The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) has fulfilled plans to expand regional representation of its Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) working on the development of the Unique Product Identifier (UPI). A new two-year term of the TAC begins today, under the auspices of new chair Chris Pulsifer, a software development manager from Bloomberg, and including six members based in Asia, one in the Middle East and North Africa region, 10 in North America, and 13 in Europe. The UPI has, to date, been acknowledged by regulators including the CFTC and ESMA. More are expected to follow in coming months.

In the latest Brexit news, ESMA has confirmed that the three central counterparties (CCPs) in the UK – ICE Clear Europe, LCH and LME Clear – will be recognised as third country CCPs eligible to provide services in the EU after December 31, 2020. The EC has adopted an equivalence decision that will make the UK CCPs equivalent for 18 months. The equivalence decision is the first of several conditions to be met for recognising a third country CCP under EMIR, including the establishment of cooperation arrangements with home supervisors.

The Luxembourg-based European Depositary Bank (EDB, a subsidiary of Apex Group) has chosen Thomas Murray to provide data and monitoring services to its compliance practices, including the use of the vendor’s independent analysis and operational risk data for market and counterparty monitoring. EDB will also undertake Thomas Murray’s central securities depositary and market asset safety risks assessments and participate in its transfer agency monitoring programme.

SimCorp, a provider of integrated investment management solutions and services including SimCorp Datacare (a data management solution for buyside pricing and reference data), is merging its Central Europe, Southern Europe and UK/Northern Europe/Middle East (UNM) market units, into one integrated EMEA unit. The move is designed to support SimCorp’s growth ambition, by developing closer client relationships across borders and achieving greater scale and agility in key business functions.

The new unit will be headed by Hans Otto Engkilde, the current Managing Director of SimCorp UK/Northern Europe/Middle East, who will lead best practice throughout the merged market unit, with a focus on growing SimCorp’s front office, data management, alternative investments, and client communication offerings.

The Finantix Product Suite is a modular, API-driven suite of products that can be integrated with existing IT systems. Capita Consulting will become a Finantix certified strategic implementation partner in the UK. In this role Capita Consulting will help clients in the private banking and wealth management sectors design and launch a Finantix platform tailored to their needs. As well as helping Finantix clients select the right mix of capabilities for their needs, Capita Consulting will also advise Finantix on product enhancements across the suite of solutions offered to the UK market.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that the first phase of its Veritas initiative – a framework for financial institutions to promote the responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics (AIDA) – will commence with the development of fairness metrics in credit risk scoring and customer marketing. The 25-member consortium will publish a white paper documenting the metrics and release an open-source code to enable financial institutions to adopt the fairness metrics in these two areas by the end of 2020.

HESTA, a top 20 Australian superannuation fund serving over 860,000 members, has gone live with the GoldenSource Nexus investment data management platform from EDM specialist GoldenSource. The fund is using the platform as the hub for its strategic investment data transformation programme, with the infrastructure supported by GoldenSource OnDemand hosting and applications services. The new service, with Phase 1 set up in under 6 months, will bring together the data from HESTA’s middle and back office services and investment consulting providers, plus its 100+ external fund managers and multiple market data and internal sources. GoldenSource reportedly underwent a rigorous selection process, which it won due to its history of successful delivery and support across the Australasia and APAC regions.

Bloomberg has announced major upgrades to its Enterprise Access Point, the firm’s ready-to-use data website, in order to make data more accessible, discoverable and self-service, as well as simplify data integration. A new self-service marketplace allows clients to access Data License content with click to purchase functionality, while the Dataset Creator offers a new tool for business analysts and developers to generate and subscribe to custom, machine-readable datasets. The service also has a simple Web API and is cloud-ready. “The enhancements to Enterprise Access Point dramatically simplify data discovery and acquisition, enabling clients to integrate data into their applications and immediately put it to use,” says Gerard Francis, Global Head of Enterprise Data at Bloomberg.

Wealth management tech provider Finantix this week launched its latest Digital Collaboration Hub, through which firms can establish a one-stop collaboration channel featuring virtual private lounges to support client activities such as market updates and investment advisory support, onboarding and origination workflow driven processes. It is available via a fast-track deployment approach hosted on the Finantix cloud, as an expedited setup via private cloud or on-site; or through a “maximum flexibility and configurability option” which leverages Finantix SDK capabilities.  It provides an auditable communications suite covering e-mail, chat, audio, video and screen sharing, and has been selected by Banco Itaú International to support its current online offering for US and Swiss clients.

Boosted.ai, a distributed machine learning platform for investment managers, has closed an $8 million USD Series A financing round, led by Portag3 Ventures. Dunamu & Partners and Polar Equity Partners also participated in the round. Inclusive of seed capital, Boosted.ai’s total funding now stands at $11 million. Boosted.ai will use the funding to enhance Boosted Insights, its proprietary machine learning platform that empowers portfolio managers, analysts and chief investment officers to augment their existing investment processes, source new ideas and manage risks. Co-founded in 2017 by Joshua Pantony, Jon Dorando and Nicholas Abe, Boosted.ai currently has more than a dozen active clients.