Refinitiv Releases Sub-Saharan Africa Financial Crime Report

Refinitiv, a London Stock Exchange Group business, has released the results of its second financial crime report for Sub-Saharan Africa. This year, the survey highlights trends including low awareness of third-party exposure, high demand for advanced compliance technology, emerging supply chain risks, and lack of digital identity solutions in Know Your Customer protocols.

According to the report, only 28% of respondents have an ultimate beneficial ownership programme, more than 39% lack anti-bribery and corruption controls, and 55% of respondents do not have a cybercrime programme. The report also noted that only 3% of respondents view Environmental, Social, and Governance as a significant theme despite growing regulatory focus on the topic.

Nadim Najjar, managing director, data and analytics, Middle East and Africa, LSEG, comments: “Organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa still lack sound compliance programmes, although the report highlights a strong desire for compliance technology that offers improved data management and analytical capabilities.” The report surveyed risk and compliance professionals and business leaders across 47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

S&P DJI Launches Impact-Focused SDG-Alignment Benchmarks

Two new sustainability indices have been launched by S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) enabling investors to benchmark against companies aligned with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The S&P 500 SDG Index and the S&P Global LargeMidCap SDG Index are built on data that reflect the constituent companies’ impact on the environment and society. They don’t take into account the financial materiality of ESG factors.

“With this approach, S&P DJI is offering broad-based sustainability performance measurement tools, one that is based on the S&P 500, which is the best single gauge of large-cap US equities, and the other based on the S&P Global Large MidCap Index, which represents the top 85% market capitalisation of each developed and emerging country,” said Jas Duhra, Global Head of Sustainability Indices at S&P DJI.

The indices’ data is sourced from London-based impact data provider Impact Cubed.

Zayo Group Expands Near-Net Fibre Connectivity Across Europe, Targeting Key Cities in 2024

Zayo Group, the global provider of fibre network infrastructure, has announced a significant expansion of its near-net connectivity across Europe, aiming to enhance its high-speed low-latency network solutions across UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, and France, enabling up to 100G connectivity for clients in close proximity to Zayo’s fibre infrastructure.

The initiative aims to help clients more easily adopt cloud systems and innovative technologies major cities such as London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Berlin, Dublin, and several French markets throughout 2024.

LoopFX Collaborates with FactSet to Integrate Its FX Trading Technology into Portware System

LoopFX, the FX trading venue for large spot trades, has announced a strategic partnership with FactSet to integrate LoopFX’s unique ‘Peer-To-Bank’ matching engine technology into Portware, FactSet’s FX execution management system (EMS). Set to commence in early 2024, the integration is designed to streamline FX trading for FactSet’s clients, enabling them to access LoopFX’s services directly through their existing Portware trading interface.

LoopFX’s technology is designed to facilitate large FX trades, typically over $10 million, by offering a dark pool for large block liquidity. This approach aims to minimise information leakage, reduce trading costs and enhance execution efficiency for both buy-side and sell-side clients.

Qlik and Mozaic Plan SaaS-Based Data Product Catalogue

Qlik, a supplier of data integration and analytics, has acquired Mozaic Data, a provider of AI-driven data management technology. The acquisition is expected to simplify data handling for businesses by focusing on a data product-oriented approach for better data quality and governance.

Mozaic’s Data Product Experience approach follows the principles of decentralised architecture and enables organisations to build, secure, govern, deploy, and manage domain-centric data products in the cloud. Working with Qlik, the partners plan to develop a data product catalog solution to allow customers to extract more value from their data quickly and effectively.

Drew Clarke, general manager of the data business unit at Qlik, says: “Customers recognise the importance of treating data as a product, a strategy that aligns with the need for a SaaS-based data product catalog offering a more efficient and user-friendly experience in data lifecycle management.”

Arkéa Investment Services Renews Partnership with NeoXam, Extends Managed Services

Arkéa Investment Services, which brings together the asset management and private banking organisations within Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, is renewing its partnership with NeoXam and the use of its Tracker front-to-middle portfolio management solution for the asset management activities of Federal Finance Gestion and Schelcher Prince Gestion.

The partnership aims to strengthen the use of NeoXam Tracker, particularly in order routing functionalities, monitoring investment constraints, and providing support for investment decisions. It also relies on a more direct collaboration based on the provision of managed services by NeoXam.

Florent Fabre, CEO of NeoXam, comments: “Crédit Mutuel Arkéa is a strategic client for NeoXam, using two major solutions from our offering.”

Liquidnet Integrates bondIT’s Advanced Credit Analytics

Liquidnet has partnered with investment technology provider bondIT, to integrate bondIT’s Scorable Credit Analytics into its Fixed Income electronic trading platform. This collaboration between the two companies will enable over 700 member firms to access enhanced insights within the Liquidnet application, aiding in predicting market trends and credit risks.

The partnership comes at a time of increasing demand for fixed income securities, attributed to attractive yields not seen in over a decade. Scorable’s use of data science, Explainable AI, and Machine Learning, aims to help investors anticipate changes in credit ratings and identify market opportunities ahead of time.

Baton Systems Partners with J.P. Morgan to Automate Collateral Optimisation

Post-trade specialist Baton Systems has collaborated with J.P. Morgan’s Collateral Services to automate the optimisation of collateral for tri-party clients globally. The integration of Baton’s Core-Collateral solution into J.P. Morgan’s CCP Margin Exchange (CCPMx) went live with its first CCP in November. Baton now plans to extend the solution across its network of 13 major CCPs, representing over 94% of cleared margin by U.S. FCMs.

The collaboration aims to address complexities in the derivatives markets by enabling clients to aggregate, select, and mobilise collateral effectively and rapidly through Baton’s platform. By automating these processes, the initiative promises to alleviate operational burdens, improve funding decisions, and reduce operational risk.

CoinAPI Introduces EMS Trading API

CoinAPI, the provider of cryptocurrency APIs, has added an execution management system (EMS) API to its suite, enabling clients to trade across markets, asset classes, and exchanges in one place, with the ability to carry out transactions directly on cryptocurrency exchanges in real time with sub-millisecond latency.

The solution is geared towards algorithmic traders and professional cryptocurrency traders, for whom Trading APIs have become an essential part of their toolkit of.

TMX Completes VettaFi Acquisition

TMX Group Limited has completed the acquisition of VettaFi Holdings LLC, a US-based indexing, digital distribution and analytics company. In the first half of 2023, TMX aquired approximately 22% of the common units of VettaFi, and has now acquired the remainder.

The addition of VettaFi increases the depth and value of TMX’s data-driven insights, expands the company’s digital capabilities and expertise, and enriches the company’s support for ETF issuers. This acquisition is expected to accelerate TMX Group’s long-term global expansion and to increase its revenue from the Global Solutions, Insights and Analytics business and from recurring sources.