BGC Group and Leading Banks Launch FMX Futures Exchange, Offering SOFR Futures Trading

BGC Group, Inc. has launched the FMX Futures Exchange in collaboration with ten leading investment banks and market-making firms. The new exchange, which is now live, offers trading of SOFR futures, the largest notional futures contract globally. Plans are in place to introduce U.S. treasury futures by Q1 2025.

The FMX Futures Exchange aims to deliver significant capital savings to its clients through its clearing partnership with LCH Limited, enabling cross-margining of eligible U.S. interest rate futures. LCH is one of the largest clearers of interest rate swaps (IRS) in the world with $225 billion secured in IRS collateral.

The FMX Futures Exchange is part of FMX Holdings, LLC, which also operates a fast-growing U.S. treasuries marketplace and a spot Foreign Exchange platform. Leading financial institutions, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan, are equity partners in FMX Holdings.

Digital Asset and DTCC Successfully Complete UST Collateral Network Pilot, Demonstrating DLT-Driven Efficiency

Digital Asset, in collaboration with The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), has successfully completed the U.S. Treasury (UST) Collateral Network Pilot, a blockchain-based initiative aimed at enhancing market connectivity and liquidity using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The pilot involved a consortium of major financial institutions, including investors, banks, custodians, and central counterparties, operating on fourteen Canton nodes across ten distributed applications. Participants executed 100 transactions, showcasing the potential of tokenized collateral assets in real-world scenarios.

The pilot tested complex financial processes, such as the creation of digital twins for USTs, real-time margin call settlements, asset recalls, and secured party control during default events. The results demonstrated the feasibility and efficiency of DLT in improving transactional efficiency, liquidity, and legal certainty. This initiative builds on the success of the Canton Network Pilot from December 2023, further advancing blockchain applications in global financial markets.

Euronext Acquires Substantive Research to Expand Investor Services Offerings

Euronext has acquired 100% of Substantive Research, a London-based firm specialising in pricing and product comparison for investment research and market data. Founded in 2015, Substantive Research serves over 100 clients globally, offering benchmarking services for asset managers, hedge funds, and other financial institutions.

The acquisition strengthens Euronext’s investor services through its subsidiary Commcise, which provides commission management and research valuation solutions. Integrating Substantive Research will allow Commcise clients access to unique market benchmarks, helping them navigate regulatory requirements with a unified platform. Substantive Research will benefit from Euronext’s scale, enabling it to expand its benchmarking capabilities and vendor offerings.

This move aligns with Euronext’s capital allocation strategy and reinforces its focus on delivering high-quality, recurring revenues while deepening its connection with the buy-side community.

Nasdaq and BYMA Expand Partnership to Overhaul Argentina’s Post-Trade Ecosystem

Nasdaq and BYMA, Argentina’s leading stock exchange group, have expanded their technology partnership to overhaul BYMA’s entire post-trade ecosystem using Nasdaq technology. As part of the agreement, BYMA will implement Nasdaq’s real-time clearing platform at its central counterparty clearinghouse (CCP), enhancing the speed, capacity, and risk management of its post-trade operations. This new platform complements BYMA’s existing collaboration with Nasdaq’s technology at its central securities depository, Caja de Valores.

The enhanced system will improve operational resiliency, streamline reconciliation, and provide advanced risk analytics, while its modular design allows for the rapid introduction of new products and services. The upgrade supports BYMA’s transition to a model where settlement and clearing are aligned with international standards, optimizing liquidity and collateral management. BYMA’s decision reflects its commitment to robust and scalable market infrastructure amid its ongoing growth, with Nasdaq’s technology offering future-proof capabilities for a complex global marketplace.

S&P Global Market Intelligence Launches GenAI-Enabled Solutions to Enhance Research and Analysis

S&P Global Market Intelligence has introduced a suite of generative AI (GenAI)-enabled solutions to support client research and analysis. These innovations are available via the new Labs section of the S&P Capital IQ Pro platform, which showcases both developed and early-stage technologies from S&P Global and Kensho. Key offerings include Transcripts Trending Topics, which helps users identify trends in earnings call transcripts, and News Sentiment, which provides quantitative insights based on sentiment analysis. Another tool, Transcripts Key Phrases, highlights significant topics from earnings calls to assist users in understanding key company themes.

Additional GenAI enhancements include IQ Market Summaries, offering timely updates on U.S., European, and Asian markets, as well as Transcript Summarization, which generates earnings call summaries. The S&P Global Marketplace GenAI Search simplifies the querying process, helping users quickly find relevant data across S&P Global’s datasets. These tools aim to streamline workflows and boost analytical efficiency.

SC Ventures Leads Strategic Investment in One Trading to Launch First Crypto Perpetual Futures in EU

SC Ventures, the innovation and fintech investment arm of Standard Chartered, has made a strategic investment in One Trading, the European crypto-asset exchange. The investment round also saw participation from existing investor MiddleGame Ventures, alongside Valar and SpeedInvest. Although the financial details were not disclosed, the funds will support One Trading’s launch of the first crypto perpetual futures in the European Union (EU) as a MiFID II-compliant trading venue.

