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, 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 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.

New York-based investment management technology and post-trade services provider Arcesium has won strategic funding from JP Morgan. Arcesium was originally launched by investment and technology giant D E Shaw Group in 2015 on a platform developed for its own post-trade activities, with backing from Blackstone, which became one of its first clients. Its Securities Services business provides independent fund administration and comprehensive outsourcing solutions to alternative fund managers, asset managers, and asset owners via an automated technology platform.

Nasdaq has acquired OneReport, a privately-held provider of corporate responsibility and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data management and reporting services. OneReport will accelerate the delivery of Nasdaq’s recently announced ESG reporting and workflow solution, to be named Nasdaq OneReport. The platform is available to companies as part of the suite of solutions offered by Nasdaq’s Corporate Services business. Since 2003, OneReport’s software platform has helped organisations navigate corporate responsibility frameworks, pilot the information capture and response process, and deliver ESG data to ratings agencies and other stakeholders.

A ‘must read’ in times of devastation caused by climate change, the Bank for International Settlements has released a book titled ‘The Green Swan – Climate change and financial system stability: what role for central banks, regulators and supervisors?’. The book considers challenges of climate change and how to address these new risks within central banks’ financial stability mandate. Importantly, it notes that traditional backward-looking risk assessments and existing climate-economic models cannot anticipate accurately enough the form that climate-related risks will take. These include ‘green swan’ risks: potentially extremely financially disruptive events that could be behind the next systemic financial crisis.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has renewed its data strategy published in 2013, taking into account the evolution of technology and aiming to transform how it works. The new strategy will be delivered over five years and is designed to make the FCA smarter in the way it uses data and advanced analytics so that it can transform how it regulates and reduce the burden on firms. The initial focus includes increasing data science resources, developing data and analytics skills, and deploying new tools. The FCA has also started work on a new data collection platform that will replace Gabriel.

SteelEye, a compliance technology and data analytics firm, has taken the next step in its international expansion with the opening of an office in Paris. The office supports SteelEye’s rapid growth and positions the company closer to regulated financial markets in France, as well as the Benelux region, Switzerland and many of its existing clients. Since its inception in 2017, SteelEye has acquired over 40 clients across seven countries. CEO Matt Smith says: “After a successful first two years’ operating out of the UK, we now want to enable more firms to realise the benefits of the SteelEye platform.”

Exchange Data International (EDI), a provider of global security corporate actions, pricing and reference data has partnered Columba Systems, a provider of international future financial events data to sell-side and buy-side institutions. The partnership offers clients access to the dates and release times of company results and company meetings, and the dates of upcoming trade shows and investor conferences worldwide. The data feed is delivered as a zipped package including customised files. The delivery method and period depend on client requirements, but typically include FTP put or fetch. The partnership takes EDI into the front office and trading flow.

CAIXA Asset Management, one of the largest asset managers in Brazil and Latin America, is planning to implement Bloomberg’s Asset and Investment Manager (AIM) solutions, including portfolio analytics and risk management, trade execution and compliance tools. The solutions are expected to increase efficiency and lower costs by optimising operations that ensure compliance with regional rules and regulations. The consistency of data, execution and flow of operations available through Bloomberg AIM is expected to support future growth of CAIXA’s business. The asset manager has also expanded subscriptions to the Bloomberg Terminal.