GLEIF Names Shanghai Electronic Certification Authority as China’s New vLEI Issuer

The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has named the Shanghai Electronic Certification Authority (SHECA) as its newest Qualified vLEI Issuer (QVI),

The vLEI is a globally standardised, secure digital counterpart to the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), providing cryptographically verifiable organisational identity.

SHECA, one of China’s Certification Authorities, will now offer authoritative vLEI issuance, validation and verification services. This appointment will help Chinese companies address regulatory requirements in cross-border trade by verifying the identity of counterparties and their representatives, supporting applications like e-invoices and e-bills of lading (eBL).

“SHECA’s approval as a QVI marks a significant expansion of the vLEI ecosystem in China, which stands to increase the adoption and application of the vLEI across the region to foster simpler, smoother, and safer trade,” said Alexandre Kech, GLEIF chief executive.

RepRisk Data to Support JPX-Nikkei Indices

RepRisk, a Data as a Service (DaaS) company for reputational risks, said its data is now being used in the periodic review of constituents in the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 and the JPX-Nikkei Mid and Small Cap Index.

The index providers, JPX Market Innovation & Research and Nikkei, will use the RepRisk Index (RRI) to strengthen their indices with the aim of improving their alignment with global investment standards, particularly focusing on corporate social responsibility.

Both indices will now exclude any company with an RRI of 75 or higher, which indicates an extremely high risk. Philipp Aeby, RepRisk chief executive said: “We are proud to enable JPX’s initiative to promote responsible business conduct and risk transparency.”

Hamilton Lane’s Senior Credit Opportunities Fund Now Accessible via KAIO on Sei Network

KAIO, the onchain infrastructure for regulated real-world assets (RWAs), has expanded its tokenized fund offerings on the Sei Network, by bringing access to Hamilton Lane’s Senior Credit Opportunities Fund (SCOPE) onchain via the HL SCOPE Access Fund, targeting institutional and accredited investors.

This integration provides users on the Sei Network with expanded, crypto-native access to alternative investment strategies in private credit. KAIO utilises the Sei Network’s high-performance rails to offer secure and compliant access to alternative investment products directly onchain.

The HL SCOPE Access Fund provides a route into SCOPE, an all-weather senior private credit evergreen vehicle. The fund aims to generate consistent performance and cash yield, offering investors a diversified, multi-manager portfolio. Key features include immediate capital deployment and an option for monthly liquidity.

TS Imagine Partners with Gentek.ai to Integrate AI into Capital Markets Platform

TS Imagine, the trading, portfolio, and risk management solutions provider, has entered a strategic development partnership with AI platform Gentek.ai. The integration of Gentek.ai’s horizontal AI infrastructure directly into TS Imagine’s platform is designed to offer users faster workflows, automated processes, and richer insights through advanced reporting.

By embedding agentic workflows, TS Imagine aims to create new efficiencies for banks, asset managers, and wealth managers in areas such as Trading and Execution, using predictive intelligence for order routing; Risk Management, for real-time monitoring and stress testing; Financing & Prime Services, to streamline reporting; and Wealth Management, to provide personalised portfolio insights. The partnership promises to deliver modular, enterprise-grade solutions to reduce complexity and improve performance.

Quoreka Launches AI-Powered Commodity Sentiment Index

Quoreka, the energy and commodity trading risk management (E/CTRM) solutions provider, has announced the launch of the Quoreka Sentiment Index (QIndex), an AI-driven tool designed to measure real-time global sentiment for the commodity markets. The QIndex is powered by comprehensive news and data feeds supplied by Barchart, the market data and technology provider.

The index utilises artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) to analyse and quantify sentiment within daily news coverage, generating a score between 0 (negative) and 1 (positive). The system works by scanning global news, filtering articles for relevant information, classifying them by industry, and then applying sentiment analysis to calculate the average daily index value.

This process aims to translate complex global news flow into a straightforward daily metric. The QIndex is intended for use by traders, analysts, and risk managers to help them track shifts in market sentiment at a glance.

