This Week: CAT, SS&C, Nasdaq, SmartStream, OpenFin, OpenDoor & More

The CAT Comes to Life

June 22 marked the start of broker-dealer reporting for the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). CAT LLC said more than 1,000 broker-dealer firms have begun reporting into the CAT production environment. While the 22^nd was the official deadline for phase-one reporting for large broker-dealers, some firms began sending data into the production environment on April 14.

“Building on what we have witnessed since opening the production environment in April, this week is going according to plan,” said Shelly Bohlin, president and COO of FINRA CAT. “The industry has begun reporting as required and the system is operating as designed.”

The next milestone to meet in the CAT timeline is July 22, when broker-dealers must comply with the second phase of large broker-dealer reporting of options data.

To read about how the CAT has progressed after a turbulent start to 2019, click here.

Mid Atlantic Capital Taps SS&C for CAT Reporting

Speaking of the CAT, Mid Atlantic Capital Group has selected SS&C Technologies to automate its CAT reporting obligations. SS&C will monitor, submit, and correct transactional data on behalf of Mid Atlantic Capital as part of its full-service offering, according to the vendor. SS&C’s web-based reporting portal aggregates broker data across broker’s platforms and converts that into Finra-compliant CAT reports, and allows customers to manage exceptions.

“Thanks to SS&C’s early certification with FINRA, we were able to outsource our CAT Reporting quickly and easily,” Paul Schwerer, VP of trading risk management at Mid Atlantic, said in a release.

Nasdaq Unveils ‘Marketplace Services Platform’

Nasdaq has launched a new platform geared toward transaction lifecycle management called Marketplace Services Platform. Its aim is to provide “the frictionless exchange of assets, services, and information across various types of market ecosystems and machine-to-machine transactions.” Included in that wide net is standard financial assets, tokenized assets, credit card receivables, loyalty points, real estate, insurance contracts, as well as gaming and wagering, and more. The platform has functionality for matching, risk management, and market surveillance.

“As the industry evolves and markets move to the next phase of digitalization, there is increased demand for seamless access to standard infrastructure components and capabilities,” said Magnus Haglind, head of product management for Nasdaq’s Market Technology unit. “By creating the Marketplace Services Platform, we are providing marketplaces cloud-based, turnkey infrastructure components and a platform to plug and play as they build, adapt, and expand their business. We see this potentially becoming the de facto operating model for marketplaces worldwide.”

In the release, Brad Bailey, research director at consultancy Celent, had this to say: “We are at an inflection point in the capital markets. Building one’s own technology stack from application to infrastructure, without leveraging a platform with access to an ecosystem of partners for technology, services, [and] cloud is becoming more difficult to justify. The firms that win in this complex, challenging, and ultra-competitive time focus the bulk of their efforts on their core value proposition, and partner or outsource the rest.”

SmartStream Launches New SFTR API

SmartStream Technologies is extending its Reference Data Utility (RDU) Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR) service to include an API to help users manage their reference data needs to meet SFTR’s July 13 phase-one reporting deadline. The API will allow for quicker access to tools related to SFTR compliance to better source and validate reference data needed for reporting. This process includes filling data gaps, resolving exceptions, solving for not having full issuer to ISIN LEI coverage, and helping firms to avoid counterparty breaks and rejected reports.

OpenDoor Launches On-the-Run Marketplace for US Treasuries

OpenDoor Securities has launched an all-to-all marketplace for on-the-run US treasuries. The company says that it is launching the marketplace due to concerns of information leakage and a “dearth of liquidity experienced during times of stress on traditional trading venues.”

“We found out in March that the largest debt market in the world does not function well when it is growing and the ability to intermediate its risk is not,” said Susan Estes, CEO, president, and cofounder of OpenDoor in a release.

AxeTrading, Mosaic Smart Data

Fixed income trading software provider AxeTrading is integrating its AxeTrader EMS with Mosaic Smart Data’s MSX analytics platform. Through the partnership, users of the EMS will have access to a range of new metrics, including real-time counterparty insights, transaction-cost analysis, hit ratios, and profitability analytics.

Quant Insight Launches Desktop App OpenFin

Quant Insight provides quantitative macro analytics across multiple asset classes for an array of strategies, including discretionary and systematic, equity long/short and absolute return. The vendor has now integrated its data analytics app with OpenFin’s operating system via an integrated API and an enhanced user experience dashboard.

For more on desktop app interoperability, click here.

Delta Capita Launches CLM Platform

Delta Capita has launched a client lifecycle management (CLM) platform to help with a firm’s know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) needs. The new platform, dubbed Karbon, uses machine learning to speed up data-gathering and decision-making processes by automating client assessments, combined with enhanced workflow, rules, and screening tools.