering the investment industry astreamlined view of risk across regions or sectors, with the objective of creating consistency in the risk/return profile as viewed from the front and middle offices. The solution enables managers to create a custom risk model that captures exposures from all regions or sectors, avoiding inconsistencies or skewed reporting.

Moody’s Acquires RiskFirst

Moody’s Corporation has acquired RiskFirst, a provider of risk analytic solutions for the assetmanagement and pension fund communities. The acquisition positions Moody’s Analytics to extend its range of risk solutions to the institutional buy-side.

RiskFirst’s PFaroe platform provides a risk solution for US and UK defined benefit pension markets, covering over 3,000 plans and more than $1.4 trillion in assets. RiskFirst also offers solutions for the institutional investment market, including endowments, foundations and asset managers.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. RiskFirst generated £16.5 million of revenue in 2018.

Trax to Begin SFTR Industry Testing

Trax, a subsidiary of MarketAxess, is expected to start testing a new platform in August with the ability to generate unique transaction identifiers (UTIs), required under the upcoming SFTR regulation coming into force in April 2020.

Acuris Partners with SILO Compliance for AML Data Drive

Acuris Risk Intelligence, a provider of data intelligence around anti-money laundering, anti-corruption and cyber security, has joined forces with due diligence management specialist SILIO Compliance System to enhance data capabilities. The partnership will give SILO Compliance users access to the Acuris Risk Intelligence dataset KYC6, including fraud and cybersecurity content, through an online portal that provides compliance teams with capabilities including search, ongoing monitoring, sanctions and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) reports.

“The integration of Acuris into the SILO platform further serves our customer’s needs for more automation and streamlining of their compliance processes,” said Kimberly Smith, co-founder of SILO Compliance.

Synechron Data Science Launches New LIBOR Solution

London-based Synechron has launched a LIBOR accelerator using data science to address thechallenges of financial sector benchmarking. The accelerator for LIBOR Impact Analysis enables financial institutions to identify and quantify their LIBOR exposure at either a contract level or across all contracts within an institution. Thesolution leverages Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and three levels of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to identify and quantify LIBOR exposure at the contract level, or across all contracts within an institution.It then allows contracts to be revalued using alternative rates and valuation models for a significant reduction of manual LIBOR impact assessments.

Cbus Chooses Matrix for Data Management

Cbus, Australia’s largest superannuation fund for the building, construction and allied industries, has chosen Matrix Solutions to provide investment management software to aggregate and analyze investment data from a wide variety of sources in order to improve decision making and reduce operational risks. Neil Lotter, Matrix CEO, comments: “We are delighted to be working with Cbus to deliver an innovative investment data platform that willunderpin reporting, exposure analysis and decision making across the firm.”

FIX Trading Community expands into Post-Trade Processing

Trading industry standards body FIX Trading Community has announced the launch of a newset of message types to further support periodic future payment management in the post-tradespace. The introduction of a new set of FIX standard messages will allow firms to send and receive details relating to expected periodic payments, a process which is done prior to any physical cash movement or remittance instructions.

FlexTrade Certifies with IHS Markit thinkFolio

FlexTrade, a global provider of cross-asset execution and order management systems, has extended the integration of FlexTRADER, its broker-neutral execution management system, with IHS Markit’s cross-asset investment management platform, thinkFolio. The combination of execution and order management system space expertise will provide improved global cross-asset trading capabilities across the trading lifecycle. “A certified interface between thinkFolio and FlexTRADER creates the best of both worlds for us at Barings, by giving us the ability to trade in a seamless manner,” said Louisa Paul, Head of Equity Dealing at Baring Asset Management.

BGC Partners Launches New Electronic Trading Platform

BGC Partners has launched Fenics Global Options (Fenics GO) a new electronic trading and market data generation platform involving the arrangement and execution of exchange listed futures and options. Fenics GO, in collaboration with liquidity providers Optiver, IMC and Maven Securities, provides Eurex listed Euro Stoxx 50 Index Options and related Delta 1 strategies allowing global traders to access liquidity electronically and anonymously, whilst being integrated into the Eurex workflow to enable efficient front to back processing of cleared trades.

SEC Pushes for MiFID II Research Exemption for US Brokers

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking to extend an exemption put in place October 2017 (and set to expire in July 2020) that allows US banks to sell research directly to European fund managers under MiFID II without registering as investment advisors. According to the Financial Times, the regulator made the statement to a group of investment banks and fund managers at a meeting last week.