CUBE Expands AI Capability with Acquisition of Kodex AI

Automated regulatory intelligence innovator CUBE has acquired Berlin-based Kodex AI, a technology start-up recognised for applying agentic AI to compliance and risk management in financial services. The move strengthens CUBE’s position in automated regulatory intelligence (ARI) and regulatory change management (RCM), while advancing its goal of building the “third pillar” of its AI platform.

Kodex AI’s agentic architecture introduces “co-worker” functionality, enabling AI to act as a digital colleague within compliance workflows. Its technology blends fine-tuned AI models with regulatory data and knowledge graphs, designed to enhance automation and accuracy in monitoring evolving rules. The integration will extend the capabilities of CUBE’s RegPlatform, providing customers with deeper, AI-driven insight and control over regulatory change.

The acquisition also brings new technical talent to CUBE, with Kodex AI’s Berlin-based team joining the business. Having developed a large-language model for financial document analysis through Deutsche Bank’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence Programme, Kodex can demonstrate the precision and domain expertise behind its technology.

CUBE founder and CEO Ben Richmond said: “Thomas and Claus have built an exceptional and disruptive European technology business, pioneering the use of agentic AI through an agent-based architecture to solve regulatory complexities. Kodex AI is a natural next step in CUBE’s strategy, allowing us to instantly deliver enhanced, AI-based compliance and risk capabilities to our global customers.”

Kodex AI co-founder Thomas Kaiser described the integration as a rare opportunity to reshape the industry: “Combining Kodex AI’s technology leadership with CUBE’s market-leading regulatory and risk data is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redefine the compliance and risk space. This is the perfect use case for advanced AI, and together we’ll push the boundaries of what’s possible.”

CUBE serves around 1,000 customers globally and employs more than 800 people across 20 countries. Backed by private-equity firm Hg since March 2024, the company has pursued a strategy of expanding its unified RegPlatform™ through targeted acquisitions, including Thomson Reuters Global Regulatory Intelligence, Oden, Reg-Room and Acin.

Hg director Thomas Martin said: “This acquisition once again highlights CUBE’s ambition and drive to change the status quo for the RegTech industry. Since inception, Ben has been driving the business to embrace the latest technology and the addition of Kodex AI will significantly boost the team’s agentic AI capabilities.”

ISITC Europe and Genbounty Partner to Offer Independent Audits Aligned with EU AI Act

In a move to support regulated firms across Europe, ISITC Europe CIC has forged a partnership with AI compliance platform Genbounty to deliver third-party AI audits and accreditation. The objective: help organizations build credible AI governance programs and ensure alignment with evolving regulatory standards.

Tackling the AI Governance Gap

As AI deployments proliferate in financial services and capital markets, many firms struggle to translate high-level rules into operational controls. While the EU AI Act defines a compliance baseline, supervisory expectations vary across jurisdictions. In the UK, the FCA’s stated approach is technology agnostic and outcomes-focused, applying existing regulatory frameworks to firms’ use of AI rather than creating AI-specific rules. This stance is reflected across its AI Update, press material and speeches—and operationalised via initiatives like AI Live Testing.

Gary Wright, Director of Industry Affairs and one of ISITC Europe’s founders, underscores the challenge. He argues that firms need clarity on how their AI components affect risk, controls, and accountability. Under this partnership, “ISITC Europe as a not-for profit community interest company will act as an independent resource for members to help manage their AI components and ensure compliance.” The offering will include audits, access to verified AI testers, workshops, benchmark reports, and post-market monitoring.

From Genbounty’s side, co-founder Rob Morel positioned the platform’s role as providing ongoing regulatory insight. He explained that the system will keep users apprised of changes and help them understand “AI components utilised across enterprises.” Through the MOU, Genbounty’s tools and vetted testers will be made available to ISITC Europe’s membership.

