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.

ESG Forward to Feed Data Information to Sustainability-Focused Clients

A sustainability-focused content and education platform has been created to help financial advisers satisfy their clients’ demands for impact investment products. ESG Forward will feed data, blog posts, infographics and other information to advisers. The service was created by Boston-based communication and marketing firm Longview Strategies.

Many Firms Are Not Data-Ready for SFDR Level 2

Many financial institutions have yet to grasp the data implications of the European Union’s ESG reporting regulations, while others are scrambling to put in place processes to comply with the developing set of disclosure rules. Read the full story on ESG Insight here.

EIU Unveils ESG Ratings Coverage of 150 Countries

The Economist Intelligence Unit has launched its own ESG Rating Service for investors and consumers, offering scores on 150 countries based on 90 sustainability indicators. The service gives country-level historic rankings back to 2015 and lays out quarterly analyses of key trends. The London-based information provider said the comparability of the ratings would help clients in their decision-making processes.

KeyBanc Adopts Bloomberg’s B-PIPE for Fixed Income Electronic Trading

KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) has adopted Bloomberg’s real-time market data feed, B-PIPE, enabling greater automation and accuracy in bond pricing and accelerating automation of bond pricing workflows. B-PIPE will deliver access to comprehensive and consolidated market data content, enabling KBCM to execute real-time analytics and responses within its Investment Grade Credit Algorithm.

With B-PIPE available on-premise or via various public cloud environments, KBCM will take advantage of B-PIPE’s zero-footprint delivery option, eliminating the need to host or manage software.

SIX Launches Clearing Platform Based on Nasdaq Technology for the Nordic Markets

Swiss market infrastructure company SIX has launched a new clearing platform, underpinned by technology from Nasdaq, for the Nordic markets. The platform, which has been integrated into the SIX Post Trade Architecture (PTA), will enable the clearing of 10 million trade legs per day, with SIX expecting an increase in the number of cleared trades in the future.

The upgrade aims to provide continued enhancement of the IT infrastructure, higher reliability, and increased functionality and processing capabilities. As the next step of its evolution, SIX intends to extend the markets and trading venue coverage for Swiss clearing onto this new platform.