Higo Bank Selects Tora EMS for Equities Trading

Tora, the order and execution management system vendor recently acquired by London Stock Exchange Group, has been selected by Higo Bank to upgrade their electronic equity trading operations. Higo cited Tora’s Japanese GUI, trade management and position monitoring tools, and a compliance engine set up for Japanese market regulations as key selection criteria. Higo was also keen to invest in a hosted environment platform to reduce their initial IT cost overhead, according to the company.

Colt Offers 10 Gbps Connectivity for AWS Clients in APAC

Colt Technology Services has launched its Colt On Demand cloud connectivity to AWS Direct Connect Hosted services, with speeds of up to 10 Gbps, for customers in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Until now, 10 Gbps connectivity was only available on AWS Direct Connect Dedicated services. This enhancement allows customers can now connect directly to AWS Direct Connect Hosted services without having to use cross-connects, reducing cost and increasing speed of delivery. Customers can also make use of different AWS virtual interfaces (private, public, transit).

FCA to Require Board Diversity Disclosure

The UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will expect listed companies to disclose board and executive committee diversity metrics in their sustainability reports. The finalised rule is intended to give investors transparency into the race and gender makeup of management teams. Companies will be required to make the declarations in their reports for the fiscal year that began this month. The FCA will set targets and companies failing to reach them will be expected to explain why.

DSB Publishes Final Report on UPI Legal Terms and Conditions Consultation

The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) has published the final report on its UPI legal terms and conditions consultation and draft user legal documentation. The report focuses on industry feedback received on the consultation paper and confirms the legal provisions and associated mechanisms to be taken forward with respect to DSB legal documentation. Stakeholder feedback to the consultation covered topics including the introduction of a UPI Client Onboarding and Support Platform (COSP), use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for user onboarding verification, use of pre-payment for lower value user fees, and fee model variables to be used for annual fee determination.

ICE Releases Data Solution for EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has released a data service designed to help clients comply with the Principal Adverse Impacts (PAIs) element of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The ICE SFDR PAI solution offers users event-triggered updates for all the mandatory adverse sustainability indicators applicable to investments in companies, sovereigns and supranationals.

The EU’s PAI regime requires specifically formatted disclosure on ESG-related indicators, including greenhouse gas emissions, board gender diversity, and energy consumption ratios, all of which are available in a conveniently formatted file or web viewing tool to clients as part of the ICE solution. The service also allows customers to link equity and fixed income securities to the closest disclosing corporate entity, offering a way to quickly match a security to the nearest parent entity with disclosed data.

FactSet’s Portware Becomes Latest EMS to Integrate with Appital’s Bookbuilding Platform

Appital, the equity capital marketplace, has added FactSet’s Portware EMS to its growing list of integrations, following FlexTrade and Instinet. The integration of Appital’s bookbuilding platform in Portware automates what has traditionally been a highly manual process, while at the same time giving buyside traders the ability to place very large orders or participate in unique liquidity opportunities, according to the company.

Appital is now onboarding asset managers onto its platform in preparation for launch later this year, and has established a working group to help mutual clients define how they want to interact with hard-to-find liquidity, and proactively build books of demand.

Sagard NewGen Enters into Exclusive Negotiations to Acquire Majority Stake in Horizon Software

Electronic trading solutions and algorithmic technology provider Horizon has announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with investment company Sagard NewGen, to acquire the majority stake of private equity firm Capza in the company.

Currently serving 70 clients in 26 countries, the Horizon trading platform targets the full needs of a trading floor including market making, agency trading and algorithmic trading. The change in funding aims to bring new capital streams, helping to finance Horizon’s growth strategy on a global scale and to support the adoption of new digital assets classes.

FNZ Partners with Clearstream to Launch Business Intelligence Solution for Asset Managers

FNZ, the global wealth management platform, has entered into a strategic partnership with Clearstream, Deutsche Börse Group’s post-trade services provider, aiming to significantly increase transparency for the UK & European asset management industry through the launch of a new business intelligence solution.

The new solution enabled by FNZ and Clearstream via its Fund Centre capabilities aims to provide asset managers with global and regional intelligence for analysing market trends, understanding behaviour, and improving decision making around fund distribution.

EU Moves Closer to Creation of Green Bonds

The European Union took a step closer to enabling the creation of verified green bonds when council members approved a list of requirements that issuers must satisfy to be granted EU Green Bond (EuGB) status. The council said its members had agreed that a registration system and supervisory framework for external reviewers should be created. The EU had proposed the creation of EuGBs in July, one of many aspects of the 27-nation bloc’s measures to draw private finance to achieving its sustainability goals.

Xignite Builds Broker, Wealth Manager ESG API into ESG Book

Market data distribution provider Xignite has built an API to funnel ESG information to brokers and wealth managers connected to the Arabesque-managed ESG Book. California-based Xignite’s ESG API is also hoped to accelerate the creation of ESG-based financial products, it said. “If you do not offer ESG data and portfolio analytics to your clients today, you will run into growth and retention challenges,” said Xignite Chief Executive Stéphane Duboi.