This Week: BBH, AllianceBernstein add data solutions, Deutsche Börse-Nodal Exchange, and more

BBH and AllianceBernstein expand application of BBH Infomediary Data Solutions

Brown Brothers Harriman’s Infomediary Data Solutions business has expanded its relationship with AllianceBernstein by adding data management services for fund operations. 

Using Infomediary, BBH’s data integration and connectivity engine, the service involves the curation of fund holdings data, which AB can use as part of multiple fund output publications, including regulated fund disclosures. 

“Having a normalized golden holdings repository across all portfolios allows for quick response times for client inquiry, enabling clients to respond to market demand in near real time,” says Timothy Bosco, managing director, data solutions at BBH.

The expansion also applies to additional use cases in the regulatory space, specifically portfolio of investments. Bosco tells WatersTechnology that the initial platform for the service was built incrementally over 10 months, starting with equity portfolios, and then incorporating multi-provider data aggregation, data normalization, data exceptions and warnings, calculated portfolio weightings, data quality rules, and multiple third-party reports. 

Now that those components are already in place, further implementations and expansions can be deployed at a faster rate. 

Although the solution was built for AB’s particular use case, it is also available to other global investment managers. 

Bosco says that the underlying technology and subject matter expertise that BBH deployed can apply to other use cases where multiple sources of client data must be permissioned, aggregated, validated, cataloged, transformed, and delivered into business processes across the front, middle and back offices. 

BBH IDS has developed data solutions for a variety of client types, many of which may not be using BBH’s custody or administration services. 

Deutsche Börse and Nodal Exchange partner for futures and options data

Deutsche Börse has collaborated with Nodal Exchange, a North American commodity derivatives exchange and part of the EEX Group, to provide access to a range of futures and options data in US energy and environmental markets through its data platform and vendor network. 

Nodal Exchange has the largest set of environmental futures and options contracts and holds the majority of open interest in US power futures markets. The partnership will make Nodal Exchange’s real-time and end-of-day market data available to a broader audience. The offering encompasses major US power hubs, as well as renewable energy certificates, carbon emission allowances, voluntary carbon credits, and renewable fuel credits. 

SimCorp launches new flagship buy-side platform 

SimCorp has introduced its new flagship integrated platform for buy-side firms, SimCorp One, bringing together its various businesses.

SimCorp One includes Dimension, Axioma, client communications, data management services, business services—which includes investment accounting and operations services—and its ecosystem of third-party solutions, all connected to its investment book of records. Officials say that combining its software and services into one platform will enable clients to make faster and more cost-effective decisions.

Regnology and FNA team up for suptech offering

Regulatory reporting solutions provider Regnology has partnered with network analytics provider FNA to enhance the Regnology Supervisory Hub offering with network analytics and simulations. The partnership will provide Regnology with an end-to-end solution for regulators, from granular data collection through to advanced and comprehensive analytics. 

Using the enhanced RSH offering will enable supervisory authorities to take a more data-driven approach and allow them to identify potential issues for further investigation earlier. Some examples include real-time alerts on issues that may require investigation and network analytics that can be used to indicate possible systemic risks to the financial system. 

Initial use cases for the combined solutions have included the application of a common cross-border data model for loan-level details that enabled supervisors to collect, validate, store and analyze volumes of granular data. 

Imandra launches AI assistant for FIX connectivity

AI firm Imandra has launched FIX Wizard, an AI assistant for its FIX Connectivity suite used by banks and trading firms. 

FIX Wizard, built on Imandra’s neuro-symbolic architecture, performs reasoning for complex financial protocols and APIs and helps with onboarding clients in capital markets. The assistant will help firms answer questions about the FIX specification and rules of engagement, analyze customer-provided FIX traffic, diagnose any issues, and provide guidance on certification test cases and run conformance tests against the implementation. 

The assistant combines statistical AI, used by large language models, and Imandra’s automated reasoning to create a genAI assistant that has independently verifiable audit trails. 

Appital adds functionality to stimulate liquidity

Appital, the peer-to-peer price discovery and liquidity sourcing technology for asset managers, has added new functionality that allows deal originators on the buy side to stimulate market liquidity ahead of launching a deal.

The functionality—Appital Trending Equities—also allows participating buy-side firms to gain exposure to deals that may soon launch on the platform, in equities that are relevant to them and meet their minimum average daily volume or pricing thresholds.

With the new functionality, buy-side trading desks will receive a list of trending equities within the Appital platform, which will allow them to discuss opportunities with portfolio managers that they wish to participate in a deal. Currently, more than 40 asset managers with over $15 trillion in assets under management use the Appital platform.

AWS adds features to help firms build genAI apps

Amazon Web Services has added several new features to its Bedrock platform—which provides access to foundational models through an API—to help users build generative AI applications in a faster and more secure manner. 

Among them is Amazon Bedrock Custom Model Import, which allows users to import and access their custom models as a fully-managed API in Bedrock. This functionality is available in preview and supports Flan-T5, Llama, and Mistral open model architectures, with plans to add more architectures. 

Also generally available is Model Evaluation, which allows firms to analyze and compare models on Bedrock. Users can select predefined evaluation criteria such as accuracy and robustness, and upload their own prompt library or select from built-in, publicly available datasets. They can also set up human-based evaluation workflows. Once set up, Bedrock runs evaluations and generates a report so users can understand how the model performed across their criteria and select the best models for their use cases. 

EDI launches dividend calendar

Exchange Data International has launched its Dividend Calendar, a tool to help institutional traders, financial advisors, and individual investors track dividends. The calendar provides users access to dividend-related information, including dividend announcements, ex-dividend dates, record dates, and payment dates for thousands of companies worldwide. 

Its coverage includes companies across various industries and global markets, covering stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. Users can also set up customizable alerts to ensure timely notifications for important events. 

Ultumus and Calastone partner to streamline ETF process

Ultumus, the ETF specialist owned by SIX Group, has integrated Calastone’s ETF servicing technology with its Cosmos ETF creation and redemption platform. The integration allows fund managers and asset servicers to centralize and streamline the entire ETF process, from order capture and approval through to order management, cash confirmation, settlement, and reporting. 

Cosmos, which was launched in 2023, facilitates order flow in the primary market, connecting authorized participants with asset managers and transfer agents using a front-end GUI and automated API. Calastone’s ETF servicing technology enables ETF servicers to improve service, reduce cost, mitigate risk and scale their business to provide APs and issuers connectivity, speed of process, and transparency. 

BMI adds political risk data

BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, has launched BMI Politics, a service offering data-driven, model-based political risk insights and data across over 200 markets. 

Using GeoQuant’s systematic daily political risk data, BMI Politics aims to support private and public sector organizations as they navigate geopolitical impacts on their operations, strategy, and investments. BMI acquired GeoQuant in 2022 and has since worked to integrate GeoQuant’s high-frequency benchmark data and insights into its Country Risk and Industry Research offering.