Data Management Insight Brief
FCA Warns Firms on LIBOR Transition
The FCA has doubled down on its plans to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021, warning in a 29 April statement that “it remains the central assumption that firms cannot rely on LIBOR being published after the end of 2021.” Although the regulator recognises the challenges presented by the current operating environment under COVID-19, it notes that “continued progress” has been seen – including the first syndicated loan that will link to SONIA and SOFR, and a successful consent solicitation to convert a legacy LIBOR referencing bond, while within sterling cash markets, transition to SONIA in the bond market has been largely completed. The Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates (RFRWG) confirms that by the end of Q3 2020 lenders should be in a position to offer non-LIBOR linked products, while all new issuance of sterling LIBOR-referencing loan products that expire after the end of 2021 should cease by the end of Q1 2021.
Nasdaq Launches New SaaS Risk Modelling Service
Nasdaq has launched what it claims to be the first independent multi-vendor risk modelling service for the reinsurance industry. The cloud-based solution enables insurers, reinsurers, and brokers to access to a broad range of best-of breed risk models from a number of providers through a single service. The service is powered by the latest version of the Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, an open source catastrophe modelling framework, offering clients faster modelling time, flexible reporting output and broader modelling for financial structures. The cloud-deployed service also offers a Rest API to enable rapid integration with external systems.
SmartStream Closes Deal with Libyan Bank
Financial Transaction Lifecycle Management solutions provider SmartStream Technologies has confirmed that Jumhouria Bank, the biggest bank in Libya, has successfully gone live on its solution for the reconciliations of cash payments – the first of a two phase implementation to consolidate and automate the reconciliation process across its 170 branches to deliver real-time operational control. The SmartStream reconciliations solution is being rolled out to replace manual processes across Jumhouria Bank.
Push Technology Secures £10m Series A Investment
Push Technology, a US-based provider of in real-time data streaming and messaging solutions, has completed a £10 million Series A round of financing. Maven Capital Partners led the round with participation from new and existing investors Guinness Asset Management and Stephens Capital Partners. The investment will assist the company to aggressively expand its sales and marketing efforts as well as broaden and accelerate product development. Maven’s Investment Director, Andrew Symmonds, and Guinness Asset’s Investment Manager, Ashley Abrahams, will join Push Technology’s Board of Directors.
LexisNexis Closes Emailage Acquisition
LexisNexis Risk Solutions has acquired Arizona-based Emailage, a fraud prevention and risk management solutions provider that provides fraud risk scoring solutions based on email intelligence. Its fraud prevention solutions assess fraud risks by utilizing email address metadata, a differentiated global contributory network, and machine learning algorithms. Emailage, which has established market presence in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, will form part of the Business Services Group of LexisNexis. The two firms already have an established commercial partnership offering email risk assessment to global clients.
Euromoney TRADEDATA and iPushPull Release New Reference Data App
Euromoney TRADEDAta has launched the second deliverable from its strategic partnership with data sharing and workflow platform ipushpull. The Symphony App is the first reference data application that can be deployed into the firm’s Symphony secure team collaboration environment, and will provide licensed Symphony users with on demand access to Euromoney TRADEDATA’s reference data sets, enabling secure data transfer between internal and external counterparties, to resolve trade-processing, including incorrect or missing trade data, pre-trade risk, clearing, settlement and regulatory reporting issues.
CJC Deploys Push’s Diffusion to Stream Real-Time Market Data
Push Technology, a provider of real-time intelligent data streaming and messaging solutions, has announced that CJC, an independent market data technology consulting and services firm, has chosen Diffusion, Push Technology’s Real-Time API Management platform, to help them address customer cloud market data challenges. By deploying Diffusion as part of its Cloud Tools, CJC is now able to reliably stream full tick market data from the cloud in real-time.
Nationwide Selects AutoRek for Reconciliation and Data Management
Nationwide Building Society has selected AutoRek, a software solutions provider for financial controls, data management and regulatory reporting, to provide a cloud-based financial controls and data management platform for an initial period of three years, with the option of a two-year extension. The project, a landmark deal for Autorek, will be implemented in a multi-phase approach and will include mortgages, ATMs, payments, cards and substantiation. “After a thorough tender process, we were impressed with the quality of the AutoRek tool, it’s speed, adaptability and robustness. We noted that with its cloud functionality that we could face into future with confidence on scale and volume,” says Ian Williams, Director of Financial Control & Operations at Nationwide.
Aegon UK Goes Live with thinkFolio Managed Service from IHS Markit
Aegon UK, a global provider of life insurance, pensions and asset management, has gone live with the thinkFolio Managed Service platform from IHS Markit. The front-office team at Aegon UK is using the service to manage the firm’s investments following the launch of a range of multi-asset funds last year, developed for Nationwide customers. “thinkFolio is a core part of our new technology infrastructure as it is supporting investment management for our entire front office across order management, portfolio modeling, cash management, trading and compliance,” says Tim Orton, Managing Director of Investment Solutions at Aegon UK.
BearingPoint Expands Business in Sweden
BearingPoint RegTech has won Stockholm-based GCC Capital AB (GCC) as a new customer for its Abacus360 Banking solution, a Regulatory-as-a-Service (RaaS) model. GCC will use Abacus360 Banking to fulfil its EBA reporting. In addition to RaaS, the solution for GCC also includes professional services covering the use of a cloud-based data management solution as well as the implementation of the Abacus software. It will be built by BearingPoint RegTech based on the Abacus data model and collecting data from various source systems and files.