February 17, 2012 - Nyse Euronext and CME Group have both submitted bids for the London Metals Exchange (LME), according to Bloomberg. In September the 130-year-old LME revealed it had received several expressions of interest and began a formal process to look at its options.
A deadline for bids was set for 15 February and both Nyse Euronext and CME Group have thrown their hats into the ring, says Bloomberg, citing sources.
According to the Financial Times, another suitor is IntercontinentalExchange but Deutsche Börse has decided not to enter the running and the London Stock Exchange is "unlikely" to bid. The LME board will now meet on 23 February to consider offers.
Tradeweb Launches Multi-dealer Trading Platform for FX Options
February 16, 2012 - Tradeweb Markets LLC announced the introduction of an electronic, multidealer- to-customer trading platform for FX options. This is the fourth derivatives marketplace to have been launched by Tradeweb since 2005. The new platform enables options trading on major currencies and allows buy-side investors to request quotes from several dealers simultaneously. Participants also benefit from integrated trade processing and post-trade reporting.
“Derivatives traders are seeking access to high-quality liquidity, fast execution, and efficient processing,” said Enrico Bruni, head of European markets at Tradeweb. “Our FX options platform addresses these needs by providing clients with competitive dealer auctions, full workflow integration and electronic post-trade processing. Clients can now achieve the improved level of performance that they are striving for in today’s markets.”
Seven leading dealers are currently providing liquidity to the marketplace, while several other firms are in the process of joining the platform as liquidity providers.
Users of the Tradeweb FX options platform can trade outright plain vanilla currency options or multi-leg strategies on a live or delta-exchange basis. The G10 currencies are initially supported. The platform utilizes the multi-dealer request-for-quote (RFQ) trading protocol pioneered by Tradeweb for the fixed income markets, allowing clients to hold a real-time auction with multiple dealers. The new FX options marketplace extends Tradeweb’s legacy of innovation in derivatives, and follows the launch of platforms for interest rate and credit default swaps in 2005, and equity derivatives in 2010.
NYSE Euronext Announces Acquisition of Strategic Shareholder Interest in Fixnetix
February 16, 2012 – NYSE Euronext today announced an agreement to subscribe for shares in Fixnetix Limited, a service provider of ultra-low latency data provision, co-location, trading services and risk controls for more than 50 markets worldwide. NYSE Euronext has commenced a tender offer to acquire approximately 25% of the outstanding shares in Fixnetix and is pleased to announce that more than 90% of Fixnetix's shareholders have already accepted the offer. This agreement, which includes the option for NYSE Euronext to acquire the remainder of Fixnetix at any time over the next three years, complements key areas of NYSE Technologies’ diverse product portfolio to offer customers integrated multi-asset market access and managed services.
The transaction positions NYSE Technologies’ extensive global reach and technology solutions alongside Fixnetix’s low latency market data and trading infrastructure services to present customers a unique combined offering of core managed services delivered to markets and market participants around the world. Building on NYSE Technologies ongoing deployment of Global Liquidity Centres that already include the U.S., Europe, Tokyo and Toronto, this strategic investment will allow both companies to offer their industry-leading trading and market information services to global customers with greater integration, scale and ease.
“This strategic shareholder interest in Fixnetix aligns with our mission to build a global capital markets community supported by world-class technology, broad connectivity and diverse customer participation that yields greater liquidity and market innovation,” said Stanley Young, CEO of NYSE Technologies. “With our collective experience in delivering customer-driven technology solutions that facilitate global multi-asset trading, we will create an even more compelling value proposition for market participants trading anywhere in the world.”
Michael Geltzeiler, Group Executive Vice President and CFO of NYSE Euronext added, “Today’s announcement further demonstrates NYSE Euronext’s commitment to using our strong capital position to create immediate strategic value that delivers greater opportunities for the company, our diverse global customers and the broader marketplace. Acquiring this strategic interest in Fixnetix allows us to better leverage our combined technology presence to reach more customers in more locations.”
“We at Fixnetix are thrilled with the investment from NYSE Euronext as this will enable us to expand our U.S. coverage and expand into Asia,” said Hugh Hughes, Chief Executive of Fixnetix. “Fixnetix and NYSE Technologies share common philosophies of working with our customer base to increase efficiency and reduce costs.”
Although the companies will continue to operate independently, where appropriate NYSE Technologies and Fixnetix will work together to offer customers integrated market access to highly attractive liquidity venues in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Clients can choose from a broader portfolio of targeted trading solutions delivered with a lower time to market as a single solution through the integration of the best-in-class technologies from these market leaders. The investment enables both parties to streamline the process for designing and installing various elements of complex global trading infrastructures while maintaining the proven performance and reliability of NYSE Technologies and Fixnetix products alongside other third-party vendors.
S&P Capital IQ upgrades ABSXchange
February 15, 2012 - S&P Capital IQ, a provider of multi-asset class data, research and analytics to global markets and investors, today announced significant enhancements to its market-leading ABSXchange structured finance analytics platform designed to aid market participants' analysis of their ABS portfolios.
These improvements include allowing clients to assign liquidation schedules to loans, set loans to add interest shortfalls to the principal balance and view cash-flow projections for individual loans.
Further improvements enable faster delivery of the Portfolio Analytics application, while the updated Excel Add-in interface now only shows fields relevant to the deal under observation.
"The on-going process of upgrades to ABSXchange reflects the ever-changing nature of the structured finance market and the evolving needs of its participants," says Bruce Christie, Director at S&P Capital IQ. "S&P Capital IQ remains committed to supporting analysis shifting priorities and maintaining ABSXchange's position as the pre-eminent structured finance analytics platform in Europe."
New special features in ABSXchange include:
Improved loan assumptions editor
Given the increased level of uncertainty in the CMBS market due to the credit crisis, ABSXchange now provides users with the ability to create liquidation schedules for each of the underlying loans in a deal. Using the Loan Assumptions Editor in Single Bond analytics, subscribers can create and assign liquidation curves to each loan. Furthermore, the option to add any interest shortfalls to the principal balance when the loan is liquidated has been added to the Loan Assumptions Editor.
Individual loan cash-flow projections
Many CMBS deals rely on a handful of large loans. ABSXchange not only allows users to see the cash-flow projections for the pool of loans as a whole, but also to see projections for each of the underlying loans. This allows analysts to have more clarity on the performance of each loan in a deal where one or two loans can have a large effect on the performance of the deal as a whole.
New Excel Add-in 2.0
The first phase of a new Excel Add-in will be launched by the end of the month and includes a significant increase in speed, more data fields, and the flexibility to create reports tailored to a user's needs. The release also features improved usability through the addition of an intuitive new interface to browse data fields and statements, which are customized in relation to the specific deal a user is looking at by only showing the relevant available fields.
In addition, three template sheets for RMBS, CMBS and ABS have also been introduced and allow users to display all the data relevant to a deal by just entering the ISIN, Cusip or Ticker Series Bond.
Spanish MTF Pave's launch put on ice
February 15, 2012 - Spanish MTF Plataforma Alternativa de Valores Españoles (Pave) has "temporarily postponed" its launch, blaming the "harsh" financial environment.
Pave first announced itself to the world in August 2010, promising to launch early the following year, taking on the Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), which enjoys a near-monopoly in Spain.
The MTF aimed to bring a new, ultra-fast marketplace focusing on Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American listed equities and ETFs, improving competition, efficiency and liquidity.
Last June, after a deal with technology provider Equiduct fell through and was replaced by an agreement with Cinnober, Pave said it hoped to launch in the first quarter of 2012.
However, says a statement, the project has now been put on ice thanks to "the very challenging market and harsh financial environment in Europe, especially in Spain".
The current climate has "highlighted the need for greater patience, resources and a broader, more decisive support from both international and domestic partners. With the Spanish banks and brokers hit particularly hard under the current economic conditions, this needed support is currently both difficult and unrealistic to achieve."
Javier Tordable, CEO and founding partner, Pave, says: "After one and a half years of hard work, and achieving many important milestones that will clearly help the Spanish equities markets in the future, we have finally decided to temporarily postpone the Pave MTF project and pursue other business interest."
Dow Jones introduces Machine-Readable News Analytics
February 14, 2012 - News and market data provider Dow Jones announced the rollout of a machine-readable news platform it says can gauge the mood of the marketplace, and enable quantitative analysts, risk managers, and traders to build more accurate trading models off prevailing sentiment.
The platform, dubbed News Analytics by Dow Jones, uses analytics to measure the impact news may have on the market in real-time, the company said. In order to develop the system, Dow Jones said it combined its news content with technology from a number of providers, including Alexandria, Digital Trowel, RavenPack and SemLab.
Dow Jones first launched machine-readable news for institutional traders in 2007. It rolled out a trading tool that could convert news content into actionable data for trading models in 2010. The firm said its latest platform gives users a wider range of options on how to use its content and develop long and short-term models and risk strategies.
In recent years, interest in using unstructured data like sentiment analytics has grown sharply. According to Aite Group, only two percent of the market used such data four years ago, but now 35 percent of all Wall Street firms are exploring it.
"Machine-readable news and news sentiment are established trading tools, but there have been significant leaps forward in the use and sophistication of algo trading and sentiment models, coupled with advances in low-latency news delivery," Dow Jones Financial Markets vice president Rob Passarella said.
Direct Edge introduces EdgeBook Cloud via Xignite
February 14, 2012 - Direct Edge, the U.S. equities exchange operator, has announced the launch of EdgeBook CloudSM, a suite of on-demand services providing depth-of-book historical trade and quote data from Direct Edge's two national securities exchanges - EDGA Exchange, Inc. and EDGX Exchange, Inc.
This dataset is delivered via the Xignite cloud technology platform and supports market analysis, back-testing, and compliance review. The data suite includes EdgeBook Replay, EdgeBook Flex Download and EdgeBook Snapshot and is designed to provide deep data queries that can be integrated with end-user systems, without the burden of storing mass quantities of data.
"Our goal is to make EdgeBook Cloud the most comprehensive and intuitive market data product available," said Kevin Carrai, Head of Connectivity and Member Services at Direct Edge. "Unlike other services on the market, EdgeBook Cloud provides complete proprietary book data where users can quickly obtain the specific information they need, when they need it. Analysis can be performed that isolates a particular stock, or looks at its performance in comparison with others in a real-time simulation. It leverages Xignite's cloud architecture to provide a seamless and reliable interface and is fully customizable to perform downloads in the format that is most beneficial for the user."
