Interactive Brokers Adds Access to Moscow Exchange for Worldwide Clients

Global electronic broker Interactive Brokers has opened access to the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) for its worldwide clients. The company previously provided trading in MOEX listed stocks exclusively for Russian residents. The extended arrangement provides access to MOEX via Raiffeisenbank, which holds a Russian broker licence. The ability to trade directly on MOEX outside of Russia and through a local broker is supported by MOEX’s Sponsored Market Access (SMA) model, low latency, and fully redundant global point of presence architecture.

New Change FX Joins IOWA.rocks Financial Data Marketplace

New Change FX (NCFX), a data and analytics business, has joined the financial data marketplace operated by IOWA.rocks. NCFX allows market participants requiring objective trade cost measurement capabilities to quickly calculate all related expenses against a recognised and registered independent data feed. NCFX is ESMA approved and FCA authorised administrator of live spot FX benchmarks for the FX market. The company creates data by aggregating aggregated live market bids and offers in real time, and calculates benchmark rates 20 times a second, giving clients competitive advantage as
FX execution can happen immediately, rather than waiting for delayed ‘fixing’ windows.

SmartSearch Wins Equity Investment

RegTech software provider and AML specialist SmartSearch has received a growth equity investment from Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment firm with a substantial software funding track record. SmartSearch enables organisations to carry out AML checks without requiring clients to provide identity documents. Its automated verification approach allows individual AML checks to be processed in less than 30 seconds while business checks take less than three minutes.

It claims to be the only organisation in the UK with the ability to verify individuals and companies in the UK and internationally all in a single platform via a browser or API, with full Sanction, PEP and adverse media screening and then ongoing monitoring.

Emblaze shows significantly reduced latency in STAC benchmark tests

Exablaze, a provider of ultra-low latency network devices, has broken the previous best STAC-T0 benchmark results with its newly-announced ExaNIC FDK-XP (Firmware Development Kit Extension Pack). It has slashed latency to less than half the previous benchmarked best, recording actionable latencies of 31-44 nanoseconds, signalling a marked advance in tick-to-trade system performance. In the STAC benchmarks, Exablaze demonstrated a high degree of determinism, with maximum latency remaining constant even while running at 11 million packets per second (7.72 Gbps), 3.4 times the maximum ingress (message) rate tested previously.

ICAP Information expands data products offer with EURO IRO and Global Inflation datasets

ICAP Information, part of TP ICAP, has extended its data products offer with the release of datasets covering EURO Interest Rate Options (IRO) and Global Inflation. By making these datasets commercially available for the first time, TP ICAP aims to provide market participants with greater transparency in a traditionally opaque asset class.

The information in the datasets can be used for price discovery and accurate securities pricing in the front office, as well as risk management, valuation and independent price verification in middle and back office functions. The information also comes with historical data.

The company says the EURO IRO dataset provides an unprecedented level of coverage and granularity in the asset class, while the Global Inflation dataset is a broader offering, encompassing a wide variety of inflation data from across the world.

Ovie Koloko, global head of product management at TP ICAP, explains: “Since last year, the Data & Analytics and Global Broking divisions have been working closely together, the aim being to take advantage of the brokers’ market leading position, gather data from across the business, and make it available to the wider community. Filling existing gaps in quality or coverage, or where information has simply never been accessible before, has been our initial focus.”

Looking forward, the company hopes to create a virtuous circle based on disseminating information more widely, driving better analytics and services in its broking division, and gaining better data. Koloko says the EURO IRO and Global Inflation datasets are just a start and customers can expect more innovative data packages over the coming year.

Trading Technologies adds connectivity to JSE derivatives market

Trading Technologies International (TT) and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) have announced that all derivative products listed on the JSE derivatives market are available

for trading through the TT platform. The JSE’s equity derivatives market, formerly known as the South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX), is accessible to TT’s global user base. Clients can leverage TT’s full suite of tools, including functionality for charting and analytics, mobile trading, options, FIX services and API development, to trade equity and currency derivatives, including futures and options, on the JSE derivatives market. TT’s connection to the JSE derivatives market was driven by institutional clients.

FSB publishes UPI governance arrangements

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a report on governance arrangements for the Unique Product Identifier (UPI). The UPI will uniquely identify the product involved in OTC derivatives transactions reported to trade repositories. This will help authorities aggregate data on OTC derivatives transactions by product, allowing the effective use of OTC derivatives trade reporting data to help authorities assess systemic risk and detect market abuse. The Legal Entity Identifier Regulatory Oversight Committee (LEI ROC) will become the International Governance Body for the UPI and Unique Transaction Identifier (UTI). The UPI Technical Guidance should be implemented by Q3 2022.

Refinitiv partners SigFig on robo advice solution

Refinitiv continues to build its commitment to the wealth management industry through a strategic partnership with SigFig, an enterprise financial technology firm. The partnership delivers digital advice technology solutions to institutional users of Refinitiv’s BETA clearing and custody platform and will enable SigFig and Refinitiv to deliver an integrated, end-to-end digital advice experience for investors that supports efficient and automated investment management. This is based on SigFig’s direct-to-consumer platform technology that can be used to create an end-to-end robo advice solution, featuring account opening, automated investment management, money movement and return client experience for institutional clients.

Broadridge acquires Shadow Financial Systems

Broadridge Financial Solutions has acquired Shadow Financial Systems, a provider of multi-asset class post-trade solutions for the capital markets industry. The acquisition builds on Broadridge’s post-trade processing capabilities by adding a market-ready solution for exchanges, inter-dealer brokers and proprietary trading firms. The acquisition also adds capabilities across exchange traded derivatives and cryptocurrency.

BIS Releases Basel III Monitoring Report 2019

The Basel Committee’s latest Basel III monitoring exercise shows that on a fully phased-in basis, the capital shortfalls at the end-December 2018 reporting date are €23.5 billion for Group 1 banks at the target level. These shortfalls are almost 75% smaller than in the end-2015 cumulative QIS exercise, thanks mainly to higher levels of eligible capital. For Group 1 banks, the Tier 1 minimum required capital (MRC) is expect to increase by 3% following full phasing-in of the final Basel III standards relative to the initial Basel III standards. This compares with an increase of 3.2% at end-2017. On average, at end-June 2018, the total change in Tier 1 MRC at the target level was higher at 5.3% for Group 1 banks. This higher increase was largely driven by the higher market risk impact prior to the application of the recalibrated 2019 standard. The final Basel III minimum requirements are expected to be implemented by January 1, 2022 and fully phased in by January 1, 2027.