TradingTech Insight Brief
Sagard NewGen Acquires Majority Stake in Horizon Software
Following the announcement earlier this year that electronic trading solutions provider Horizon had entered into exclusive negotiations with investment company Sagard NewGen, Sagard NewGen has now acquired a majority stake in the firm, alongside a management buy-out, to support expansion into new markets and strategic capabilities.
With the new investment, Horizon will focus on expanding its Trading-as-a-Service offering, bringing together agency trading and market making on one platform, and on scaling up its asset class coverage to include digital assets. The company also plans to open additional offices in Singapore and Dubai.
Iress Helps Kepler Cheuvreux Optimise Trading Outcomes
Financial technology provider Iress has helped its client Kepler Cheuvreux to improve trading outcomes in its first full year or use. Iress is now Kepler Cheuvreux’s unique market data provider for all front-office applications, delivering the high-performance API data feeds that power the Kepler Cheuvreux ecosystem.
Kepler Chevreux’s recent review of Iress’ performance highlighted a number of improvements to trading and business outcomes, including improving the firm’s hit rate for smart order routers to 97-99% on most UK-based venues, and delivering additional insights that help Kepler evaluate and predict market movements.
Johannesburg Stock Exchange Collaborates with big xyt to Launch New Equity Market Data Analytics Platform
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the largest stock exchange in Africa, has deployed a new information service, JSE Trade Explorer, in collaboration with data and analytics solutions vendor big xyt. Using peer group rankings, the service will enable firms that trade on JSE to explore their market share, examine how they interact with the order book, and view their trading performance.
The offering will be delivered directly to trading participants of the exchange’s cash equity and ETF markets under a white labelling arrangement. As the tools are fully hosted and web-based, the new service is accessible without the need for IT integration or support by end users.
TNS Goes Live with Managed Level 1 Access in Bergamo IT3 Data Centre
Transaction Network Services (TNS), the infrastructure, connectivity, market data and analytic services provider, has leveraged its Layer 1 switching solution to deliver ultra-low latency mutualised market access and network connectivity to the Aruba Global Data Centre IT3 in Bergamo, Italy, in readiness for Euronext’s planned go-live in June.
The company has announced that operations now live in IT3, and that it has seamlessly moved trading operations from Basildon to Bergamo for both existing and new customers, who can now directly access the Euronext exchange matching engine.
Sustainable Trading Secures Eleven Additional Member Firms
Sustainable Trading, the non-profit organisation dedicated to transforming environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices in the trading industry, founded by industry veteran Duncan Higgins earlier this year, has announced an additional 11 firms have joined its membership network. This brings the total number of members of 41 financial services organisations.
As well as working with its members to drive positive ESG change in their own businesses, Sustainable Trading will also oversee a benchmarking and transparency framework to enable clear and efficient communication of progress on best practice, facilitating an ethos of continuous ESG improvement.
SmartStream Launches New Eligibility API for Collateral Management Optimisation
Financial transaction management solutions provider SmartStream Technologies has launched a new Eligibility API for Collateral Management Optimisation, which aims to offer a faster and more efficient way to contain eligibility information within collateral agreements, for both pre- and post-trade collateral optimisation.
The Eligibility API will enable SmartStream’s clients to source eligibility information from OTC and repo collateral systems in real-time, and publish eligible collateral for each legal agreement, which can then be consumed by their optimisation engines.
Tradition Adopts Trayport for Refined Oil Trading Operations Globally
Tradition Financial Services, one of the world’s largest interdealer brokers in over-the-counter financial and commodity-related products, has chosen technology from Trayport, the wholesale energy markets platform and network provider, for its refined oil trading operations globally.
Trayport’s technology is already used by Tradition across a number of other markets, and its Joule broker solution, developed to optimise operations for brokers, to augment broker voice operations and to facilitate an electronic hybrid broker model for OTC markets, is now being used across refined oil.
Appital Bookbuilding Platform Adds TS Imagine to Growing List of Integrated EMSs
Appital, the Equity Capital Marketplace, has integrated TS Imagine’s multi-asset EMS to the Appital bookbuilding platform, to provide buyside clients with greater access to liquidity. The announcement follows the recent Appital collaboration with executing brokers Instinet and Bernstein, and EMSs FlexTrade and FactSet Portware, in anticipation of Appital’s launch later this year.
Driven by demand from global asset management firms, the TS Imagine EMS integration aims to give buyside traders the opportunity to discover hard-to-find liquidity and execute large orders with minimal market impact or risk of price erosion. With this integration, the flow originated on the Appital platform can be seamlessly executed through TS Imagine’s EMS.
FTX.COM Selects Eventus for Global Trade Surveillance and Risk Monitoring
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX.COM has contracted with Eventus, provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions, to deploy the firm’s Validus platform for trade surveillance and risk monitoring on all FTX markets globally.
The move represents a substantial expansion of the relationship established late last year, when FTX US chose to deploy Validus for trade surveillance and risk monitoring on the FTX US spot market and on FTX US Derivatives, its licensed cryptocurrency futures and options exchange and clearinghouse.
NowCM and Liquidnet Conduct Successful Simulation of New Issue Workflow
The NowCM Group, digital solutions and infrastructure provider for the primary debt markets, together with Liquidnet, the global institutional investment network, has successfully performed its first simulation of a deal origination and order submission, which involved two leading dealer banks, transaction counsel and a leading European frequent issuer, together with Liquidnet.
The simulation delivered real-time production and negotiation of a complete set of transaction documentation in English and German on NowDocs, NowCM’s documentation platform. The key transaction information and new issue data was shared electronically with Liquidnet’s primary market workflow tools, designed to connect institutional investors to actionable electronic data in the syndication process.