The three delivery mechanisms are:
- EdgeBook Flex Download -- Custom queries that deliver large data downloads on demand.
- EdgeBook Replay -- Daily quote and trade data presented in precise chronological order and containing the exact messages as they were disseminated from our data feeds.
- EdgeBook Snapshot -- Historical trade and quote data via an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows users to quickly automate requests for data and integrate them into their own systems.
"Direct Edge is an exchange that has shown its desire to explore innovative solutions for its Members," said Stephane Dubois, CEO of Xignite. "We look forward to an exciting collaboration that will push the on-demand cloud delivery of data to a higher level and set a standard that stays ahead of a rapidly changing market environment."
Deutsche Boerse pools data and IT activities into new business unit
February 14, 2012 - Deutsche Börse has set out plans to create a new business unit that will be responsible for all data and information technology activities. The division will be led by a new person, with current IT chief Michael Kuhn leaving the company.
The German exchange operator is pooling under one roof all IT, system and service development and operating capabilities, market data and analytics and some external services.
The move is designed to extend Deutsche Börse's client reach and service offering, helping the firm sell its trading systems to other exchanges as well as punt its business process offering, general IT operations and network services.
The group argues that by pooling activities it can take advantage of integrated business opportunities while also supporting clients with tailored IT and other services, "enhancing customer loyalty, broadening client reach and meeting the growing demand for outsourcing services with an expanded range of services".
As part of the shake-up, Michael Kuhn, executive board member responsible for IT, is leaving by mutual consent after 23 years at Deutsche Börse, with his board contract not extended when it runs out at the end of 2012. The company says it is now "looking for a successor".
Commenting on the new unit, Reto Francioni, CEO, Deutsche Börse, says: "This sends out a clear mandate to our new business area to play a key role as a critical and strategic competitive factor for Deutsche Börse AG going forward, as well as to harness and expand cross-selling potential with our existing business areas."
The German exchange operator's erstwhile suitor Nyse Euronext recently posted a set of results that clearly demonstrated the importance of technology sales to revenue generation. The Information Services and Technology Solutions segment achieved its highest level of quarterly revenue generation in the fourth quarter of 2011 at $127 million (11% up on the prior year period), with a 26% operating margin for the full year.
Deutsche Börse, meanwhile, has posted a six per cent rise in full year sales revenues to EUR2.23 billion, its best performance since the high water mark of 2008. Net income soared to EUR849 million from EUR418 million in 2010. Fourth quarter earnings were EUR228 million, compared to a loss of EUR219 million for the same period the previous year.
After a year that saw it incur EUR83 million in costs related to the failed Nyse Euronext merger, Deutsche Börse is also proposing to increase its regular dividend by 10% to EUR2.30 and throw in a special dividend of EUR1.
Says Francioni: "After the EU Commission's decision, our view is exclusively forward. We will now accelerate our growth strategy with an offensive on unregulated and unsecured markets, an extension of our leadership role in technology and market data, and by partnering further with infrastructures and customers in growth areas and regions."
MarketPrizm starts rolling out PrizmNet Asia
February 13, 2012 - MarketPrizm, a leading provider of market data and trading infrastructure services today announced it has started the deployment of the first Asian segments of its global ultra low latency data distribution infrastructure.
In Q1, 2012 customers will be able to use MarketPrizm's ultra low latency network, PrizmNet Asia, to connect to exchanges in Japan, Singapore and Australia and receive normalized market data via MarketPrizm's MPAPI in any one of these locations.
MarketPrizm's local and cross-border networks, coupled with its extensive co-location and hosting services at the Exchange or proximity facilities, enables onshore and offshore financial institutions to deploy their trading infrastructure as close to the market as possible. MarketPrizm's ethos is to provide customers with solutions that meet the requirements for low latency, speed to market, low cost without compromising on quality and state of the art technology.
MarketPrizm is building on its extensive experience and deployment in Europe to bring these same benefits to Asia with the first deployments at the TSE, OSE, Chi-X Japan, ASX, Chi-X Australia and SGX. Phase 2 markets will include India and Hong Kong. In each market MarketPrizm will offer ultra low latency market data feeds and order entry to the main trading venues, plus co-location, hosting and remote management services. Customers will be able to source data from both the local markets and international markets into their co-located facilities via PrizmNet Asia, which is developed in partnership with KVH Co. All data can be provided in the MarketPrizm normalized form, reducing further the costs of deployment into multiple markets.
Tanuja Randery, Chief Executive Officer, MarketPrizm said, "Market structural change is arriving in Asia. Japan and India have had fragmentation for a while. Australia has just implemented its own competitive environment with the launch of Chi-X Australia. The exchanges are moving to faster technology and customers demand solutions that will provide them with best execution and enable them to access multiple markets easily. Our global client base is already starting to implement trading systems in these mse markets and we will expand PrizmNet into India, Hong Kong and Korea to enable us to continue to meet the growing needs of both our existing clients and new regionally based clients".
FSB names LEI industry panel reps
February 9, 2012 - The FSB has announced that on 12 January 2012, it called for the nomination of a small number of experts to a private sector panel advising an FSB LEI Expert Group of key stakeholders from the global regulatory community taking forward work on the Legal Entity Identifier initiative.
The following organizations will be represented on the Industry Advisory Panel:
Alfa-Bank
Alfred Sloan Foundation
Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA)
Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association
CME Group
Corporation for National Research Initiatives
International DOI Foundation (DOI)
Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC)
Enterprise Data Management Council (EDM)
European Banking Federation
Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges
German Investment and Asset Management Association (BVI)
Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA)
GS1
S.D. Indeval S.A. de C.V.
ISITC Europe
Investment Industry Association of Canada
Investment Management Association
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 68
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Working Group 6 (LEI)
Japan Securities Dealers Association
Japanese Bankers Association
Korean Financial Investment Association
Mexican Bankers Association
OpenCorporates
Regis-TR
Risk Management Association
J.M. Smucker Company
Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)
Thomson Reuters
Tokyo Stock Exchange
Trade Repository Sub-group of the OTC Derivatives Working Group of the Treasury Market Association of Hong Kong
XBRL
Eurex to overhaul trading architecture
February 9, 2012 - Swiss-German derivatives exchange Eurex is to move to an entirely new trading platform in a phased migration beginning in December 2012. The new platform will be developed internally and based on Deutsche Börse Group's proprietary global trading architecture, which is already in use at the International Securities Exchange (ISE). Eurex says the new infrastructure promises lower latency and faster throughput than the current Miss platform and Values API interface, which will be discontinued.
Jürg Spillmann, deputy CEO Eurex and responsible for IT and operations, comments: "Technology is a very important differentiator in today's competitive global market environment. The complete overhaul of our trading architecture is a decisive element of our vision to operate markets globally around-the-clock."
He says the new architecture will come with a range of industry-standard interfaces, such as FIX and Fast, promising swifter time to market for new products and easier installation at end user sites.
The announcement comes just weeks after Deutsche Börse and Nyse Euronext were forced by EU anti-trust authorities to terminate a proposed merger that would have seen Eurex united with Nyse Liffe.
Thomson Reuters reports Q4 loss thanks to $3bn goodwill charge
February 9, 2012 - Thomson Reuters has swung to a fourth quarter operating loss thanks to a $3 billion goodwill impairment charge related to its struggling financial services business.
The company has seen its share price fall by a third in the last year, largely because of the markets division, which has been hit by the financial crisis and a lukewarm reception for its new flagship desktop product, Eikon, although this has seen installations rise from 8000 to 15,000 in the last three months.
As well as a number of management changes, including the departure of CEO Tom Glocer, Thomson Reuters has now broken up the markets division into smaller, more focussed business units, incurring a $50 million charge for Q4.
The vendor actually posted a five per cent increase in revenues for the three months, to $3.4 billion. Adjusted Ebitda was also up, 26%, to $864 million and underlying operating profit rose eight per cent to $657 million.
However, a $3 billion, non-cash, goodwill impairment charge was incurred thanks to testing required under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This means that under IFRS measures it posted an operating loss of $2.59 billion for the period, compared to a $307 million profit in Q4 2010. No details on the reason for the charge were given.
For the full year, revenues from ongoing businesses were $12.9 billion, a five per cent increase before currency. Adjusted Ebitda increased 20% to $3.41 billion and underlying operating profit was up nine per cent to $2.58 billion. Under IFRS measures, the full year saw an operating loss of $705 million, compared to a $1.42 billion profit for 2010.
For the fourth quarter, revenues at the old markets unit rose by two per cent, to $1.86 billion, compared to a nine per cent rise at the professionals division. There was also a two per cent revenue rise for the year at markets, to $7.49 billion.
James Smith, who took over as CEO from Glocer in December, says: "The units in the former Professional division continued to perform well and we made significant strides in kick-starting the growth engine in our former Markets division. We have simplified our organisation; we have strengthened our management team; and we are making progress toward improving our execution capability. We are focused in 2012 on a series of product launches and service improvements across all our key customer groups."
Pricing Partners joins APVIF
February 8, 2012 - Pricing Partners, the world leader in OTC derivatives pricing analytics, mathematical models and independent valuations, announced today to join the APVIF (Association professionnelle des valorisateurs d'instruments financiers), French financial instruments valuation providers Association, as a founding member.
Due to the impact of financial crisis on derivatives and the lack of transparency of the financial instruments, the French financial instruments valuation providers joined together and formed the association. They aim to restore financial market confidence through a better understanding on the derivatives, the importance of independent valuation and the regulatory bodies.
Eric Benhamou, CEO at Pricing Partners states "We feel very happy and honored to join the APVIF. The independent valuation for structured products plays a vital role in the derivatives market. Pricing Partners will work closely with other founding members to provide best-practice valuation methods and ultimate transparency to the financial industry."
Francis Cornut, CEO at DeriveXperts, President of the APVIF commented "I have known Pricing Partners' CEO for years. I am very pleased to see Pricing Partners joining the APVIF. Pricing Partners' participation to the APVIF will bring dynamism, energy and ideas to the association and help us promote independent valuation to higher standards. I welcome warmly Pricing Partners."
Lawrie exits as Misys and Temenos agree key merger terms
February 8, 2012 - Core banking vendors Misys and Temenos have agreed the key terms for their proposed merger, with shareholders of the UK firm taking 53.9% of the combined group and the Swiss outfit the remaining 46.1%.
