This Week: Bloomberg, VoxSmart–GreenKey, EDM Council, Northern Trust, Anna-DSB, and more

Bloomberg debuts cloud-based BQuant Enterprise analytics platform

Data giant Bloomberg has unveiled a new analytics platform aimed at quantitative analysts and data scientists that uses Python and Jupyter notebooks, and can run in either public or private cloud environments. Dubbed BQuant Enterprise, the platform incorporates access to Bloomberg’s datasets and allows front-office teams in financial firms to more quickly leverage and benefit from data science capabilities. Officials say the platform will reduce the cost of entry for firms without the resources to support large data science operations in-house, and will enable them to test and deploy new quant strategies faster.

VoxSmart buys GreenKey to boost comms monitoring

New York-based communications surveillance software provider VoxSmart has acquired speech recognition and natural-language processing technology vendor GreenKey Technologies for an undisclosed sum to strengthen its surveillance offering for financial firms. Officials say the deal—which follows a $25 million equity investment from Toscafund earlier this year to fund strategic acquisitions—will accelerate VoxSmart’s growth and position the company as “the de facto market leaders in NLP and voice analytics for financial markets.”

EDM Council unveils cloud data management framework

Industry body the EDM Council has published its Cloud Data Management Capabilities (CDMC) framework of standards and best practices for managing data in the cloud. Developed over the past 18 months in partnership with more than 100 financial firms and technology providers including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM and Microsoft, the framework comprises six components—data governance and accountability; cataloguing and classification; data accessibility and usage; data protection and privacy; data lifecycle; and technical architecture—as well as 14 capabilities and 37 sub-capabilities to help companies better manage their cloud environments. EDM Council members and non-members alike can license the CDMC framework free of charge.

Northern Trust launches margin calculation tool with Acadia

Northern Trust has developed an initial margin calculation solution that will help asset managers and asset owners comply with over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives regulations, including the delayed upcoming phases of the Uncleared Margin Rules component of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s Basel III regulation. The solution was developed in partnership with margin and risk management specialist technology provider Acadia, and involved integrating Acadia’s margin management solutions into Northern Trust’s suite of collateral and OTC processing capabilities. Officials say the solution automates previously manual processes to deliver faster processing and more accurate margin calculations.

Anna, DSB publish UPI identifier details

The Association of National Numbering Agencies’ (Anna’s) Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) has published details of its Unique Product Identifier (UPI) service, which will provide UPIs for financial firms worldwide to report OTC derivatives transactions. The DSB’s report includes a description of functionality, invoicing and contract details, as well as estimated user numbers and types of users. DSB will use a consistent framework for launching new services so users seeking both UPIs and Isins can best leverage their connectivity, and will offer tiers of services, including free-to-use and fee-liable services.

NCFX enlists Eose for crypto data sales, support

London-based currency benchmark calculation agent New Change FX has appointed data consultancy Eose to manage sales and distribution of its cryptocurrency data offering, which covers 200 instruments, and includes historical data back to September 2020. Officials say the deal—which expands an existing relationship between NCFX and Eose—will allow NCFX to focus on and accelerate its core business strategies, while Eose can support its data clients and partners.

Securitize unveils private markets trading platform

San Francisco-based Securitize, which provides a technology platform for issuing and trading digital assets, has launched Securitize Markets, an online marketplace that tokenizes alternative assets—including private companies, real estate and funds—to provide a market for secondary trading in hitherto unlisted assets. Officials say the platform will address demand for investing in early-stage and high-growth private capital markets, which are expected to grow from $11 trillion at the end of 2020 to double that by 2025.

North Rock enlists Glue42 for next-gen investment systems

North Rock Capital Management, a Palm Beach Gardens and New York-based asset manager with $3 billion under management, has rolled out desktop integration and interoperability solutions provider Glue42’s Glue42 Enterprise solution as the foundation for the firm’s new trading and risk platform. Officials say the move is part of a program of heavy investment in technology, infrastructure, and risk analytics, delivered via personalized trading and portfolio management desktop solutions to serve the specific needs of the firm’s almost 50 portfolio manager teams, each of which focuses on a different sector, region or industry. Glue42 Enterprise enables North Rock to integrate its proprietary applications and algorithms with new web applications, without having to replace its existing technology investments, officials add.