R3 Unveils R3 Digital Markets to Facilitate Digital Asset Adoption with Kate Karimson at the Helm

DLT technology and services company R3 has introduced R3 Digital Markets, a solution suite aimed at empowering firms to leverage digital assets and currencies. The new offering, underpinned by R3’s tokenisation platform, Corda, is designed to enhance efficiency and reduce costs within financial markets seamlessly integrate Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) into fundamental business practices.

To lead the roll out of the new suite, R3 has appointed financial technology leader and capital markets expert Kate Karimson as Chief Commercial Officer. Karimson joins R3 with a proven track record, following leadership roles at CME Group, BrokerTec, ICAP and LedgerEdge.

Cognizant Collaborates with Microsoft on genAI Powered Innovation Assistant

Cognizant, a provider of IT, consulting and business process services, has collaborated with Microsoft to launch Innovation Assistant, a generative AI-powered tool built on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and designed to augment Cognizant’s internal innovation programme. The Innovation Assistant assimilates enterprise knowledge and enables greater creativity and innovation among teams of Cognizant employees working to solve client challenges.

Azentio Partners Regula to Automate Identity Proofing In Digital Onboarding Solutions

Azentio Software, a Singapore-based technology firm, has made a strategic partnership with Regula, a global developer of forensic devices and identity verification solutions, to improve its digital onboarding solutions. Two Regula solutions, Regula Document Reader SDK and Regula Face SDK, will be integrated with Azentio ONEBanking and Azentio ONECapitalMarkets platforms. Regula Document Reader SDK ensures automated and secure identity proofing, while Regula Face SDK performs biometric verification.

Ihar Kliashchou, chief technology officer at Regula, comments: “We are glad to join forces with Azentio to bolster identity verification in remote onboarding and KYC processes for banks and financial institutions across continents. Financial services are among the most vulnerable industries when it comes to identity fraud.”

Databento Becomes Authorised Distributor of ICE Data

Databento, specialists in APIs for real-time and historical market data, have become an authorised distributor of ICE data with the launch of their latest datasets: ICE Futures Europe iMpact (IFEU.IMPACT) and ICE Endex iMpact (NDEX.IMPACT).

Sourced from ICE’s iMpact multicast futures and options market data feed and picked up at ICE’s colocation facilities in Basildon, UK and at 350 E. Cermak in Chicago, the data feed is then transported over a private backbone to CyrusOne Aurora I, the site of CME’s matching engine, for capture and redistribution. This arrangement provides Databento’s users with consistent timestamping between CME and ICE’s futures markets.

BNY Mellon and ING Join CLSNet to Enhance FX Market Efficiency and Risk Reduction

BNY Mellon, the world’s largest custodian bank, and ING, the largest Dutch bank, have joined CLS’s CLSNet service, whose user base now includes eight of the top 10 global banks. The service aims to reduce settlement risk and improve operational efficiency, particularly in the FX market where risk mitigation is increasingly critical, especially in emerging market currencies and other expanding market segments.

CLSNet has seen significant growth this year, indicating strong industry support for the service. It has consistently recorded high average daily notional values of net calculations, surpassing USD 115 billion over the past 12 months, reaching a record daily notional value of USD 445 billion netted on 20 December 2023.

UK ESG Ratings Code of Conduct to be Explained in London

LSEG, the owner of the London Stock Exchange, will host an event to discuss how the UK’s code of conduct covering ESG ratings and data companies will work in practice.

Companies are being invited to sign up to the code of conduct after it was launched in December following its proposal in the summer. The January 31 event in London is aimed at explaining to signatories and other stakeholders how they will be affected by the measure.

The code envisages a six-principles approach to bringing order to ESG ratings whose providers face criticism over inconsistencies in their scores and conflicts of interest.

It was commissioned by the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which created the ESG Data and Ratings Code of Conduct Working Group (DRWG) to draw up the proposals. The working group was supported by the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) and the International Capital Market Association (ICMA).

Danske Bank Selects Broadridge’s Tbricks for Enhanced Multi-Asset Trading and Market Making

Danske Bank has adopted Broadridge Financial Solutions’ Tbricks multi-asset trading and market making platform, to upgrade its trading, pricing, and position management capabilities across its various locations. The integration with Tbricks aims to streamline Danske Bank’s operations, enhance strategic focus, and ensure long-term cost efficiency.

According to the company, the decision reflects a broader trend in the capital markets sector, where firms increasingly seek adaptable, modular solutions that blend speed and accuracy with the necessary agility to navigate the dynamic financial market landscape.

Cboe Digital Launches Margined Bitcoin and Ether Futures

Cboe Digital has launched margined futures for Bitcoin and Ether, becoming the first U.S. regulated crypto native exchange and clearinghouse to offer both spot and leveraged derivatives trading on a single platform. This development, supported by Blockfills, DV Trading LLC, Jump Trading Group, Marex, Toa Capital Partners and Wedbush, is seen as a major step towards unifying the crypto spot and futures market.

Following the launch Cboe Digital now plans to expand its product suite to include physically delivered products, pending regulatory approval.

Quantexa Partners Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative

Quantexa, a provider of decision intelligence solutions, has announced corporate sponsorship and advisory council membership of the Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative (ATII). The ATII is a US-based non-profit organisation with a mission to fight human trafficking and child exploitation by providing data to advance the prevention, detection, investigation, and reporting mechanisms required to identify potential traffickers and criminal organisations.

Quantexa will provide decision intelligence technology and AI-driven financial crime prevention and detection through training and joint industry engagement, making global human trafficking risk data available to more organisations. Quantexa’s decision intelligence platform enables organisations to automate data ingestion and matching at scale and apply graph analytics to visually identify often hard-to-detect activity related to financial crime. Providing access to a wider set of data points specific to human trafficking will enable investigators to take a more robust approach to anti-human trafficking measures.

Broadridge and Boring Money Collaborate on Consumer Duty Solution for Asset Managers

Boring Money, a financial data and insights business, and Broadridge Financial Solutions have collaborated to help asset managers address the requirements of the UK’s Consumer Duty regulation. The duty applies to all new financial services products, and to all products and services currently available to retail customers. Among others, consumer duty affects regulated firms, and policy makers and regulatory bodies, adding to the burden of firms proposing and selling financial products, and to the information they need to gather, manage and make demonstrable to ensure compliance.

The collaboration brings together Broadridge’s value reporting, fee and performance data, and consulting services with Boring Money’s end investor demographic and perception data, which enables asset managers to better understand and service the retail investors that purchase their funds through intermediaries. The resulting solution gives asset managers and fund boards a holistic view that correlates quantitative and qualitative information regarding fund distribution and regulatory compliance in the UK.