Having confirmed last week that talks were ongoing, the pair now say that they have hammered out the key details of a deal with an exchange ratio of 4.1 Misys shares to one Temenos share.
Having spent five years radically restructuring the business, and after the failure to complete a sale of the company to FIS last year, Misys chief Mike Lawrie will now quit. It transpires that Lawrie is to take on the role of president and CEO of CSC, another bloated computing stock struggling to regain it's relevance in a rapidly changing market.
Guy Dubois, currently Temenos CEO, will take the same role at the combined group and Stephen Wilson, currently Misys CFO, maintaining that role. Andreas Andreades, until recently Temenos CEO will chair a nine man board with five nominations from Misys.
Misys' biggest shareholder, ValueAct Capital, has given the deal its "strong support" and will take a seat on the board of a new holding company that will look for a premium listing on the LSE and potentially a secondary one on SIX Swiss Exchange.
The new group, headquartered in Switzerland, will combine Temenos' presence in banking, wealth management and business-intelligence with Misys' strength in core and transaction banking, treasury capital markets and lending, says a statement.
The merger will also "yield significant cost savings and operational synergies through scale efficiencies and cross-selling opportunities".
Any deal still depends on the completion of mutual due diligence and agreement of definitive legal documentation, cautions the statement and the market's reaction has been subdued. Misys shares have fallen 14.7 pence, or 4.5%, to 3111.4 pence per share in morning trading. Similarly, Temenos is trading at CHF18.45, down 4.16%.
ICAP Energy voted "Overall Energy Broker of the Year" in Energy Risk Commodity Rankings
February 7, 2012 - ICAP Energy, the energy business of ICAP plc, has been voted “Overall Broker of the Year” in Energy Risk magazine’s annual commodity rankings. Based on votes cast by energy trading executives, Energy Risk’s “Overall Broker of the Year” category is the most respected in the energy industry.
ICAP Energy was awarded 19 first-place positions, including four first-place positions within the six 'Overall' categories; Overall Broker (including metals), Overall Broker (excluding metals), Overall Oil and Overall Natural Gas. It was also awarded second place in the Overall Power category.
Paul Newman, Managing Director of ICAP Energy Ltd in London, said: “At ICAP Energy, all our philosophy and all our thinking is centred on how to provide our customers with the best possible service, and we are grateful to them for recognising us in this way. Listening to our customers, and responding to their needs, is at the heart of how we always work. Over the past year, for example, we have invested to develop the first voice-electronic hybrid solution for OTC Oils broking, TrueQuote, which offers the facility for multi-cleared execution while at the same time bringing the benefits of new backoffice efficiencies. With this innovation, ICAP Energy is responding to the changing regulatory climate, which is now signalling a move towards a greater electronic footprint wherever possible.”
Dennis Crum, Chief Executive Officer of ICAP Energy LLC, said: “We are delighted to have been voted Overall Energy Broker for the seventh consecutive year. The global energy market is very competitive, and we feel that one of ICAP’s strongest advantages is our unparalleled depth in the markets we cover and our absolute commitment to delivering new products and excellent service to our clients. On behalf of the employees of ICAP Energy, I would like to thank each of our customers and Energy Risk magazine for their continued support throughout the years.”
Voters in this year’s Energy Risk rankings could base their decisions on a variety of criteria, including pricing, liquidity provision, counterparty risk, speed of execution and reliability. The poll should be considered a reflection of how market professionals view their peers and providers in terms of overall quality of service.
theScreener Launches a new Fund & ETF Analysis Service
February 7, 2012 - In a time when funds and ETFs are being traded more actively than ever, theScreener, market leader in independent stock analysis, launches a new service by evaluating funds and ETFs in a directly comparable way. For the first time, it is possible to comprehensively recognize where passive investments beat active ones and vice versa.
The Swiss provider of financial analyses, whose evaluations have historically shown above-average performance, is thus extending its range of services to 15,000 funds and ETFs that can be compared by applying the same analytical criteria.
theScreener is dedicated to providing investors with the world's best financial decision-making tools. As the fund evaluations are updated weekly, investors can easily spot the best and/or worst performing funds, and make their portfolio adjustments in a most timely fashion.
"A special feature of our new service is that we also analyze new funds. By adjusting our ratings every week we give our customers the advantage of investing in funds and ETFs that perform," says Alain Farwagi, Director at theScreener.
By offering fund and ETF analysis through financial portals, banks and e-brokers, investors can now gain access to up-to-date evaluations.
Institutional Investors Gain Integrated Access to Dow Jones News Through FactSet
February 6, 2012 - FactSet’s global clients will gain integrated access to Dow Jones Global Market News, which delivers content from Dow Jones Newswires, The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, through a new distribution deal aimed at improving institutional investors’ workflow by providing easy access to essential financial news. To ensure institutional investors receive the information most relevant to their business, FactSet clients can choose from Dow Jones newswires tailored to specific asset classes and business areas, such as asset or wealth management, as well as local language wire services for additional information from target countries.
“Institutional investors rely on trusted sources of news and information, like Dow Jones and FactSet, to inform their investment decisions. We’re pleased to expand our relationship with FactSet to bring an integrated workstation offering to our joint institutional clients,” said Joe Lanza, president of Financial Markets for Dow Jones.
This new agreement incorporates Dow Jones’ premium cross market news, analysis, and insight into the FactSet workstation, giving financial professionals easy access to news specific to their workflow or investment focus.
“At FactSet, our goal is to deliver more value to our clients,” explained Philip Hadley, chairman and CEO, FactSet. “Our expanded relationship with Dow Jones provides our clients with the information they need to find and take action on market changes that are relevant to them.”
Reuters opens social media hub
February 3, 2012 - Reuters has launched a new social media hub, providing a real-time sentiment guide to what news, companies and people are hot on the Web.
The Social Pulse hub provides a guide to the reading matter of people who Reuters' journalists and official accounts are following.
The company has also teamed up with data outfit WiseWindow on a real-time sentiment index that ranks the top publicly-traded companies across six sectors - technology, finance, healthcare, industrial, energy and cyclicals. The index combines the volume and sentiment of a company's mass online opinions to show how sentiment is shifting in relation to its stock price shifts.
TSE chief Atsushi Saito apologises for exchange failure
February 3, 2012 - The Tokyo Stock Exchange has blamed a faulty data distribution server for the suspension of trading in the shares of 241 companies last Thursday.
Trading in companies, including blue-chips such as Sony and Hitachi, was unavailable until 12.30pm local time in what was the worst outage to hit the bourse for six years.
A problem developed at a server supplied by Fujitsu overnight and automatic back-ups failed, Hiroaki Uji, TSE director told Bloomberg. The cause has not been determined but Uji ruled out cyber-terrorism.
The issue meant that the Sapporo Stock Exchange and Chi-X Japan were also unable to trade the affected stocks.
The outage has infuriated traders unable to react to yesterday's news from Sony which posted a third quarter net loss of over $2 billion and replaced CEO Howard Stringer.
Concerns have also been raised over the TSE's proposed merger with the Osaka Securities Exchange, with a spokesman telling Bloomberg: "We may need to review our system carefully before merging with TSE."
In 2005 the Tokyo bourse blamed Fujitsu for a similar outage, with executives from both firms taking significant pay cuts as a result.
TSE chief Atsushi Saito said: “We deeply apologize to our market users, particularly investors for any inconvenience which may have been caused due to the failure of our information distribution system on February 2nd, 2012.
This failure was caused by a hardware failure. By replacing the failed hardware, we have already secured a situation where no further problems in stock trading will occur. From tomorrow stock trading will be conducted as usual.
We will identify the cause as soon as possible and prepare the necessary preventive measures. We will also make utmost efforts to not cause inconvenience to market users in the future. Therefore, we sincerely look forward to your continued support of our market operations”.
Misys and Temenos in merger talks
February 3, 2012 - UK core banking vendor Misys has confirmed that it has begun talks with Swiss rival Temenos about a possible all share merger.
In a statement, Misys - which has long been the subject of market rumours - confirms "preliminary discussions" with Temenos about a "possible strategic combination".
"Discussions are continuing and there can be no certainty that a transaction will ultimately take place, nor as to the terms on which any transaction might be constituted," cautions the statement.
In its own statement, Temenos says it is "constantly evaluating its strategic options" and that "no decisions have been taken".
Having seen its shares rise steeply in recent weeks, Misys' price was unmoved by the latest news, down 0.1% to 325.4 pence per share in morning trading. In contrast, Temenos shares were up 9.01% to CHF18.75.
Misys has long been touted as a merger or takeover target, with a £1.4 billion cash offer from US giant FIS falling through in August. Last week, the UK vendor admitted it had experienced a 'challenging' first six months trading, thanks to a slowdown in sales in Western Europe.
Brussels blocks Deutsche Boerse/Nyse Euronext merger
February 1, 2012 - As expected, European Union anti-trust officials have blocked the proposed mega-merger between Deutsche Börse and Nyse Euronext over fears that the deal would stifle competition in the derivatives markets.
Nyse and Deutsche Börse officials have engaged in a frantic last-ditch effort to salvage the deal, lobbying EU officials and world leaders at the Davos Forum last week, but have today conceded defeat.
"Deutsche Boerse and Nyse Euronext have been informed that the European Commission today has decided to prohibit their proposed business combination," the companies said in a statement. "Despite the remedies offered by the companies, the European Commission concluded that the combination would significantly impede effective competition."
European Commission antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia had demanded that Deutsche Börse and Nyse sell either the Eurex derivatives arm or Liffe if they wanted the deal to go ahead, a course of action which neither exchange was prepared to countenance.
Deutsche Börse, which has spent €80 million in project expenses during 2011 to bring about the planned merger, described the decision as a "black day" for Europe and for its future competitiveness on global financial markets.
The proposal by the two exchanges to merge in a $9.5 billion mega-deal last February set off a wave of M&A activity in the exchange trading space, as competing rivals sought to play catch-up. However, political and anti-trust issues intervened to thwart alternative combinations such as those proposed between Singapore and Australia and the London Stock Exchange and Canada's TMX.
Attention will now switch to the London Stock Exchange's proposed takeover of LCH.Clearnet (in which Nyse has expressed an interest) and the bidding war for the London Metal Exchange, as exchange chiefs in New York and Frankfurt revisit their strategic options.
Bloomberg opens up market data distribution API
February 1, 2012 - Bloomberg has opened up its market data distribution technology, letting developers use its API without any costs or restrictions.
