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.

ComplyAdvantage has become the latest provider to add to the Kompli-QED remote corporate onboarding platform, in a strategic partnership between the two firms to fight financial crime and money laundering. Kompli-QED is a remote onboarding platform that combines proprietary solutions with best-in-class third party offerings. “ComplyAdvantage significantly enhances the platform with real-time sactions and PEP screening against global enforcement watchlists. This is a tremendous advantage as increasingly criminals get to know the frequency with which static databases are updated and look to exploit the time lag in updating them. ComplyAdvantage also shares our approach to letting Augmented Intelligence (AI) do the heavy lifting,” says ComplyAdvantage CEO Jane Jee.

The FCA has doubled down on its plans to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021, warning in a 29 April statement that “it remains the central assumption that firms cannot rely on LIBOR being published after the end of 2021.” Although the regulator recognises the challenges presented by the current operating environment under COVID-19, it notes that “continued progress” has been seen – including the first syndicated loan that will link to SONIA and SOFR, and a successful consent solicitation to convert a legacy LIBOR referencing bond, while within sterling cash markets, transition to SONIA in the bond market has been largely completed. The Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates (RFRWG) confirms that by the end of Q3 2020 lenders should be in a position to offer non-LIBOR linked products, while all new issuance of sterling LIBOR-referencing loan products that expire after the end of 2021 should cease by the end of Q1 2021.

Nasdaq has launched what it claims to be the first independent multi-vendor risk modelling service for the reinsurance industry. The cloud-based solution enables insurers, reinsurers, and brokers to access to a broad range of best-of breed risk models from a number of providers through a single service. The service is powered by the latest version of the Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, an open source catastrophe modelling framework, offering clients faster modelling time, flexible reporting output and broader modelling for financial structures. The cloud-deployed service also offers a Rest API to enable rapid integration with external systems.

Financial Transaction Lifecycle Management solutions provider SmartStream Technologies has confirmed that Jumhouria Bank, the biggest bank in Libya, has successfully gone live on its solution for the reconciliations of cash payments – the first of a two phase implementation to consolidate and automate the reconciliation process across its 170 branches to deliver real-time operational control. The SmartStream reconciliations solution is being rolled out to replace manual processes across Jumhouria Bank.

Push Technology, a US-based provider of in real-time data streaming and messaging solutions, has completed a £10 million Series A round of financing. Maven Capital Partners led the round with participation from new and existing investors Guinness Asset Management and Stephens Capital Partners. The investment will assist the company to aggressively expand its sales and marketing efforts as well as broaden and accelerate product development. Maven’s Investment Director, Andrew Symmonds, and Guinness Asset’s Investment Manager, Ashley Abrahams, will join Push Technology’s Board of Directors.