What This Enables — and What Still Must Be Built

This collaboration is not simply a new service launch, but a signal of maturation in the AI compliance space. By offering independent assessments, it helps fill a gap between regulation and implementation, particularly for institutions lacking internal AI expertise.

Still, several challenges lie ahead:

• Operationalizing audits. Translating compliance results into practical remediation plans will require domain experience in AI, model risk management, and financial workflows.
• Maintaining independence. As audits are performed by a provider with commercial ties, perceptions of impartiality must be managed.
• Evolving rules. The EU AI Act itself is dynamic; firms will need to continually adapt their controls as standards are refined.

Nonetheless, for firms seeking credible third-party validation of AI governance, this new path offers a clearer route than doing so in isolation.

S&P Global Integrates AI Document Analysis on Salesforce AgentExchange

S&P Global has made its S&P Capital IQ Pro Document Intelligence available to users of Salesforce’s AgentExchange, integrating Generative AI directly into customer relationship management workflows.

S&P Global said this will simplify how customers analyse complex company documents, boosting productivity and enabling clients to make quicker, data-informed decisions.

The new integration builds on S&P Global’s partnership with the Salesforce Independent Software Vendor (ISV) programme, and is accessible through Salesforce’s marketplace for agentic AI tools.

ACA Group Introduces a New Framework to Strengthen Buy-Side Market Abuse Controls

Amid growing regulatory pressure and heightened investor scrutiny, ACA Group has unveiled a new Market Abuse Risk Framework aimed at helping UK and European buy-side firms identify, manage, and monitor market abuse risks across trading activities.

The initiative arrives as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) steps up enforcement with a five-year strategy that prioritises market abuse and accountability under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR). Recent insider trading cases and the regulator’s July 2025 consultation on SM&CR reforms have further raised expectations for demonstrable, firm-wide conduct frameworks aligned with MAR and MiFID II.

Developed by ACA practitioners with extensive buy-side experience, the framework integrates surveillance, conduct, and control reviews into a single, regulator-ready model. It maps market abuse offences across asset classes, supports policy and procedure assessments, and evaluates surveillance technologies to ensure alignment with firms’ risk profiles. The solution also includes a proprietary question bank drawn from ACA’s client work and provides practical guidance on maintaining and updating the framework over time.

“What truly differentiates this solution is the depth of expertise driving it,” said Raj Somal, Partner at ACA Group. “Our clients are navigating increasingly-complex trading, and jurisdictional and infrastructure environments, and often without a clear, actionable view of their market abuse risk. This isn’t just a health check; it’s a dynamic, evolving programme that firms can use to strengthen governance, meet evolving regulatory and business expectations, and build investor confidence.”

The Market Abuse Risk Framework complements ACA’s broader compliance ecosystem, including its ComplianceAlpha® platform, which offers surveillance and monitoring tools spanning trade and communications activity, conflicts of interest, expert networks, and research oversight. Combined with advisory and managed services, these tools enable firms to remediate findings, enhance governance, and maintain ongoing compliance amid shifting regulatory expectations.

ACA will host a live session on 23 October 2025 to discuss the rising focus on market abuse, surveillance practices, and senior manager accountability across the buy-side sector.

SIX Signs Seven-Year Strategic Partnership with Barclays

Financial data provider SIX has signed a seven-year strategic partnership with Barclays. The agreement will provide all divisions of the global banking group, including its investment banking, retail, wealth management, and corporate services, with access to SIX’s comprehensive suite of financial data products. The partnership is intended to support Barclays’ international growth and drive cost efficiencies, aligning with the bank’s wider strategic transformation, with a goal to reduce costs by £2bn by 2026.

The collaboration builds on a longstanding relationship and will see Barclays contributing to the product strategy and development of new data and analytical products from SIX. In return for providing access to services such as real-time market data, wealth management capabilities, and regulatory reporting solutions, the partnership supports SIX’s own plans to expand, by helping strengthen the provider’s presence in key regions like the US and Asia, where Barclays has a significant footprint.