The API, called BLPAPI, is used daily by more than 100,000 financial services professionals, pumping them market data. It has now been made publicly available under a free-use license meaning Bloomberg Professional subscribers, non-customers and vendors and software developers can use it as an alternative to proprietary technologies for data distribution.
The API interface works with a range of programming languages and operating systems, including Java, C, C++, .NET, COM and Perl. Bloomberg says it also provides users a comprehensive technical definition of a market data interface, an MIT-style license that allows users to copy and use BLPAPI interfaces for use with any data service, applications or adapter technology, and a simple and intuitive interface technology.
The decision to offer up BLPAPI is part of an open market data initiative from the company that began in 2009 with the release of Bloomberg Open Symbology, a system to identify securities across all global asset classes. The move opens a new front in Bloomberg's efforts to cirumvent the proprietary restrictions applied to market data codes and distribution from rival vendor Thomson Reuters.
Tom Secunda, co-founder and vice chairman, Bloomberg, says: "Today's global financial marketplace depends on the free flow of timely and accurate market information. By embracing open technologies for market data distribution, we remove layers of expense, erase restrictive license agreements and enable innovation."
Shawn Edwards, CTO, Bloomberg, adds: "We intend to evolve BLPAPI into an open standard with the help of an independent committee charged with managing the future development and stability of a truly open market data interface. Open technologies allow our customers, partners, and others to direct resources towards developing innovative services instead of coping with rigid technologies."
Vista Equity Partners completes acquisition of Thomson Reuters risk unit
February 1, 2012 - Vista Equity Partners has completed the acquisition of Thomson Reuters' trade and risk management technology business, re-branding the unit Turaz.
Thomson Reuters decided to sell the business in the summer, one of several steps taken as part of a company-wide revamp that has also seen the markets division broken up and CEO Tom Glocer leave.
Vista Equity Partners has hired Bret Bolin as president and CEO of Turaz, poaching him from P2 Energy Solutions, a provider of software, data and services to the upstream oil and gas industry.
Kondor old hands John Palmiero and Boris Lipiainen will lead global sales and marketing and product management and development functions. New to the Turaz team are Andrew Hicks as head of all general and administrative functions and Alan Somerville who will lead global client services and support.
The new firm has also launched the latest version of the trade and risk management software Kondor+, claiming a "new openness and flexibility towards integrating third-party pricing and analytics, market data and other extended market capabilities".
Says Bolin: "Moving forward, our strategic priority will be to look at how we build on our current product roadmaps to ensure our customers receive maximum added value from the software and services we deliver. This commitment is demonstrated by the launch of the latest version of Kondor+; which has been positively received by both new and existing clients."
SIX Exfeed and Derivative Partners intensify cooperation on structured products data
January 31, 2012 - SIX Exfeed, an affiliate of SIX Swiss Exchange, has concluded a cooperation agreement with Derivative Partners Research AG in the area of sales and marketing and customized data delivery for structured products.
The purpose of the cooperation agreement is to combine the strengths of the two companies and to complete the SIX Exfeed service offering in the area of core data from CONNEXOR® Terms, the standard reference data interface for structured products traded on the Scoach Switzerland marketplace. Derivative Partners Research AG specializes in preparing and calculating key figures, providing independent valuations and developing tools in the field of securitized derivatives.
At the heart of the web-based CONNEXOR® infrastructure is the standardized and digitized capture and maintenance of all data relating to the life cycle of a financial instrument. After intensive quality testing, the reference data is made available and disseminated to all stakeholders along the value chain of a financial instrument. Seamless, straight through processing from the issuer to the end user ensures genuine efficiency gains as well as cost savings.
Werner Bürki, CEO SIX Exfeed, comments: “Our commitment to the market is to provide reliable services in order to efficiently facilitate trading on SIX Swiss Exchange and Scoach Switzerland. The cooperation with Derivative Partners Research AG will help us to reach this goal and to meet the demanding requirements of the derivatives market.”
Deutsche Bank claims SuperX as largest pool of non-displayed liquidity in Europe
January 31, 2012 - Deutsche Bank today announced its SuperX European Broker Crossing System (BCS) has been recognised as the largest pool of non displayed liquidity in Europe, crossing an average of €363 million in shares a day during December 2011.
Rosenblatt Securities ranked SuperX as the largest by volume in its monthly dark pool market share index, which consists of a universe of 18 liquidity pools across Europe.
Non displayed liquidity allows institutional investors such as pension funds to trade large blocks of shares with a reduced risk of incurring market impact costs, such as price movement during a transaction. Launched in 2010, SuperX has experienced steady growth as a result of the depth of liquidity available and the popularity of Deutsche Bank's Stealth algorithm, which intelligently sources liquidity across venues including SuperX.
Andrew Morgan, Head of Autobahn Equity Europe at Deutsche Bank, said: "Demand for access to non displayed liquidity continues to grow as investors increasingly value the benefits of trading large orders with minimal market impact. SuperX offers significant depth of liquidity and this top ranking marks a key milestone in the impressive growth of the platform."
SuperX is a crossing network that allows institutional client orders to be matched against other client and internal orders. SuperX may be accessed through Autobahn algorithms, including SuperX Plus, Deutsche Bank's aggregator algorithm which enables buyers and sellers of large orders to manage their access to non displayed liquidity with real time analytics.
QuantHouse extends low latency feed to Hotspot FX
January 30, 2012 - QuantHouse announced the availability of its Hotspot FX feed handler, allowing algorithmic trading firms sub-millisecond access to one of the leading FX ECN (Electronic Communications Network) marketplaces.
Adoption of electronic trading continues to increase in the global FX market. Given that markets remain fragmented, the need to source multiple liquidity pools simultaneously has only strengthened the overall position of investing in new infrastructure.
In recent years, a new breed of active market participants has driven significant innovation in trading technology. As traders navigate through growing complexity within the marketplace, development and implementation of strategies have become a vital part of some of the more sophisticated FX traders.
The Hotspot FX feed handler allows clients to use ultra-low latency technologies to access Hotspot FX's program trading applications, providing a new level of functionality, with increased market transparency and greater control of the trading process - thus enabling better trade execution and reduced costs.
QuantHouse's ultra-low latency market data solution, QuantFEED, captures raw data from the exchange, performs sub-millisecond decoding and delivers normalized data through a single API (application programming interface).
Pierre Feligioni, General Manager and Founder of QuantHouse, said: "One of the most significant changes facing the FX market is the substantial increase in trading activities from non-bank financial institutions. Addressing this trend, QuantHouse continues to develop key technology components to help buy-side firms build an effective presence in the marketplace."
John Miesner, Managing Director and Head of Global Sales at Hotspot FX, commented: "Hotspot FX has experienced significant growth over the last two years as more FX traders seek the speed, transparency and flexibility of its platform. We are pleased to work with QuantHouse to provide its clients with access to real-time and historical data and low-latency connectivity - the key components of automated FX trading."
Stephane Leroy, Head of Global Sales & Marketing at QuantHouse, concluded: "That's where QuantHouse and Hotspot FX fit in perfectly. We have successfully provided our clients with the business advantage to apply strategies across a full portfolio, including FX with an unprecedented level of control and a virtually limitless pool of trading opportunities."
Corvil upgrades latency management platform
January 30, 2012 - Corvil, a provider of latency management systems for global financial markets, today announced significant updates to its CorvilNet platform that will bring the benefits of latency management to multiple trading businesses and support teams in the same organization.
This is in response to demand from customers looking to update and consolidate multiple disparate infrastructures into one common low-latency trading infrastructure that can be shared cost effectively across all businesses. Supported by a common product platform to assure performance and latency of the underlying data and transactions.
The new release extends the reach of the CorvilNet latency management platform into multiple asset classes and departments. A single CorvilNet installation can now serve multiple departments with the relevant analysis and metrics for their business needs. Executives, trading desks, trade support teams and infrastructure teams will now have one-click access to CorvilNet with real-time and historical views, tailored to their specific requirements. These views also include the option to restrict access to specific order flow. For example, multiple trading desks across asset classes can share a single CorvilNet deployment with the assurance that other trading desks cannot access their order flow analysis.
Donal O'Sullivan, VP Product Management Corvil said, "By replacing several outdated monitoring systems with a single latency management platform, which is flexible enough to meet the needs of the entire organisation, our customers are achieving considerable cost savings."
One of the users is Deutsche Börse, which is refreshing its global latency monitoring system and adding new capabilities for its recent 10G co-location service with the latest version of the CorvilNet platform.
"CorvilNet provides both our customers and us with a complete and comprehensive latency insight of Deutsche Börse Group's markets. With the upgrade to the new CorvilNet system we renew our commitment to offer the best services to our customers" said Matthias Kluber, Executive Vice President Deutsche Börse, responsible for Networks and Infrastructure.
Other highlights in the release include the CorvilNet Latency Feed; which allows real-time mul multicast distribution of CorvilNet latency data; distributed multi-hop analysis; time of day alerting and zero traffic alerts, e.g. when market data or trading sessions fail.
Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority signs for Nasdaq OMX GlobeNewswire
January 27 2012 - Nasdaq OMX (NASDAQ:NDAQ) announced today that the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FI) has signed on as a customer for its GlobeNewswire news distribution service.
FI will be utilizing GlobeNewswire for the automated distribution of share-acquisition notifications concerning companies under its supervision, and for the distribution, administration and subscription of FI's own press releases.
In accordance with the EU directive, Transparency Obligations Directive (TOD), share-acquisition notifications and economic information from listed companies must be disclosed to the supervising authority of each country, which must then provide the information on its website. In Sweden, FI is responsible for the distribution of share-acquisition notifications to the market in Sweden and the EU.
Jenny Rosberg, Senior Vice President at NASDAQ OMX Nordic, said: "The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority is responsible for sensitive as well as time-critical information, which is why an efficient and safe news distribution service is of the utmost importance. Our GlobeNewswire service is used by thousands of customers throughout the world, and we are pleased and proud of having won the trust of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to handle its news distribution."
Borsa Italiana launches SME market
January 26 2012 - SME Advisory Board and Borsa Italiana have launched AIM Italia- Mercato Alternativo del Capitale. This new market will combine the AIM Italia and MAC markets in Italy and will enhance Borsa Italiana's listing options for small and medium enterprises, also "SMEs". Creating greater choice for companies, the new AIM Italia - Mercato Alternativo del Capitale has been built in response to feedback from companies, investors and brokers.
