Gresham Technologies Extends Presence in Sub-Saharan Africa

Gresham Technologies has signed consultancy Data-Xchange Technologies as a distribution partner for its Clareti software platform in Sub-Saharan Africa. The platform addresses financial control, risk management, data governance and regulatory compliance. Data-Xchange provides process automation services for financial services firms, enabling clients to manage operational risk, compliance and control challenges. Data-Xchange’s Ross Thompson says: “This region is no stranger to regulation and the need to control and process all types of data sets. The partnership will mean our customers will have access to next-gen products that can replace aging legacy solutions that are unable to fulfil this requirement.”

FSB Consults on Outsourcing and Third-party Relationships

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a discussion paper for public consultation on Regulatory and Supervisory Issues Relating to Outsourcing and Third-Party Relationships. Coverage includes the financial sector’s response to COVID-19, which highlighted benefits and challenges of managing the risks of financial institutions’ interactions with third parties, and common concerns about the possibility of systemic risk arising from concentration in the provision of some outsourced and third-party services to financial institutions. Responses to the discussion paper must be submitted by January 8, 2021.

Bloomberg Adds Credit Benchmark Data

Bloomberg will make Credit Benchmark’s credit risk data, derived from risk views of large financial institutions, available on the Bloomberg Terminal and to license for enterprise use cases. The anonymised consensus data adds to existing credit risk datasets and risk indicators, providing complementary content to help market participants assess the credit quality or risk of default of a counterparty, company or entity, all integrated within their existing workflows. Credit Benchmark data can help support risk management, loan and debt underwriting, portfolio optimisation, supply chain risk management, investment idea generation, and is a means of assessing ongoing credit quality.

DSB Expands Regional Expertise of Technology Advisory Committee Working on UPI

The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) has fulfilled plans to expand regional representation of its Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) working on the development of the Unique Product Identifier (UPI). A new two-year term of the TAC begins today, under the auspices of new chair Chris Pulsifer, a software development manager from Bloomberg, and including six members based in Asia, one in the Middle East and North Africa region, 10 in North America, and 13 in Europe. The UPI has, to date, been acknowledged by regulators including the CFTC and ESMA. More are expected to follow in coming months.

ESMA to Recognise Three UK CCPs Post Brexit

In the latest Brexit news, ESMA has confirmed that the three central counterparties (CCPs) in the UK – ICE Clear Europe, LCH and LME Clear – will be recognised as third country CCPs eligible to provide services in the EU after December 31, 2020. The EC has adopted an equivalence decision that will make the UK CCPs equivalent for 18 months. The equivalence decision is the first of several conditions to be met for recognising a third country CCP under EMIR, including the establishment of cooperation arrangements with home supervisors.

Thomas Murray Selected by EDB for Data Services

The Luxembourg-based European Depositary Bank (EDB, a subsidiary of Apex Group) has chosen Thomas Murray to provide data and monitoring services to its compliance practices, including the use of the vendor’s independent analysis and operational risk data for market and counterparty monitoring. EDB will also undertake Thomas Murray’s central securities depositary and market asset safety risks assessments and participate in its transfer agency monitoring programme.

SimCorp Merges European Market Units

SimCorp, a provider of integrated investment management solutions and services including SimCorp Datacare (a data management solution for buyside pricing and reference data), is merging its Central Europe, Southern Europe and UK/Northern Europe/Middle East (UNM) market units, into one integrated EMEA unit. The move is designed to support SimCorp’s growth ambition, by developing closer client relationships across borders and achieving greater scale and agility in key business functions.

The new unit will be headed by Hans Otto Engkilde, the current Managing Director of SimCorp UK/Northern Europe/Middle East, who will lead best practice throughout the merged market unit, with a focus on growing SimCorp’s front office, data management, alternative investments, and client communication offerings.

Finantix Partners with Capita Consulting on Digital Solutions

The Finantix Product Suite is a modular, API-driven suite of products that can be integrated with existing IT systems. Capita Consulting will become a Finantix certified strategic implementation partner in the UK. In this role Capita Consulting will help clients in the private banking and wealth management sectors design and launch a Finantix platform tailored to their needs. As well as helping Finantix clients select the right mix of capabilities for their needs, Capita Consulting will also advise Finantix on product enhancements across the suite of solutions offered to the UK market.

Singapore Introduces ‘Fairness Metrics’ for AI Adoption

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that the first phase of its Veritas initiative – a framework for financial institutions to promote the responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics (AIDA) – will commence with the development of fairness metrics in credit risk scoring and customer marketing. The 25-member consortium will publish a white paper documenting the metrics and release an open-source code to enable financial institutions to adopt the fairness metrics in these two areas by the end of 2020.

HESTA Selects GoldenSource Nexus to Overhaul Investment Data Management

HESTA, a top 20 Australian superannuation fund serving over 860,000 members, has gone live with the GoldenSource Nexus investment data management platform from EDM specialist GoldenSource. The fund is using the platform as the hub for its strategic investment data transformation programme, with the infrastructure supported by GoldenSource OnDemand hosting and applications services. The new service, with Phase 1 set up in under 6 months, will bring together the data from HESTA’s middle and back office services and investment consulting providers, plus its 100+ external fund managers and multiple market data and internal sources. GoldenSource reportedly underwent a rigorous selection process, which it won due to its history of successful delivery and support across the Australasia and APAC regions.