Tokenbridge Introduces New Features to Enhance Tokenised Model Portfolios in Wealth Management

Tokenbridge, the token aggregator and distribution platform, has unveiled a set of new features aimed at revolutionising the wealth and fund management industry through the support of tokenised model portfolios. The new functionalities facilitate seamless integration and automation between tokenised and traditional finance (TradFi) assets, streamlining the construction, distribution, and evaluation of model portfolios.

The new features are designed to reduce the complexity, volume, and cost of managing portfolios, enhancing connectivity between model portfolio providers, distributors, and clients through smart contracts. For investors, the features offer flexibility and personalisation in portfolio management, aligning investment preferences across both tokenised and un-tokenised ecosystems.

S&P Global Introduces AI-Enabled Search on Marketplace Platform

S&P Global has launched a new AI-enabled search feature on its Marketplace platform, designed to transform how users discover the company’s data and solutions offerings across its five divisions and from curated third-party providers.

The Generative AI search, developed in collaboration between S&P’s Market Intelligence and Kensho divisions, offers a more intuitive and efficient search experience by using a large language model to understand natural language queries and recommend relevant data sets and services.

SimCorp Partners with Venn by Two Sigma to Enhance Multi-Asset Portfolio Management

SimCorp, the investment management solutions provider, has announced a strategic partnership with Venn by Two Sigma, aimed at revolutionising the management of multi-asset portfolios. The collaboration integrates SimCorp’s Axioma’s equity factor models with Venn’s advanced factor analytics, addressing the increasing complexity in portfolio management as investors shift from traditional asset allocations to more diverse investments, including private markets.

Through the partnership, Venn’s users will gain access to enhanced equity risk factors from the Axioma US and Worldwide Equity Factor Risk Models, enabling them to achieve deeper insights into risk and expected returns.

Bloomberg Adds to Mobile Apps with Bloomberg Pro for Vision

Bloomberg has released Bloomberg Pro for Vision, an application based on Apple Vision Pro that gives Bloomberg Anywhere subscribers access to functionality including News, Bloomberg Television, Instant Bloomberg, Bloomberg Message, Markets, Worksheets, Securities Data, and Research on the move or in the office.

“This is a new way to help financial professionals take full advantage of Apple Vision Pro and maintain productivity, expand desktop real estate and access private information in the office or on the go, all while reducing monitor footprints,” says Len Welter, head of mobile infrastructure and technology in Bloomberg’s Office of the CTO. “We will continue to invest in our mobile apps like Bloomberg Pro for Vision to deliver the news, data and analytics our clients need, wherever they may be working.

”Bloomberg Pro for Vision is available immediately in the App Store on Apple Vision Pro and is accessible to Bloomberg Terminal customers with a Bloomberg Anywhere subscription.

EU Approves Proposal to Regulate ESG Ratings Providers

European Union leaders have agreed on a proposal to regulate ESG ratings providers, requiring them to be registered and monitored by financial authorities.
Under the planned framework jointly backed by the EU’s executive, the European Council, and its parliament, ESG ratings providers must abide by transparency rules that will oblige them to publish the data and methodologies behind their calculations.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will keep check of the companies.

The regulation is hoped to bring harmony to the fragmented ESG ratings sector, which has been frequently blamed for paving the way for greenwashing. The EU also expects that eventually there will be providers of separate E, S and G ratings.

When the proposal is passed, the EU is be the first major financial authority to bring ESG ratings firms within the orbit of regulators, a move that is also being considered in the UK and US.

LTX Secures Four Patents for Fixed Income Trading Innovations, Enhancing Bond Market Efficiency

Electronic trading platform LTX, a Broadridge subsidiary, has been awarded four new patents for its fixed income trading technology. The patents encompass bond similarity technology, dealer selection score technology, liquidity aggregation technology, and RFQ+ trading protocol, innovations designed to streamline pre-trade decision-making and optimise trade execution in the corporate bond market. Together, the patents enhance the processes for selecting bonds and counterparties, as well as for executing large-scale electronic trades, which may lead to improved pricing due to heightened participant involvement.

Established by Broadridge, LTX leverages AI-driven workflows throughout the corporate bond trading lifecycle, from analysis to trading. In June 2023, LTX launched the patent-pending BondGPT, followed by its enterprise version, BondGPT+, in November 2023. Both applications are designed to offer quick identification of corporate bonds and provide rapid responses to complex bond-related inquiries.

Digital Onboarding Sets Plans Following $58 million Volition Capital Investment

Boston-based Digital Onboarding, a SaaS solution provider helping more than 100 financial institutions deepen their customer relationships, has closed a $58 million investment from growth equity firm Volition Capital. Digital Onboarding provides a digital engagement platform built to grow and service existing customer relationships and designed to enable financial institutions to engage with customers via targeted, journey-based communication and action-oriented microsites.

The investment will support Digital Onboarding’s goals to accelerate its product roadmap, improve support for existing customers, drive awareness among target prospects, and expand its headcount.

Centralis Group Selects Fenergo Client Lifecycle Management

Fenergo, a provider of digital Client Lifecycle Management (CLM), Know your Customer (KYC) and transaction monitoring solutions for financial institutions, has been selected by Centralis Group, which will use Fenergo CLM to streamline client and investor onboarding processes and strengthen its foundation for sustainable international growth.

Luxembourg-based Centralis is an alternative asset and corporate services provider. Fenergo’s technology will enable the firm to increase operational efficiency, optimise the onboarding journey for both clients and investors, and reduce the potential for duplication of effort. By streamlining and accelerating onboarding, Centralis expects to foster stronger client relationships from the beginning while remaining compliant with diverse regulations across its global network.

Mosaic Smart Data Research Reveals Front Office Data Challenges

Mosaic Smart Data, a provider of real-time capital markets data analytics, has revealed the challenges front offices in investment banks face when attempting to get their data in a fit state to deploy AI-powered analytics for improved efficiency, productivity and profitability.

Mosaic research found data quality and integrity is a critical challenge with 66% of banks struggling with data quality and gaps in important data points; 83% with no real-time access to transaction data and/or data analytics; and 66% saying the data that is most useful for analytics is challenging to access. Reference data is unfit for purpose, with 50% of banks having reference data with no unified counterparty identifier, especially for client static data, and sometimes the data is missing altogether.

Matthew Hodgson, CEO and founder of Mosaic, comments: “No powerful analytics or AI can fully function if data is not normalised, maintained in an orderly fashion and gaps in the data enriched. Now is a crucial time to invest in data and analytics for the front office – but ROI must be guaranteed in the current economic climate, and this begins with better data health.”

The research covered six million Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) transactions from global and regional investment banks in South America, US, Canada, UK, EU, South Africa, Japan and Australia, and surveyed front office staff including traders, salespeople and quants.

Themis Hosts Financial Crime Risk Management Cloud Service in Saudi Arabia

Themis, a financial crime technology company, has extended the reach of its financial crime risk management cloud service by hosting it in Saudi Arabia. The Themis service, situated in Jeddah, is purpose-built to meet the unique demands of the region and ensure it meets regulatory obligations around data sovereignty that require customer data to be held and processed within the region.

Further to availability in Saudi Arabia, Themis says its technology is built in such a way that data can be hosted anywhere in the world and adhere to local jurisdictional regulatory requirements. Additional services are due to be announced during the first quarter.