In July 2024, One Trading secured an Organised Trading Facility (OTF) license from the Dutch financial market regulator, making it the first regulated crypto perpetual futures exchange in the EU. This approval enables the exchange to offer crypto derivatives, accessible to both retail and institutional clients, marking a significant milestone in One Trading’s efforts to bring onshore crypto futures trading within the EU regulatory framework.

BGC Group to Launch FMX Futures Exchange for U.S. Interest Rate Futures

BGC Group, Inc, in collaboration with ten leading global investment banks and market-making firms, has announced the launch of the FMX Futures Exchange (FMX) for U.S. interest rate futures. The new exchange will go live on Monday, 23 September 2024, at 9:00 p.m. ET, initially offering Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) futures, with plans to introduce U.S. Treasury futures in early 2025.

FMX aims to deliver capital savings to its clients through its clearing partnership with LCH Limited, a major clearer of interest rate swaps. LCH will facilitate cross-margining for eligible U.S. interest rate futures using $225 billion in collateral held by its members. FMX is a subsidiary of FMX Holdings LLC, whose equity owners include prominent financial institutions such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan. The company also operates in the U.S. Treasuries and foreign exchange markets.

Broadridge Expands Distributed Ledger Repo Platform with Tier-1 Canadian Bank Implementation

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has announced that a Tier-1 Canadian bank has implemented its Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR) platform to manage High-Quality Liquid Asset (HQLA) treasury securities. This marks a significant milestone as the bank becomes the first to adopt this use case on Broadridge’s DLR platform, highlighting the potential of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in revolutionising financial operations.

This implementation aims to not only simplify the bank’s workflow and generate cost savings but also lay the foundation for further DLT use cases that can drive greater efficiencies and innovation in the financial sector, according to the company.

As more firms embrace digital transformation strategies, Broadridge continues to deploy DLT to drive operational efficiencies and cost savings. The DLR platform is expanding globally across buy-side and sell-side firms, generating a network effect that supports diverse transaction types.

BlueFlame AI Applies GenAI to Alternative Markets Data Processes

BlueFlame AI said it has made the process of mining and analysing data from documents easier for private and other alternative market participants with the creation of its Nexus product.

The offering, backed by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), enables clients to pull critical data from unstructured sources such as management and board decks, presentations, contracts, reports and other documents, the London-based company said.

“In today’s data-driven investment landscape, the ability to quickly extract valuable insights from vast amounts of unstructured information is crucial,” BlueFlame AI chief executive Raj Bakhru said.

Novatus Secures $40 Million Growth Funding from Silversmith Capital Partners

Novatus Global, a leader in regulatory technology for financial institutions, has raised $40 million from Boston based growth equity firm Silversmith Capital Partners. This funding marks a significant step for Novatus, enabling the company to expand globally and enhance its technology amid an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. 

Founded in 2019 by experienced industry professionals, Novatus has quickly built a strong reputation among top banks, asset managers, and financial institutions. Over the past year, the company has seen its revenue more than triple, reflecting the growing demand for its compliance solutions. The investment from Silversmith will help Novatus enhance its flagship platform, En:ACT, a cloud-native SaaS solution that simplifies complex transaction reporting requirements across various global jurisdictions. 

Andrew Hedley, Co-Founder and Partner of Novatus, emphasized the alignment between the two companies. “Silversmith shares our vision of creating products that make our clients’ operations safer and more efficient,” he said. “This investment will allow us to deepen our commitment to innovation while accelerating our international expansion, particularly in North America.” 

Co-Founder and Partner Mathew Ranson highlighted the company’s unique approach to transaction reporting, drawing on the founders deep operational knowledge of the transaction reporting space and its challenges. “We built Novatus with a focus on automation and technology, moving away from human-driven processes. Silversmith recognized the potential of our En:ACT platform, which leverages AI and machine learning to address regulatory challenges with fresh thinking.” 

Silversmith’s Principal, Ned Kingsley, echoed this sentiment, expressing confidence in Novatus’ future. “We look for founders who solve real-world problems, and Andrew and Matt have done exactly that. We’re excited to support their continued growth,” Kingsley noted. 

Alan Robertson, Partner at Maven Capital Partners, which had previously invested in Novatus, praised the company’s progress. “Since our initial investment, client adoption of En:ACT has driven a 13-fold increase in annual recurring revenues. We remain committed to supporting Novatus in scaling globally and enhancing its market-leading platform,” Robertson stated. 

This new partnership will also see Silversmith’s Todd MacLean and Ned Kingsley joining the Novatus board, further reinforcing the strategic alignment between the two firms.  

By combining deep industry knowledge with AI-powered technology, Novatus is well positioned to help its clients navigate an evolving global landscape with greater confidence and agility.