TradingTech Insight Brief
TNS Acquires West Highland Support Services
Transaction Network Services (TNS) has acquired Danbury, CT-based market data solutions provider West Highland Support Services for an undisclosed sum. The combination of TNS and West Highland services into a single trading infrastructure stack and an integrated offering, will offer connectivity, monitoring and consulting to professional traders, institutions and financial services vendors worldwide.
The acquisition aims to reduce cost and complexity for TNS clients across every element of their market data estate, including hosting, connectivity, middleware distribution, data usage and incident management. All West Highland employees, products and services will integrate into TNS.
IPC Enhances Trading Network with Connectivity to Europe’s Leading Derivatives Exchange
Trading solutions and infrastructure provider IPC has expanded its network by integrating a leading European derivatives exchange into its Connexus Extranet platform, enabling customers to access a wide range of market data across multiple asset classes. Firms requiring ultra-low latency data delivery and distribution can also also co-locate within IPC’s Equinix FR2 data centre facilities.
The expanded connectivity comes in. the wake of IPC’s recently announced partnership with Celoxica to deliver an FPGA-powered low latency normalised multi-venue and multi-asset market data service through a single API, in fully hosted collocated or customer-specified data centre locations.
Amberdata Integrates with Google Cloud’s Analytics Hub for Digital Asset Data Access
Amberdata, the digital asset data and analytics provider, has partnered with Google Cloud, to offer its crypto market, blockchain, and DeFi datasets via Google Cloud’s Analytics Hub. The integration aims to enable institutional customers to manage data more easily, and gain actionable insights for applications in research, trading, and compliance, leveraging their preferred visualization tools.
Google Cloud’s Analytics Hub will host Amberdata’s datasets, enhancing data exchange capabilities and ensuring security. This move allows users to merge Amberdata’s digital asset data with Google Cloud’s AI, ML, and analytics tools. The platform offers sample data from Amberdata at no cost, with full historical datasets also available.
XFA Partners with Genesis Global to Automate FLEX Options Quoting
Execution broker X-Change Financial Access (XFA) and Genesis Global, the low-code application development platform vendor, have partnered to introduce FLEX-FA, a new solution designed to automate the quoting process for flexible exchange options (FLEX options). This new platform significantly improves the speed and efficiency of quoting by standardising and automating request-for-quote (RFQ) processes, aiming to enhance liquidity and provide better price execution for end users.
Developed in just two months, FLEX-FA is powered by a Genesis-built FIX message hub and RFQ workflow manager, allowing XFA to electronically send RFQs to multiple market makers and aggregate their responses.
Stratos Group Launches Multi-Asset Trading Platform Tradu
Stratos Group International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jefferies Financial Group, has launched Tradu, a multi-asset trading platform aimed at retail traders and investors. The new platform offers trading in listed equities, cryptocurrency markets and CFD trading, with the ability to apply leverage on stocks, indices, commodities, forex and cryptocurrencies. In addition to multi-asset trading, Tradu’s eWallet provides clients with a virtual and physical debit card as well as seamless transfers between trading and eWallet accounts.
Stratos also operates FXCM, an FX and CFD platform founded in 2001. Stratos will continue to offer FXCM services alongside the new Tradu multi-asset platform.
Grupo Financiero Banorte Integrates Murex MX.3 Platform to Enhance FX Derivatives Trading
Mexican bank Grupo Financiero Banorte has upgraded its FX derivatives trading services for corporate clients by integrating Murex’s MX.3 platform, as part of its digitalisation strategy. This enhancement allows clients to execute FX derivatives transactions through the bank’s internal portal, Cambios Banorte en Línea (CBL), with the support of MX.3’s self-service functionality.
The implementation of MX.3 aims to streamline Banorte’s trading operations by reducing manual interventions and has led to a 38 percent reduction in person-hours for related tasks. The collaboration between Banorte and Murex, spanning over a decade, has involved continual expansion and optimization of the MX.3 platform’s use in the bank’s operations, recently including the creation of a new XVA desk and updated risk management systems.
CQG Announces Senior Executives’ Buyout; Continues Growth Under New Leadership
CQG, the financial markets technology solutions provider, has announced a significant ownership change with its senior executives set to acquire the company. The buyout marks a new chapter for CQG, which has been owned by founder Tim Mather since its inception in 1980. The details of the transaction, expected to finalise this month, have not been publicly disclosed. This transition occurs under the leadership of CEO Ryan Moroney, who took the helm in 2021 after serving as President since 2017.
CQG has experienced substantial growth in recent years, bolstered by new strategic partnerships, expansion of product offerings, and increased market connectivity. Established in 1980, the company has evolved from offering front-end trading software in the U.S. to a global presence, expanding to Europe in 1988 and Asia in 1998.
Genesis Global Unveils Genesis Platform Version 7, Accelerating Software Development
Genesis Global has launched Genesis Platform version 7 (G7), a significant update to its low-code application development platform for the financial markets sector, introducing multiple enhancements aimed at streamlining the development process. G7 focuses on enabling quicker and more efficient building, testing, and deployment of robust full-stack applications, particularly beneficial for developers in banking, asset management, and other financial firms.
The key improvements – designed to facilitate high-performance transaction processing, event-driven workflows, real-time data integration, and customized user experiences – include accelerated development of full-stack applications, enhanced user interface design capabilities, better integration within enterprise technology ecosystems, and improved access to training tools and support.
Bloomberg Introduces Intra-Firm Chatbots for Enhanced Digital Collaboration
Bloomberg has launched a new service, IB Connect: Intra-Firm Chatbots, designed to enhance digital collaboration for Bloomberg Terminal users. The add-on allows users to integrate proprietary chatbots into Instant Bloomberg (IB) chat rooms, facilitating the sharing of internal system information and improving in-house business intelligence discovery.
The new service supports two types of chatbots. Q&A Intra-Firm Chatbots enable users to extract actionable intelligence directly into chatrooms, addressing queries using data from internal systems. Notification Intra-Firm Chatbots provide timely updates and alerts within the IB environment, ensuring critical information is seamlessly communicated during workflows. This integration uses natural language processing to structure unstructured IB data, which clients can customise for their unique tech stacks and workflows, adhering to Bloomberg’s API protocols.
TD Securities Integrates with Paxos for Automated Commodities Settlement
Paxos, the regulated blockchain infrastructure platform, has partnered with TD Securities, to enable fully automated and simultaneous settlement of cash and commodities for the first time in the precious metals market, enhancing the efficiency of operations for trading both traditional and digital precious metals.
Aiming to set a new standard in the industry for reducing risk and improving settlement safety, the partnership addresses the prevalent issue of many commodities trading firms lacking automated confirmations and settlement. The Paxos Settlement Service not only enables simultaneous settlement but also acts as a hub for accommodating all counterparty settlements, even those not on the network.