The new MTF (Multilateral Trading Facility) aims to simplify access to capital for SMEs. A balanced and appropriate regulation regime is in place, ensuring good governance from companies and the security of wardship for minority investors.
AIM Italia - Mercato Alternativo del Capitale incorporates the strengths of both MAC and AIM Italia markets. The market includes MAC's simple listing process, shorter IPO timetable and minimum trading share. From AIM Italia it offers an international environment for growth together with a dedicated and specialized community of professionals and the opportunity to reach a wider group of both professional and retail investors.
The birth of AIM Italia - Mercato Alternativo del Capitale represents the first important result of the systemic work conducted by the SME Advisory Board. The Board was founded in October 2010 to develop Borsa Italiana's markets for SMEs and is presided over by Vincenzo Boccia, Chairman of Piccola Industria of Confindustria and made up of representatives from enterprises, banks, investors and market dealers.
Vincenzo Boccia, Chairman of the Advisory Board says: "This is only the first step taken by the Advisory Board. We will continue to work on the development of SME markets because they represent an important element for the growth of Italy, being able to create employment and innovation and ensuring a sustainable growth in the mid to long term"
Raffaele Jerusalmi, CEO of Borsa Italiana comments: "Having an efficient market, where capital demand and supply can meet each other, represents an important starting point. It is vital to make a strong systemic commitment to support Italian SMEs development in a positive and structured way, through a number of activities, including boosting the development of local institutional investors, increasing the attractiveness of Italian SMEs for international investors and stimulating the public saving inflow in the sector. It's important to help companies to use equity as an instrument to accelerate their growth whilst maintaining the highest management transparency, helping to consolidate the attention of banks towards listed companies".
The work of the Advisory Board in the coming months will be focused on these topics.
Deutsche Boerse Launches Algo News Feed in Brazil
January 25 2012 - Deutsche Börse – Market Data & Analytics has launched “AlphaFlash”, its algorithmic news feed, in a data center in Sao Paulo. The feed is available now in Brazil, marking AlphaFlash’s official expansion into South America. AlphaFlash is hosted at a data center at a local exchange in Sao Paulo.
“Brazil is considered the leader in algorithmic and high frequency trading in Latin America. As this growing market continues to develop, we see greater demand from local quant traders, hedge funds and market participants to consume machine-readable news quickly and efficiently. The new data center allows customers to access AlphaFlash as fast as possible—right on the spot in Brazil, so they can swiftly execute their automated trades,” said Georg Gross, Head of Front Office Data & Analytics at Deutsche Börse.
Launched in April 2010, AlphaFlash delivers low latency, machine-readable economic indicators and corporate news. Subscribers can choose among several data packages, e.g. U.S., Canadian, European or Asia-Pacific economic indicators, U.S. and Global Treasury Auctions, the Chicago PMI as well as the Corporate News Germany feed. AlphaFlash is available in a number of data centers across the globe, including Chicago, Secaucus (New Jersey), Washington D.C., Sao Paulo, Frankfurt, London, Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore.
Revere provides more data for Google Finance
January 25 2012 - Revere Data, LLC, a provider of sector classification systems and supply chain data, has expanded the scope of data it provides for Google Finance(TM) with the licensing of RISC Focus(TM) and display rights for Revere Relationships(TM).
Google Finance can now adopt and display Revere's global sector classification for approximately 40,000 publicly-traded companies from 80 countries and detailed interconnections of suppliers, customers and competitors for over 5,800 companies currently trading in major U.S. exchanges.
Revere content will enhance the Google Finance user experience by providing superior visibility into the true competitive landscape of companies as well as the interconnections of their respective supply chains.
RISC Focus(TM) is Revere's newest classification system and is based on the patented Revere Hierarchy(TM). The RISC family of classification systems provides the most accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date sector classification available in the market with a bottom-up approach to classifying companies based on the goods and services they sell.
Revere Relationships(TM) offers a 360-degree view of how a company creates and transfers value through its supply chain and provides strategic insights into key business relationships, such as suppliers, customer, competitors, and strategic partners.
"Google has been an important long-term Revere client and we are pleased to integrate our leading products into Google Finance and, as a result, provide relevant business insights on thousands of global companies to Google users," said Kevin E. O'Brien, President & CEO of Revere.
"Integrating Revere's RISC data into Google Finance has allowed us to greatly increase the number of tickers for which we show related companies. We now display related companies' information not only for US-listed securities, but for thousands of international securities as well. We're excited by how useful this expanded coverage is for our users," said Karolina Netolicka, Google Finance Product Manager.
Thomson Reuters launches Fixed Income Global Snapshot
January 23 2012 - Thomson Reuters today announced the launch of a new evaluated pricing capability, the Fixed Income Global Snapshot (FIGS).
By re-evaluating all non US fixed income securities with updated benchmark curves and credit spreads at both 3pm and 4pm, Eastern Daylight Time. FIGS will provide investors with updated, accurate fixed income evaluations and transparency they need to meet regulatory requirements and have a full understanding of the risks associated with the investment process.
The expansion into US snap times has been driven by market volatility, customer demand and the focus on the need for appropriate and consistent evaluations, that regulations such as Basel III and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) have fuelled. The new fair market evaluation service will utilize Thomson Reuters standard methodologies which incorporate trade prices, broker quotes, the latest available news, and vigorous quality control checks. The Asian, Middle East, African, and European fixed income securities were previously valued intraday and at the close within their local markets.
Jayme Fagas, Head of Evaluated Pricing at Thomson Reuters said: "Continuous market volatility and the ever-growing regulatory requirements around data granularity and clarity have placed an unseen pressure on the need for high quality evaluated prices. The addition of Fixed Income Global Snapshot to the Thomson Reuters Evaluated Pricing service signifies our efforts to continue to adapt and enhance our services to ensure we meet our clients growing needs in what continues to be a highly volatile market."
London Metal Exchange debuts LMEswaps
January 23 2012 - The London Metal Exchange (LME) today launched LMEswaps for all of its non-ferrous metals. The financially settled contracts based on the average monthly price are the first of their type to be traded on-exchange in the world. They are designed for participants of the physical industry who need to hedge the monthly average price.
"LMEswaps introduce a new kind of contract to the market, which responds to the needs of the physical industry", said Chris Evans, Head of Business Development at the LME. "For the first time, LMEswap users will benefit from a regulated market with the same counterparty default risk protection offered by other LME contracts."
Tradable on LMEselect and the 24-hour telephone market, LMEswaps enable physical market participants to enter into a fixed price and settle the difference against the floating price (the Monthly Average Settlement Price or MASP) at the end of the averaging period - all in one simple trade.
Eris Exchange to distribute market data through CME
January 19 2012- Eris Exchange, a US-based futures exchange announced today they have reached an agreement to distribute market data from the Eris SwapBook(TM) electronic trading platform through the CME Market Data Platform, commencing in March 2012.
Distributing market data for its innovative Interest Rate Swap Futures contract through CME Group provides Eris Exchange access to hundreds of thousands of subscribers in 150 countries via CME Group's eleven global telecommunications hubs.
"Eris Exchange broadens access to the interest rate swap market by offering capital efficient futures contracts that trade transparently in a central limit order book and settle to the CME swap curve," said Michael Riddle, Chief Operating Officer of Eris Exchange. "Collaborating with CME Group allows us to extend our reach to swap end-users demanding real-time, intraday swap market price information."
"In addition to being a leading clearing service for interest rate swaps, CME Group is also focused on delivering new and valuable swap derivative market data to our customers," said Brian McElligott, Managing Director of Information Products Management for CME Group. "Distributing Eris Exchange data through the CME Market Data Platform allows our extensive network of trading firms and market data distributors to access their data through familiar protocols and formats using existing telecommunications connections."
Through more than 300 direct connections, the CME Market Data Platform serves approximately 630 licensed market data distributors.
"Our customers need access to the broadest interest rate market data for relative value and price discovery to make optimal investment decisions," said Jamie Grant, Head of Rates and Money Markets, for Thomson Reuters. "The addition of Eris Exchange data to RatesViews on Eikon provides valuable swaps derivatives data that further expands our pre-trade decision tools for trading and swap market price discovery. This enables our customers to quickly and easily compare and evaluate the new margin and risk efficiencies that Eris Exchange brings to the interest rate marketplace."
TMX Group Adds Shareholder Data And Targeting To Suite Of Products For Issuers
January 19 2012 - TMX Group Inc. today announced that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of ir2020, LLC, a US-based online shareholder data and targeting solution provider. The ir2020 product will continue to be distributed in the U.S. and will also be integrated into TMX Group's suite of products available to Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange issuers.
The ir2020 product offers a unique and powerful institutional ownership interface, giving investor relations (IR) professionals a deeper insight into their shareholder base, thereby enhancing relationship management with existing and potential investors. This advanced analytics tool, coupled with industry leading data, further enhances TMX Group's current product offering for issuers.
“TMX Group is committed to expanding its suite of services and providing leading-edge products for issuers,” said Kevan Cowan, President, TSX Markets and Group Head of Equities. “We are very excited to introduce ir2020 as the latest addition to our expanding array of value-added products and services that help support the growth and success of public companies.”
The ir2020 product offers a wide range of functionality and intelligence to fulfill the ongoing information needs of listed companies. It has six key elements:
- IR Workbench – view institutional shareholder data and run powerful data queries
- Contacts – manage relationships with institutional investors and other contacts
- Events – plan, track and invite contacts to IR events
- Targets – manage target lists, track actions and measure outcomes
- Activity Reporting – generate reports on activity and outreach
- Mobile – review contact and event details while on the go
“We are excited to have our next-generation IR tool included in TMX Group's product offerings,” said Ken Watson, co-founder, ir2020, LLC. “ir2020 is a powerful and easy-to-use product that will help listed companies in both Canada and the U.S. further enhance their shareholder outreach and targeting programs.”
Deutsche Boerse Acquires China Consumer Sentiment Survey
January 18 2012 - Deutsche Börse – Market Data & Analytics has acquired the China Consumer Sentiment Survey (CCSS), a leading indicator of consumer outlook across 30 major Chinese cities, from Intage Hyperlink Market Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. The deal closed on 30 December 2011 for an undisclosed amount of less than one million USD via Deutsche Börse subsidiary Market News International (MNI).
