Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 Makes Progress with Royal Ascent

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 has received royal ascent on route to delivering the UK Government’s vision of growing the economy and creating an open, sustainable, and technologically advanced financial services sector. Post-Brexit, the act tailors financial services regulation to fit UK markets and is expected to increase UK competitiveness as a global financial centre and deliver better outcomes for consumers and businesses.

New powers include reforms to Solvency II, which are calculated to unlock around £100 billion for investment, and secondary objectives for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to facilitate the growth and international competitiveness of the UK economy. This will be backed up by changes to enhance the scrutiny and accountability of the regulators, including ensuring regular reporting and a greater focus on cost-benefit analyses.

Confluence Sets Out on AI Journey with Reconciliation Solution

Confluence Technologies, a technology solutions provider to the investment management industry, has announced the first development from its innovation lab that leverages AI technology to solve complex industry problems. Confluence Unity Rex applies large language models (LLMs) to solve reconciliation challenges from the SEC’s Tailored Shareholder Reports (TSR). It mines and pinpoints discrepancies in language and numeric information between financial reports and the TSR, delivering efficiency and cost savings in the reconciliation process.

S&P Global Market Intelligence Adds Loan Pricing and Analytics to Capital IQ Pro

S&P Global Market Intelligence, a provider of information services and solutions to global markets, has added loan pricing, analytics and liquidity measures to its S&P Capital IQ Pro platform. This is the latest enhancement resulting from S&P Global’s merger with IHS Markit in 2022.

LSEG Partners with Finmechanics to Launch Corporate Treasury Risk App

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has collaborated with Finmechanics, a Singapore-based financial solutions provider, to launch the Corporate Treasury Risk (CTR) app. The app aims to help corporate treasuries mitigate liquidity and market risks and reduce dependence on inefficient spreadsheet-based processes.

CTR enhances LSEG’s Eikon and Workspace platforms with post-trade analytics such as cash and liquidity forecasts, profit/loss and risk reporting, OTC derivatives valuations, and more. As a cloud-based managed service, it leverages micro-services and technology developed by Finmechanics.

DiffusionData’s Real-Time Data Streaming Solution Now Available on AWS Marketplace

DiffusionData has announced that its real-time data streaming and messaging solution, Diffusion 6.9, is now available for download on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. This move allows businesses using AWS to streamline the purchase and deployment of Diffusion, simplifying the process for development teams.

Diffusion’s platform enables the consumption of raw data in any size, format or velocity, enriching the data in-flight before distributing it in real time securely and on a large scale. The software claims to reduce bandwidth costs by 90% thanks to its real-time event broker with intelligent queuing and patented delta-streaming protocol. Making the platform available via AWS Marketplace simplifies procurement and implementation for AWS customers.

Murex Expands MX.3 Platform at DZ BANK, Enhancing Collateral Management

Murex, the trading & risk management solutions vendor, has implemented its MX.3 for Collateral Management extension at DZ BANK in Germany. This represents a significant expansion of the MX.3 platform within the EMEA region and has created significant cost synergies in operations and development compared to standalone solutions, according to the company.

The move marks another milestone in the longstanding partnership between Murex and DZ BANK. The platform implementation resulted in several functional enhancements and process automations, streamlining operations in areas such as treasury and risk.

Informatics Makes Intelligent Data Management Cloud Available in Japan via AWS

Informatica has made its Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) platform available in Japan via AWS Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Region. The platform is expected to support customers in data-led cloud modernisation journeys, and enable them to manage, access, and accelerate data transformation for business insights, while complying with data residency requirements in the country.

Informatica’s IDMC is a comprehensive cloud-native data management platform that enables enterprises to visualise, analyse and collaborate with their data regardless of location or platform. Powered by CLAIRE, the company’s AI metadata-driven engine, IDMC helps organisations accelerate innovation and increase productivity at scale. IDMC on AWS Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Region can be accessed through the AWS Marketplace.

GLEIF Signals Intent to Join Global Project Designed to Digitise ESG Credentials of MSMEs

The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have signed a statement of intent to embark on a collaborative initiative to develop digital Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) worldwide.

The initiative, Project Savannah, hopes to lower the barriers to ESG reporting for MSMEs by establishing a common framework of ESG metrics to generate basic sustainability credentials and commence the journey towards meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will use digital initiatives, such as MAS’s Project Greenprint1, to generate ESG data credentials that can be housed in MSMEs’ LEI records. MSMEs will then be able to transmit verified entity information and key ESG data to their business partners.

Arcesium and Confluence Partner to Provide Efficiencies for the Buy-Side

Arcesium, a provider of enterprise data management solutions, and Confluence, a solutions provider for the investment management industry, have partnered to deliver an integrated data management and analytics solution for middle/back-office operations of asset managers.

The partnership is intended to deliver workflow efficiency across performance, risk and regulatory reporting, and will integrate Confluence’s StatPro Analytics solution, comprising performance, attribution, risk, GIPS, and other investment analytics, with Arcesium’s Financial Data Stack modules and cloud-native data management platform, Aquata.

The offering is available as a technology solution or a fully managed service, allowing asset managers to consolidate vendors and lower total cost of ownership.

Sphera Launches Cloud-Based AI Climate Risk Tool

Investor clients of ESG risk management software provider Sphera can access the company’s new SpheraCloud Corporate Sustainability-Portfolio Management service. The product offers financed emissions and portfolio emissions data, using AI.