Mosaic Smart Data Research Reveals Front Office Data Challenges

Mosaic Smart Data, a provider of real-time capital markets data analytics, has revealed the challenges front offices in investment banks face when attempting to get their data in a fit state to deploy AI-powered analytics for improved efficiency, productivity and profitability.

Mosaic research found data quality and integrity is a critical challenge with 66% of banks struggling with data quality and gaps in important data points; 83% with no real-time access to transaction data and/or data analytics; and 66% saying the data that is most useful for analytics is challenging to access. Reference data is unfit for purpose, with 50% of banks having reference data with no unified counterparty identifier, especially for client static data, and sometimes the data is missing altogether.

Matthew Hodgson, CEO and founder of Mosaic, comments: “No powerful analytics or AI can fully function if data is not normalised, maintained in an orderly fashion and gaps in the data enriched. Now is a crucial time to invest in data and analytics for the front office – but ROI must be guaranteed in the current economic climate, and this begins with better data health.”

The research covered six million Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) transactions from global and regional investment banks in South America, US, Canada, UK, EU, South Africa, Japan and Australia, and surveyed front office staff including traders, salespeople and quants.

Themis Hosts Financial Crime Risk Management Cloud Service in Saudi Arabia

Themis, a financial crime technology company, has extended the reach of its financial crime risk management cloud service by hosting it in Saudi Arabia. The Themis service, situated in Jeddah, is purpose-built to meet the unique demands of the region and ensure it meets regulatory obligations around data sovereignty that require customer data to be held and processed within the region.

Further to availability in Saudi Arabia, Themis says its technology is built in such a way that data can be hosted anywhere in the world and adhere to local jurisdictional regulatory requirements. Additional services are due to be announced during the first quarter.

BMLL Launches Key Datasets on Snowflake Marketplace

BMLL, the Level 3 data and analytics provider, has made three new datasets available on the Snowflake Marketplace, marking the completion of the first phase of its programme aimed at enhancing dataset accessibility for customers. Building on their September 2023 partnership with Snowflake, BMLL now offers market participants Daily Classified Trades, Level 2 Quotes, and Millisecond CBBO datasets in addition to existing Level 3 data and analytics.

The collaboration between BMLL and Snowflake, with the latter also investing as a strategic Series B investor, aims to revolutionise the way market participants source and handle large datasets, by providing high-quality, easily accessible data without the need for extensive in-house resources.

CME Group and DTCC Launch Enhanced Cross-Margining for Clearing Members

CME Group, in collaboration with The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), has officially initiated their advanced cross-margining system. This development introduces capital efficiency improvements for clearing members involved in trading and settling both U.S. Treasury securities and CME Group Interest Rate futures.

The upgraded framework now permits eligible members from both CME Group and DTCC’s Government Securities Division to cross-margin a broader range of products, such as SOFR futures, Ultra 10-Year U.S. Treasury Note futures, and Ultra U.S. Treasury Bond futures, alongside FICC-cleared U.S. Treasury notes and bonds. Additionally, repo transactions backed by Treasury securities with over a year until maturity are also eligible for the enhanced arrangement.

S&P Global Market Intelligence Integrates Nikkei News Offering into S&P Capital IQ Pro Platform

S&P Global Market Intelligence has announced an enhancement to its S&P Capital IQ Pro platform through the integration of Nikkei’s comprehensive news service, a move stemming from their partnership initiated in 2022. The integration will provide users with insights into the Asia-Pacific financial markets, regulatory changes, corporate developments, and emerging trends.

The collaboration between S&P and Nikkei marries editorial with advanced data analytics, offering a one-stop solution for APAC market intelligence. Additionally, Nikkei News will soon become available via feed delivery, in a machine-readable format optimised for Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications. This content will feature metadata tagging, enhancing its usability and ensuring better compatibility with NLP tools.

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.