The CCSS is one of the most widely followed gauges of consumer confidence in mainland China. It measures consumer sentiment on current conditions and future expectations on a series of key variables, such as confidence about economic conditions, personal financial situation and the willingness to make major purchases, such as automobiles. It also measures consumers’ views about the state of stock and real estate markets and their sentiment about current and future inflation.
Investors and analysts can use this report to monitor consumer spending trends as well as to gauge the outlook for government policy moves that could impact the market. The China Consumer Sentiment Survey complements MNI’s existing China Business Sentiment Survey as the two together provide an accurate reading of the country’s business, retail and political outlook.
“The China Consumer Sentiment Survey is an important indicator from both an economic and policy standpoint. This transaction reinforces Deutsche Börse’s commitment to further developing its presence and product offerings in Asia,” said Holger Wohlenberg, Managing Director, Market Data & Analytics for Deutsche Börse Group.
The China Consumer Sentiment Survey is based on a monthly survey of more than 1,000 households in eastern, central and western China. Survey participants are chosen randomly each month and data is collected via computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).
The China Consumer Sentiment Survey was created by Intage Hyperlink Market Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., the Chinese subsidiary of Japanese market research firm Intage Group. Intage will continue to collect the survey data going forward, while Deutsche Börse will package and disseminate the reports.
The monthly national CCSS report is currently released to subscribers on the last working day of every month. Deutsche Börse – Market Data & Analytics plans to integrate the CCSS report into its MNI news product line alongside other proprietary indices like the Chicago Report (Chicago PMI), the MNI China Business Sentiment Survey, the MNI U.S. Capital Goods and the MNI U.S. Retail Trade Indexes.
Activ Financial partners Updata
January 18 2012 - Activ Financial, a global provider of fully managed low-latency and enterprise market data solutions, and Updata Inc., a provider of advanced trading analytics, today announced that they have integrated their services.
Activ market data clients can now use state of the art analytics from Updata while Updata Professional clients are now able to seamlessly add low-latency market data from Activ through the ActivFeed API which provides low-latency market data from over 120 global exchanges and markets covering all asset classes. Updata Analytics provides traders and market analysts with advanced charting, technical analysis tools, system design and testing, scanning and alerts, and automated report generation.
Frank Piaseki, President of Activ Financial, said "Activ Financial has built a high-performance, low-latency market data feed and we choose our partners carefully. The Updata analytic tools will provide our clients with a flexible and easy to use application to view and analyze market data, and we are pleased to be working with them."
David Linton, Updata CEO, added, "Activ is one of the best market data solutions we have seen, and we are pleased to add Activ Financial to our growing list of data sources. For over 20 years, Updata has provided the best technical analysis, system testing, and the ability to view multiple data sources in a single application. The high quality Activ market data combined with the advanced Updata Analytics creates a powerful solution to help traders make better trading decisions."
Bloomberg Vault Adds Cloud Archiving For IBM Message Software
January 17 2012 - Bloomberg announced today that financial services firms using IBM's messaging and collaboration software can reduce costs and streamline e-mail archiving and compliance by using Bloomberg Vault.
Bloomberg Vault simplifies cloud-based message archiving by taking advantage of native features unique to the IBM Lotus Domino server in order to improve security and reliability, while lowering cloud integration costs. A demo of Bloomberg Vault is available at booth #815 Tuesday and Wednesday at IBM's Lotusphere conference in Orlando, FL.
Financial institutions are moving to hosted e-mail compliance and archiving services to deal with rising costs, risks and industry regulations, an April 2010 study by Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Bloomberg Vault, has found. Today, more than 390 financial service companies have adopted Bloomberg Vault to manage growing legal and regulatory mandates governing corporate data.
"Growing compliance requirements and an increase in digital communications is driving up the cost of compliance, archiving, and eDiscovery processes, especially for financial services firms," said Harald Collet, Global Business Manager for Bloomberg Vault. "We designed Bloomberg Vault to integrate with IBM Lotus Domino in a secure cloud environment, so we can start to reduce unnecessary IT costs by making the message management, archiving, and compliance process much more efficient."
Michael Waxenberg, the chief technology officer at WestLB AG, the German commercial bank, commented, "We are pleased that Bloomberg Vault supports a fully native integration with IBM Lotus Domino that can assist regulatory and e-discovery processes."
The Bloomberg Vault solution for IBM Lotus Domino provides:
- Superior security for IBM Lotus Notes communications through support for transport-level encryption and IBM Safe ID Technology,
- Automated replication, transport and reconciliation of archived message data in IBM's NSF data format and configured via native Lotus Domino journaling features,
- Message file export capabilities and specialized export template for Lotus Notes communications, Internet e-mail, Bloomberg messages and instant messaging.
“The market for cloud-based archiving services is estimated to reach over $1B in spending in 2012, and is expected to grow at a 24.8 percent compounded growth rate from 2010 to 2015," said Laura DuBois, Program Vice President at IDC. "Companies tell us they are under a tremendous pressure to reduce the cost of compliance, and Bloomberg Vault’s Lotus Notes support offers companies an uncomplicated solution that also helps to reduce IT costs."
Markit Adds Sensitivities Data to CDS Pricing
January 17 2012 – Markit today announced it is supplementing its end-of-day prices for credit default swaps (CDS) with a new sensitivities report that will give clients valuable information about the relationship between a CDS price and other market variables.
The new Markit CDS Sensitivities service gives clients the ability to understand how sensitive a particular CDS spread level is to changes in interest rates, credit quality and recovery assumptions, among other factors affecting CDS pricing. The report is comprised of seven variables and covers all 2,600 five-year, single name CDS and CDS indices (on- and off-the-run) priced by Markit.
Independent, objective data from Markit CDS Sensitivities on how a CDS could respond to changing market conditions are important not only to traders, but to risk managers and the management of investment firms which need tools to run sensitivity analysis on their portfolios and comply with IFRS 7 and other regulations that require management to disclose how the firm perceives, measures and manages financial risk.
Armins Rusis, Managing Director and Global Head of Data, Indices and Research at Markit, said: “CDS Sensitivities is another example of how Markit is expanding its core data sets to include derived data that provide more context for clients. Having independent data to enable analysis of the relationship between price and variables like interest rates and credit quality is very valuable in giving additional metrics for quantitative and qualitative assessment of the potential volatility of a portfolio.”
E.ON Edis taps GFI Market Data
January 17 2012 - GFI Market Data, a division of GFI Group Inc., announced today that it has entered into an agreement with E.ON Edis. GFI will supply E.ON Edis with historical data as well as streaming updates.
E.ON Group is one of the most important international players within the power industry and a leader in generation and distribution of gas and electric power. The company's operations are concentrated on the markets of Western and Central Europe, Great Britain, Scandinavia, and USA.
Mario Vogler, E.ON Edis Energy Grid Manager said: "We use the data from GFI as a market price monitor as a part of our daily electricity procurement. The data gives us a very comprehensive market overview; it even includes data from the commodity market which we greatly value" and added, "GFI Market Data is very easy to operate and works very quickly."
"We are very happy to have this opportunity to work with E.ON Edis" said Shai Popat, Head of European Sales at GFI Market Data." We provide an independent and comprehensive view of the energy markets. Our data derives from our brokers as well as from our premier electronic trading screen for energy and commodities, EnergyMatch® Europe. This gives a great insight into the market, providing a view of liquidity and actual market values."
E.ON Edis AG is a member of E.ON Group involved in distribution of power and gas within the territory of federal states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg - Hither Pomerania. The company is also a shareholder of a number of media suppliers - including supplies of heat to numerous cities in East Germany.
Sourced directly from GFI EnergyMatch® Europe, GFI Group's energy and commodities electronic trading platform for Europe, GFI Market Data provides a comprehensive view of executable and executed prices in the Power, Gas, Emissions, Coal and Freight markets.
Interxion strengthens its financial community with Infront
January 17 2012 - INTERXION HOLDING NV, (NYSE: INXN), a European provider of carrier-neutral colocation data centre services, today announced that Infront, a provider of real-time market data and electronic trading solutions, has chosen to house its solutions at Interxion’s Stockholm data centre and City of London data centre, in order to provide its financial customers with faster connectivity to exchanges and key liquidity venues.
Infront provides market data, an advanced information and trading terminal, customizable mobile applications and electronic trading solutions to Europe's leading financial firms. The company has over 9,000 customers in Europe spanning from large financial institutions to private investors. With Infront’s business proposition, speed and connectivity are key parameters in order to deliver a premium service to customers.
“Interxion provides a unique hub for the financial sector in both Stockholm and London, and it is business critical for us to be in close proximity to the exchanges as well as to the financial community”, says Kristian Nesbak, Chief Executive Officer at Infront. “Interxion’s coverage across all the key financial centres of Europe is also an important factor for choosing to host our services at Interxion’s premises, as with Interxion, we can expand our business across Europe.”
Nordic Exchange Burgundy, a long time customer of Interxion, is looking positively at the new collaboration with Infront: “Access and time to information are key parameters in order to deliver our service to our customers”, commented Olof Neiglick, CEO at the Nordic exchange Burgundy. Interxion’s proposition to the financial community is a key reason for why we have chosen to partner with them. Their collaboration with Infront further strengthens Interxion’s position as a liquidity centre in Stockholm.”
“The fact that we are based in all of Europe’s key financial hubs, offer access to over 400 carriers and have a truly diverse financial community makes Interxion an ideal environment for financial firms such as Infront to house their business critical applications,” said Peder Bank, Managing Director at Interxion in the Nordics. “This deal further reinforces Interxion’s commitment to the financial services market and continues to position us as a key liquidity centre within Europe.”
Arcontech reports CityVision implementation
January 17 2012 - Arcontech Group plc (AIM: ARC), a provider of enterprise real-time software solutions to the investment banking and broking sectors, is pleased to announce that a major international bank has deployed CityVision in production.
Global roll out is continuing, with the initial phase covering Europe, North America and Asia Pacific regions.
The deployment is part of an initiative to deploy data vendor independent solutions and is facilitated by Arcontech's "CityVision Adaptor" strategy announced in October last year. It will bring revenue to Arcontech in excess of £1m over three years and is expected to provide the bank with considerable cost savings, as well as streamlining and consolidating market data operations.
