Thinknum $11.6 million Funding Supports Penetration into New Markets

Thinknum, a provider of alternative data culled from the web, has received $11.6 million in a Series A funding round. The company plans to use the capital to fund its expansion into the institutional investment community and corporate market. Thinknum’s software-as-a-service platform evaluates a wide array of public online sources to generate datasets. One example of its predictive intelligence is its interpretation of the performance of retailers after analysing median income levels near individual store locations. Thinknum intelligence is used in equity research and analysis by financial firms such as Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Archax Partners Tokeny to Harness Digital Securities

Archax is partnering Tokeny, a compliant tokenisation platform delivering institutional grade solutions in the issuance, lifecycle management and secondary trading of digital securities. The partnership ensures that Tokeny’s issued security tokens will be listed on the Archax exchange. Luc Falempin, Tokeny CEO, says that for blockchain to become the preferred infrastructure in the industry, it is imperative for there to be seamless transferability between key actors. Graham Rodford, Archax CEO, adds: “Tokenisation of real-world assets using blockchain will not only unlock liquidity and create secondary markets for assets that are hard to trade, but also potentially disrupt traditional financial markets.”

Platinum Asset Management Selects Catena TRACE Reporting

Catena Technologies is providing its TRACE Reporting solution to Australian equity-focused investment manager Platinum Asset Management to support its OTC derivatives transaction reporting requirements under EMIR. TRACE Reporting is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that manages a range of functional requirements for trade reporting including cross-asset coverage, valuation and collateral, and multi-jurisdictional support. The TRACE Reporting system enables financial institutions to report both OTC derivatives and exchange-traded transactions to regulators via trade repositories, approved reporting mechanisms (ARMs), and approved publication arrangements (APAs).

FTSE Russell Works with DAR Data Services on Indicative Digital Assets Index

FTSE Russell is working with DAR Data Services (DAR) to introduce an indicative FTSE Digital Assets Index. The index will be used to evaluate and test a benchmark for the most actively traded digital assets, and is designed to help the establishment of industry standards and transparency in the digital assets market. The indicative index, which will be available to registered users, will be calculated every 15 seconds, 24×7 with data sourced from selected digital exchanges vetted and approved by DAR. FTSE Russell will also provide a Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) for all 100 constituent digital assets.

SoftLab9 Signs Agreement with Moody’s Subsidiary Bureau Van Dijk

Software development company SoftLab9 has signed an agreement with Bureau Van Dijk (BVD), a subsidiary of Moody’s credit agency, to provide global company information for SoftLab9’s EnhanceComply.com compliance products.

“[BvD] enhance our coverage with the world’s most comprehensive data sets, including beneficial ownership, corporate structure, and more. Adding these capabilities will make SoftLab9’s enhanced due diligence one of the most thorough services available,” said Rahim Mohamed, Co-founder and CEO of Softlab9.

SoftLab9 also confirmed plans to integrate AI to its datasets for greater efficiency in analysing large amounts of structured and unstructured data.

Xelion Provides Call Recording Functionality for MiFID II Compliance

Xelion, a cloud telephony provider, is providing MiFID II compliance through a call recording function in its latest version of the Xelion service. MiFID II requires all calls relating to financial trades to be recorded. The Xelion recording feature can be configured to required groups, users, or phone numbers, which can save storage. Users have control over who can access the recordings, which are available through Xelion’s applications.

Apex Group Selects AQMetrics to Power Regulatory Reporting Teams

Apex Group, the fifth-largest fund administrator in the world with over $610 billion in assets under management, has selected RegTech firm AQMetrics as its regulatory reporting technology solution. Apex plans to utilise AQMetrics for its ESMA, CFTC and SEC regulatory reporting requirements. The integrated AQMetrics platform will deliver a full suite of multi-jurisdictional regulatory reporting solutions to the global Apex Group.

HMRC Releases List of Firms in Breach of AML Regulations

HMRC on March 4,2019 published a list of nine businesses issued with penalty notices for the 2018-19 tax year, for failing to comply with the new 2017 Money Laundering Regulations. Five penalties were enforced by HRMC between June 2017 and October 2018 under the 2017 regulations, to the value of £1,390.80. A further 545 penalties were enforced under the 2007 AML regulations over the same period, to the value of £2.54 million.

The FCA is believed to have given notice to hedge funds to expect FCA AML investigators within the next month.

Infragistics and Adaptable Tools Bring Integrated Charting to Data Grids

Infragistics, a user interface component provider, and Adaptable Tools, provider of the HTML5 data grid add-on AdaptableBlotter, have allied to offer integrated, live charting within data grids. Users will be able to switch between charting and table views, and use other features that allow them to manipulate data. Some of the key features include live charts that update automatically as grid data ticks, callouts and final values, and a query capability to show users the data that matters.

Singapore’s Jumio Joins with ComplyAdvantage to Reduce AML Risk Exposure

Jumio, an AI-powered trusted identity as a service provider, this week launched Jumio Screening: an automated AML screening solution that integrates ComplyAdvantage, a real-time, dynamic financial crime database. The partnership gives Jumio users access to a global proprietary database of structured risk profiles covering enhanced sanctions, regulatory and enforcement watchlists, politically exposed persons and adverse media. The integration automatically flags any new online customers when they are initially onboarded, if their names are listed within any of these databases. The new service also delivers alerts and ongoing monitoring after the initial onboarding process to help financial organisations maintain compliance.