This Week: Tradeweb, Broadridge, Genesis, and more

Tradeweb to acquire r8fin 

Fixed-income marketplace Tradeweb has entered into an agreement to acquire r8fin, a technology provider specializing in algorithmic-based execution for US treasuries and interest rate futures. 

R8fin, which has been in operation since 2016, provides algorithmic-based tools, as well as a thin-client execution management system (EMS) trading application for futures and cash trades. The solutions will complement Tradeweb’s Dealerweb Active Streams, Dealerweb central limit order book (CLOB), request-for-quote (RFQ) and automated intelligent execution (AiEX) offerings to create a broad-based approach to trading US treasuries and related futures trading. 

Tradeweb expects the acquisition to modestly enhance revenue growth, operating margins, and be accretive to 2024 earnings per share. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals permitting. 

HSBC goes live on Broadridge’s DLT sponsored repo solution 

Broadridge Financial Solutions announced that HSBC has gone live on its recently launched sponsored repo solution on Broadridge’s distributed ledger repo (DLR) platform, created using distributed-ledger technology (DLT).

The goal is that by using DLT and smart contracts, clients can reduce settlement costs, streamline processes, increase scalability, and decrease operational risks. HSBC is the second client to go live since the solution came out in early October, following UBS. 

“We are committed to exploring innovative avenues to reduce operational risks, and we believe this platform will be instrumental in achieving our objectives,” says John Farrell, Americas head of markets operations at HSBC.

Nyse, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange sign MoU for market data 

The New York Stock Exchange, part of Intercontinental Exchange, and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a number of business activities, including the dual listing of companies on both exchanges and opportunities to develop ETFs, as well as data and index products 

The announcement follows last week’s news that ADX has selected ICE Global Network to provide institutional investors with access to ADX market data and order entry. The MoU also builds on ICE’s work in the region, including its 2021 involvement with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to release ICE Futures Abu Dhabi. 

TNS acquires West Highland Support Services for market data solution 

Transaction Network Services (TNS) announced the acquisition of West Highland Support Services, a financial market data solutions provider based in Danbury, Connecticut. 

TNS will now be able to deliver market data services across the trading infrastructure stack. TNS’s acquisition of West Highland services will consolidate connectivity between professional traders, institutions and financial services vendors internationally. West Highland employees, products and services will integrate into TNS. 

The combined company will continue to provide market data monitoring and single pane-of-glass insight.  

XFA taps Genesis Global to build automated quoting platform for Flex options 

X-Change Financial Access (XFA), a division of Marex and an execution broker for exchange-traded derivatives, has partnered with Genesis Global, a low-code application development platform for financial markets, to automate quoting for flexible exchange options (Flex options). 

The platform, Flex-FA, streamlines intraday quoting of Flex options to increase the speed and reach of XFA’s brokerage services. Because the Flex market does not have a continuous quote stream like other options markets, Flex-FA, which standardizes and automates RFQ processes, helps end users to increase liquidity and promote best price execution.  

Genesis delivered Flex-FA in two months. 

Wilshire Indexes, Rayliant Global Advisors tap AI for smart beta indexes  

Wilshire Indexes, an international benchmark platform, and Rayliant Global Advisors have released the FT Wilshire NxtGen Index Series. Using machine learning and AI, the index series aims to capture equity premiums from more factors. The companies hope this will lead to more stable systematic return harvesting. 

Technology has created new index construction methods and allowed for more diversified and global approaches to smart beta. Using machine learning and AI to build a multi-signal index series, the FT Wilshire NxtGen Index Series spans developed and emerging global equity markets and gives investors an alternatively weighted index series. 

Banking Circle, Ant Group to explore tokenized deposits 

Banking Circle, a Luxembourg-based bank, will work with Ant Group on a liquidity management project. The project will explore technology innovations on tokenized deposits to improve efficiency and speed of global fund settlements. 

Banking Circle’s infrastructure and Ant Group’s blockchain platform will be used to issue and distribute the tokenized deposits. The blockchain platform can be used for cross-border payments and to manage liquidity more efficiently. 

The structure is Web3-compatible and aims to provide opportunities for cost-saving with foreign exchange and, soon, additional currencies. 

Cohesity expands work with AWS on Turing AI offering 

Cohesity, an AI-powered data security and management provider, has previewed Cohesity Turing. Turing is a patent-pending collection of AI capabilities and technologies that integrate with its multi-cloud data platform and solutions.

Cohesity will also expand its work with Amazon Web Services to integrate Cohesity Turing with Amazon Bedrock, a managed service that makes AI companies’ foundation models available via an API to build and scale generative AI applications. Cohesity Turing’s integration with Amazon Bedrock aims to provide users with insights into their data using responsible AI and governance. 

Cohesity says the program will likely be generally available in six months.  

Torstone Technology completes certification with DTCC’s CTM 

Post-trade securities and derivatives processing solutions software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Torstone Technology has completed certification of its middle-office product with the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.’s Central Trade Matching service. DTCC’s CTM is a central matching platform used to allocate and centrally match transactions across asset classes. 

Ahead of the switch to T+1 settlement in 2024, Torstone’s certification with CTM offers automated central matching capabilities and facilitates an accurate and efficient post-trade process. 

Following the certification process, the Torstone platform is now quicker and cheaper to use. Torstone clients will also have golden source SSI enrichment available to them via DTCC’s Alert, an online industry database for account and standing settlement instructions.