The CityVision system provides market data contribution to data vendors and redistributors including Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, IDC and SIX Telekurs displacing the incumbent contributions systems. It also facilitates cross connectivity between other market data platforms and systems within the bank, enabling data received or generated on one to be viewed and processed by equipment connected to the other. This means that in many cases where two (or more) vendor terminals were required on the desktop, fewer are now required, therefore making possible a reduction in the overall terminal count with a dramatic commensurate cost saving.
Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech plc commented: "We've invested considerably in developing and fine-tuning our CityVision adapters; naturally, I am delighted to see that we are well on the way to recovering that investment. The configuration and components deployed comprise a vendor agnostic model that is repeatable across the investment banking community, giving users true choice and flexibility in their market data operations."
Regulators demand action on Legal Entity Identifiers
January 17 2012 - International regulatory authorities have called for the urgent creation of a universal Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) in their final report on the OTC derivatives data that should be collected, stored and disseminated by trade repositories (TRs).
In an update to a consultation launched in August, the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) have sought to specify minimum requirements for reporting data to a TR and for the reporting by a TR to regulators, as well as types of acceptable data formats. The report also discusses issues relating to authorities' and reporting entities' access to data, and disseminating selected OTC derivatives data to the public while taking into account any confidentiality constraints.
The creation of a network of trade repositories is seen as a vital element in regulatory efforts to promote financial stability. By collecting data centrally, TRs can provide better and more timely information on OTC derivatives and other complex financial transactions, helping to spotlight market abuse and unwind the opaque tangle of trades and relationships in the event of major counterparty defaults.
Iosco and the CPSS say that the use of a standard, universal, alphanumeric reference code - or LEI - would not only be an aid to data aggregation at the TR, but would also improve the ability of authorities to properly attribute OTC derivatives activity to a party or group.
The report highlights the technical and operational challenges to introducing a universal LEI and suggests that a phased approach to implementation may be required.
However, in noting that complete automation of back office activities and straight through processing remain elusive, "in part because of the lack of a universal identifier for legal entities", the report suggests that an element of compulsion may be required to get results.
"To date, a fundamental obstacle to efforts to implement an LEI has been that all such efforts have necessarily relied on voluntary adoption," states the report. "The lack of regulatory compulsion to create and use an LEI may have been a factor impeding efforts to create one. Many voices have suggested that some form of legal compulsion could aid moves to establish an LEI."
Fidessa joins Nyse Euronext's Power Partners programme
January 13 2012 - NYSE Euronext today announced that Fidessa is the latest "three portal" member to join its innovative Power Partners ProgramTM.
The program highlights vendors that partner effectively with NYSE Euronext to better serve mutual customers and consistently provide the highest levels of functionality, responsiveness and unique innovation achieved through the relationship.
Fidessa Group PLC is a provider of high-performance trading, investment management and information solutions for the world's financial community. Approximately 85% of the world's premier financial institutions use Fidessa products and services, including a global trading community of buy-side and sell-side professionals, from global institutions and investment banks to boutique brokers and niche hedge funds.
"The addition of Fidessa as a three-portal Power Partner further strengthens the program and reaffirms our dedication to working with the industry's best companies and vendors to create relationships that truly benefit our customers," said Janna Hodge, Senior Vice President, Relationship Management.
"Attaining this level of recognition from NYSE Euronext is something we are extremely proud of," said Justin Llewellyn-Jones, COO, Fidessa. "Being awarded prestigious status as a "three portal" member of NYSE's Power Partners program demonstrates Fidessa's commitment to providing the highest level of service and the sophisticated products necessary to excel in this global marketplace. We always put our customers first and their business needs drive us to search out partnership opportunities like this one with other world class financial services companies."
Inclusion in the Power Partners Program is based on customers' usage of NYSE Euronext markets and NYSE Technologies data, products and services. Applicants are evaluated based on criteria specific to their business type. The program is currently available to U.S. data vendors, broker-dealers, retail broker-dealers, order management systems, execution management systems, broker systems, service bureaus and technologies distributiors and resellers.
Power Partner der designations range from one to three portals; the more criteria met, the higher the number of portals and the greater the marketing rewards for the Power Partner. Marketing rewards include varying levels of advertising opportunities, visibility at Trader Forums, public relations, and recognition on NYSE Euronext websites.
EU anti-trust chiefs prepare to torpedo Deutsche Boerse/Nyse merger
January 11 2012 - Anti-trust officials in the EU are prepared to block the proposed mega-merger between Deutsche Börse and the New York Stock Exchange over fears that the deal would stifle competition in the derivatives markets.
Unidentified sources cited by the Financial Times say that European Commission antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia is demanding that Deutsche Börse and Nyse sell either the Eurex derivatives arm or Liffe, a course of action which neither exchange is prepared to countenance.
Almunia and his team are taking a hard line on the issue, sources say, forcing the exchanges to engage in a furious last-ditch lobbying effort to rescue the deal.
The EU anti-trust staff are to present their findings and recommendations to the so-called college of 27 commissioners in early February.
A spokesman for the European Commission says: "The decision concerning this proposed merger is due to be taken by the Commission before February 9. Until the decision is taken, we cannot comment, confirm and/or deny anything."
Asset Control offers direct access to DTCC corporate actions data
January 12 2012 - Asset Control today announced that DTCC Solutions LLC's Global Corporate Actions Validation Service (GCA VS) has been fully integrated into its AC Plus data management solution as standard functionality.
The integration offers Asset Control clients direct connectivity to DTCC's pre-validated corporate actions data, resulting in a dramatic reduction in the cost and risks typically associated with the sourcing of high-quality corporate actions information.
Connectivity to DTCC's GCA data feed, allows Asset Control to offer direct access to pre-cleansed corporate actions data for all downstream processes. The interface allows clients to populate their in-house repository with DTCC Solutions' data and link to various other data types, including instrument and pricing data.
Dan Thieke, VP Product Management from DTCC, comments on the partnership: "Although corporate actions data has always been important for the back office, firms are quickly beginning to realize that front-office visibility can enhance trading strategies and improve portfolio pricing. By partnering with Asset Control, we are also giving our clients greater transparency of where their data is stored, improving its traceability and manageability."
Phil Lynch, CEO of Asset Control, adds, "Following the global financial crisis, corporate actions data has increased in volume and complexity and because of this, it is one of the last sectors in the data management space to be automated. Investors and regulators no longer have the palette for manual processes, especially with such tight scrutiny on cost and operational risk.
Inefficiently managing your corporate actions data is no longer an option, as it has an increasing number of touch points in the trading life cycle. The partnership with DTCC Solutions will help clients achieve a consolidated view of corporate actions data alongside other types such as pricing or reference data."
Asset Control's AC Plus is used to power the data management needs of the world's leading financial institutions. The integration with DTCC Solutions' corporate actions data strengthens AC Plus's already powerful data management capabilitiies and empowers Asset Control clients with the speed and control they need to leverage their corporate actions and market data and gain competitive advantage.
The GCA VS is offered by DTCC Solutions LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).
Nyse Euronext launches EU regulatory policy Web site
January 12 2012 - Nyse Euronext has today launched a new channel on its website dedicated to financial services regulatory policy in the European Union.
The site kicks off with a review of the European Commission's proposals on MiFID II and MiFIR. Aimed at legislators, policy makers, opinion formers and the media, the webpage will provide a new source of information, comment and analysis from a major player in European capital markets.
Commenting on the launch, Mark MacGann, Senior Vice President, Head of European Government Affairs and Public Advocacy, NYSE Euronext, said, "The EU will debate and decide an unprecedented volume of financial market reforms in 2012. Our aim is to provide informed opinion and analysis on these reforms, based on our experience running major equities and derivatives exchanges in Europe and the US.
At NYSE Euronext we manage 8 million trades a day and are a leading advocate of clear and consistent rules to protect all market players. As markets expand so does the need for transparency and clarity. European legislation must aim to provide better protection to end investors; bring greater transparency to trading in all financial instruments, and tackle the growing fragmentation of the European internal market for capital. This website is part of our contribution to the debate.
MTS licences Lyxor for Macro-Weighted Government Bond Indices
January 11 2012 - MTS, Europe's premier facilitator for the European electronic fixed income market, announced that it has granted an exclusive license to Lyxor International Management to create ETFs based on its new EuroMTS Macro-Weighted AAA Government Bond Indices.
These new indices use an innovative weighting method based on a balanced selection of macro-economic indicators measuring the real economic situation of Eurozone countries with the highest credit rating.
Lyxor's ETFs, listed on NYSE Euronext since early December, track the EuroMTS Macro-Weighted AAA All-Maturities and three maturity sub-indices, the 1-3 years, 5-7 years and 7-10 years.
Jack Jeffery, CEO of MTS, said: "We are very happy that Lyxor International Management has chosen to use our new index range for their ETFs. We believe that there will be strong investor demand for products that track the effective economic strength of the countries while at the same time limiting the involved risk thanks to the high credit quality required for the underlying securities".
The methodology of the EuroMTS Macro-Weighted Index range uses the following indicators in establishing each country's weight within the index:
- GDP
- government debt as a percentage of GDP
- current account as a percentage of GDP
- quarter-on-quarter GDP growth
- long-term interest rates
Country weightings are reviewed on a quarterly basis, while bond selections and weightings are rebalanced monthly, in line with the classic MTS Index.
The EuroMTS Macro-Weighted Government Bond Indices are calculated and published in real time. They are freely-available on our new website mtsindices.com and through major data vendors.
FSB establishes LEI and CCP working groups
January 11 2012 - The BIS-backed Financial Stability Board has set up a working group to deliver concrete recommendations on governance issues relating to the management of new Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI) in the global securities markets.
The supra-national regulatory co-ordination body has been tasked by the Group of 20 with preparing recommendations for an LEI governance framework by June of this year.
The initiative - designed to produce an electronic tag for the counterparties in all securities transactions - has been led by the US watchdog, the Office of Financial Research (OFR) as a way to create a more transparent capital markets industry and to limit the possibility of systemic risk.
The OFR has called on the industry to develop a set of LEI requirements and to have a solution ready for use by 2012. So far ISO 17442 has been selected as the messaging standard for the project and Swift has been appointed as the registration authority and the US-based clearing utility Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation will act as facilities manager.
At a meeting in Basel yesterday, the FSB approved the creation of an expert group from the official sector, to be supported by a private-sector advisory panel, to deliver "concrete proposals by April on the implementation of a global LEI system".
At the same Basel meeting, the FSB also set up an 'OTC derivatives co-ordination' group with the goal of establishing adequate safeguards for a global framework for central counterparties (CCPs). The FSB says the group will work to co-ordinate international standards setting so that, "by June 2012, authorities can make informed decisions on the appropriate form of CCPs to meet their commitment that all OTC derivatives be centrally cleared by end-2012".
SIX Telekurs and Handelsbanken introduce investor service based on Nordic Light
January 11 2012 - At the beginning of this year, Handelsbanken launched an improved investor service based on Nordic Light, the Nordic standard for consolidated stock market data.
The solution is delivered by SIX Telekurs as a fully managed service and is seamlessly integrated into Handelsbanken's comprehensive on-line investor offering.
The trading landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years. The days of national stock market monopolies are long gone. Today, a single stock can be simultaneously traded on multiple marketplaces, and it has become increasingly difficult to compose a relevant and reliable market view. Ultimately, investors stand the risk to base investment decisions on incomplete market information. The need for transparency through consolidation of the respective market information is obvious.
In a joint effort to address this issue, Nordic financial industry partners have agreed on a standard which will be used when providing Nordic market data to investors. The standard, named Nordic Light, includes consolidated market data from the following trading places: AktieTorget, Burgundy, Chi-X, NasdaqOMX, NGM and Oslo Börs.
This year, Handelsbanken launched a new set of market data and trading tools built on the concept of Nordic Light in its on-line investment service. With stock lists, order books and trade tickers based on Nordic Light, capturing over 95% of market activity, Handelsbanken's clients are well equipped to make informed investment decisions. The solution is delivered by SIX Telekurs as a fully managed service and is seamlessly integrated into Handelsbanken's comprehensive on-line investor offering.
"As one of the initiators of Nordic Light, our aim is to provide a clear and uniform market view in all distribution platforms. With this solution provided by SIX Telekurs, Handelsbanken is taking a lead in the region, and we are sure that more banks will follow," says Bosse Nordlander, CEO of SIX Telekurs Sweden AB.
"Handelsbanken and SIX Telekurs have had a close cooperation for many years. We share the ambition to be at the forefront and continually develop our market information services for the benefit of our customers. Our customers have very high demands for access to both liquidity and full transparency to the market. With Nordic Light we can create transparent information services which allow customers to take on the fragmented market. We are very pleased to be able to offer this service to our customers," says Jan Aronsson, Investment Center Handelsbanken e-solutions.
SIX Telekurs renews Capgemini outsourcing contract
January 10 2012 - SIX Telekurs has renewed and enhanced its existing outsourcing contract with Capgemini for data production centers in Poland and India.
As a consequence, it has decided to shift additional manual data input from five in-house locations to Poland and India. This partial shift of its in-house data input will affect around 70 positions at SIX Telekurs globally.
SIX Telekurs has performed well with respect to its global manual data production. As part of its strategy and ongoing efforts to remain a high-quality and efficient data provider, it will place more emphasis on its existing data production centers in Poland and India, which are operated by Capgemini. In the last few years, these data production centers have grown successfully. SIX Telekurs recently renewed and enhanced its outsourcing contract with Capgemini for these centers, which will ensure a long-term partnership andputs even more focus on quality, efficiency and continuous process improvements.
As a consequence, SIX Telekurs will shift additional manual data input from five in-house locations to Poland and India. The affected locations are Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
This decision taken by SIX Telekurs will cause redundancies in early 2012. Globally, around 70 positions will be affected, of which around 25 positions are at the company's headquarters in Switzerland. These measures aim at maintaining SIX Telekurs' strong position in an increasingly competitive market, where many competitors have already centralized such functions in low cost countries.
CBOE Stock Exchange completes NSX acquisition
January 10 2012 - CBOE Stock Exchange (CBSX) announced today that it completed the acquisition of all-electronic National Stock Exchange (NSX) on December 30.
The acquisition, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, allows CBSX to expand its footprint in the securities exchange space by wholly owning and operating a second separate exchange.
Both exchanges will continue to operate separately under their current names and will integrate teams in Chicago and Jersey City, NJ.
"Completion of this acquisition enables us to offer customers different market structures and routing services," said CBSX CEO and President David Harris, who also has been named Chairman and CEO of NSX. "We now look forward to bringing two very talented CBSX and NSX teams together."
In September, CBSX entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the National Stock Exchange, Inc. (NSX), previously owned by a consortium of nationally known broker-dealers.
Burgundy joins Nyse Technologies Global SFTI network
January 9 2012 - Burgundy, a trading platform for Nordic securities, today announces their availability via Nyse Technologies' global SFTI (Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure) network.
The addition of Burgundy as a trading destination on the SFTI backbone enables customers already connected to the backbone to easily receive Burgundy data and trade on their platform without the need to build or connect to a new infrastructure.
Operated and maintained by NYSE Technologies, SFTI spans Europe, U.S. and Asia and is used as the industry backbone for low latency, high-performance trading and market data transmissions. Adding Burgundy as a content service provider on the network facilitates clients' access to the Nordic liquidity available on Burgundy.
Olof Neiglick, CEO of Burgundy, said: "We are pleased that NYSE Technologies clients can reach Burgundy through SFTI since we at Burgundy are continuously looking to strengthen and expand our trading and clearing offer at low cost."
Don Brook, Global Head of Infrastructure at NYSE Technologies said: "This is a response to the increased demand we've recently seen from European customers wanting to access Burgundy over SFTI. Adding Burgundy to the list of available markets on SFTI offers additional value to our existing community, further enabling our customers to access more venues with exceptional security and reliability, with minimal investment."
IFS LiquidMetrix extends research and analytics services with Activ Financial
January 9 2012 - Activ Financial, a global provider of fully managed low-latency and enterprise market data solutions, today announced that Intelligent Financial Systems (IFS), a London based research and market data analysis company providing a range of historical and real-time solutions, selected Activ's US equity market data to drive research and analytics for its LiquidMetrix WorkStation product suite and new coverage of North American markets.
Clients will now be able to use the LiquidMetrix WorkStation to analyze the performance of their trade flows on North American markets for best execution and TCA with millisecond precision. The new data coverage complements the existing powerful pre-and post -trade analytics on European markets already provided by LiquidMetrix products by enabling clients to roll-out LiquidMetrix services on a wider geographic basis.
Sabine Toulson, Managing Director at IFS states, "Strong data is the key to driving research and analytics making partnering with a leading provider a core component of our expansion into North America. Our clients come to us for precise and accurate benchmarking information and Activ was an obvious choice to supply the US equity market data considering their position in the US market."
"Activ's coverage of the US equities market is unsurpassed and we are pleased to bring our data to the European trading community through our partnership with IFS LiquidMetrix," said Dane Thacker, Sales Director, EMEA at Activ Financial. "The combination of IFS LiquidMetrix's research and analytics and Activ's best in class data will help drive trading decisions around the world."
TCAM helps Rabobank to streamline its market data setup - vwd market manager receives Rabobank quality mark
December 16 2011 - Rabobank Nederland is implementing vwd market manager at the Rabobank Effecten Advies Desk (READ). READs cooperate closely with wealth manager Schretlen & Co, both firms being part of Rabobank Private Banking. The primary function of READs is providing investment advice to client's of local Rabobank offices.
At the beginning of 2011, TCAM was hired by Rabobank Nederland to conduct an analysis of the data needs of Rabobank Private Banking and to provide independent advice regarding market systems that fit that need. TCAM analysed Rabobank’s market data terminal setup at the READ offices and the offices of Schretlen & Co, as well as at the Rabobank Private Banking’s Research unit and the Trading Support Service unit.
Vwd’s market manager terminal replaces another market data terminal solution. This kills two birds with one stone: market manager has proven to offer more data coverage and functionality than the old system and it is offered for a significantly lower price.
The recommendation regarding vwd’s market manager was part of a bigger bundle of recommendations by TCAM to Rabobank. These have led to a series of actions, including replacements in the premium-tier market data terminal space as well as a clean-up of unused accesses to real-time exchange data, which have resulted in a significant decrease of the annual market data spent.
After a thorough process that involved testing systems and comparing offers of five suppliers, it has been determined that vwd market manager is best suited to meet the needs of Rabobank. The process included a thorough analysis of user friendliness of the system, the content and price/quality ratio. Rabobank has a stringent ICT policy that must be followed. According to this policy all software that is used within Rabobank must meet certification requirements that are established by Rabobank; vwd market manager meets this Rabobank quality mark.
Currently, the implementation process is in full force. vwd market manager is implemented with 6 READ offices which enables 20 asset managers to work with it. The implementation process includes installation of the individual work units and a workshop to familiarize the asset managers with the system.
“We are proud to implement vwd market manager at Rabobank Nederland. When a company such as Rabobank Nederland chooses your system, it confirms that vwd market manager is a quality product that is equal to the systems of the established brands”, according to Richard de Rooij, Business Director of vwd group BeNeFrance.
The Roberts Group Boosts FITS' Sales Force in Europe with TCAM Partnership
September 25 2011 – The Roberts Group (TRG), the leading provider of international market data inventory solutions, has entered into a partnership with TCAM. The partnership strengthens the European presence of FITS, TRG’s industry-best market data inventory system. With FITS, TCAM further expands its market data management offering.
The partnership with TCAM provides a logical next step in TRG’s international expansion, specifically the growing FITS user community around the world. According to Robert Leitner, TRG’s President and Co-Founder, “We are excited about the opportunity to work with TCAM and offer a local sales and service presence in continental Europe. Through the tremendous efforts of our UK and US operations, FITS has proven to be the industry’s best and most comprehensive system. Moreover, The Roberts Group has distinguished itself as the premium software and service vendor.”
Leitner continues, “With the additional reach of TCAM, more firms will get the exposure to and benefit of FITS. TRG clients have come to expect a professional, high quality deliverable. We look forward to working with TCAM to complement these attributes with its existing market data management business and network throughout continental Europe.”
For market data specialist TCAM, FITS means a further expansion of its offering. “Cost control and compliance with vendor and exchange agreements are major drivers for many market data consumers”, says John Lathouwers from TCAM. “To monitor and control compliance, firms need first to understand to how many data licenses they subscribe contractually and second to monitor how many they actually have in use. FITS qualifies as the best tool to support these jobs. We have been in a unique position to compare the different systems and functionality within this niche market, as well as the organizations behind them. This convinced us that FITS and the TRG organization is the best combination in the industry”. With FITS, TCAM adds another essential tool for market data managers to its offering.
