This Week: KPMG/Volante Technologies, LiquidityBook, Northern Trust & more

KPMG and Volante Technologies partner for cloud-based payments

KPMG has partnered with cloud payments provider Volante Technologies to offer financial institutions real-time payments. The solution, titled Clearing House RTP intends to to enable banks to conduct payments processes and operations at a faster pace.

The partnership will utilize Volante Technologies’ cloud-based offerings to provide banks with cloud-native payment solutions and could prepare banks for new instant payment schemes and payments trends, such as embedded banking, as they become available. Additionally, firms using the solution will become ISO 20222 compliant.

LiquidityBook extends API offerings

Cloud-native solutions provider LiquidityBook has announced that it has expanded its Application Programming Interface (API) capabilities. This enhancement of the business’ current API capability intends to provide clients with a customizable protocol for building and connecting with LiquidityBook’s modular platform. 

API integration has previously been available to customers of LiquidityBook’s SaaS-based offerings, but an extension of current API capabilities could allow for API-centric workflows and an upgrade to the user experience. 

The new enhancements also enable LiquidityBook clients to send customized alerts, perform remote validations, and manage compliance and regulatory processes more efficiently. 

Northern Trust partners with Finscape to address data transparency challenges

Northern Trust has entered into an agreement with investment solutions provider Finscape to provide clients with a view of their fund distribution activity. The service, also called Finscape, intends to streamline market intelligence to address challenges surrounding data transparency.

Under the agreement, Northern Trust will make Finscape available to its asset manager clients, enabling them to carry out their own analyses of their fund distributions, providing greater insights into sales strategies, and offerings means to meet regulatory obligations.

Quant Insight rolls out Retina 2.0

Quant Insight, a macro analytics provider for institutional investors, has rolled out a new version of its market data solution, named Real Time Notifications and Alerts (Retina).

Retina employs data science and analytics to process macro and market information to identify trends in the financial markets. The solution can cover financial instruments across all asset classes. It works by processing this data and then forwarding real-time signals into clients’ workflows via messaging platforms operated by Symphony Communication Services and Slack. 

Retina 2.0 intends to provide clients with interactivity and better functionality. New features will include the introduction of alerts for Quant Insight’s Volatility Indicator, which works to offer clients early insights into potential volatility periods for chosen assets, and a performance table, which summarizes performance. 

Six acquires 100% stake in Regis-TR

Swiss financial center Six Group has become the sole shareholder of trade repository Regis-TR in a deal that closed March 31, 2022. Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Six, which had held a 50% stake in Regis-TR, acquired the remaining half from ClearStream, the post-trade services provider owned by Deutsche Bourse.

Axxsys Consulting implements BlackRock Aladdin for Velliv

London-based consultancy firm Axxsys Consulting has announced the implementation BlackRock Aladdin for Velliv, Pension & Livsforsikring, an insurance company in Denmark. 

Aladdin’s risk modelling capabilities can cover all asset classes, including liquid and illiquid. The implementation gives Velliv a more comprehensive view on the risk of all its assets across all portfolios in real time. 

TransFICC secures $17 million investment led by AlbionVC

TransFICC, a workflow provider for the fixed-income and derivatives markets, has closed a Series A extension for $17 million. The investment was led by London-based investment firm AlbionVC.

All existing shareholders took part in this investment round, which was announced in April 2020. Other TransFICC investors include Citi, HSBC, Illuminate Financial, and ING Ventures.

TransFICC plans to put the investment toward expanding TransFICC’s engineering teams in order to support additional venue connectivity.

Mediobanca launches AgoraPlatform

Global merchant bank Mediobanca has launched a new solution called AgoraPlatform, which intends to digitize its issuance process by utilizing distributed ledger technology (DLT) to increase operational efficiency.

The project was developed in conjunction with UK-based Agora Digital Capital Markets and was created to facilitate growth in investment certificates.

AgoraPlatform employs smart contracts and DLT in the lifecycle management of certificates. Through its use of this technology, the platform aims to reduce the time it takes to produce offering documentation for investment certificates issuance.

Additionally, the infrastructure has been developed to enable interaction between different units and departments in the capital markets in a digital environment. This could allow for all issuance documents to be finalized automatically. 

UBS MTF transfers business activities to Aquis Exchange

Aquis Exchange, the trading arm of exchange services group Aquis Exchange PLC, has announced that it will assume the business activities of UBS Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF). UBS MTF is the non-displayed matching pool of UBS MTF Limited, a subsidiary of Swiss bank UBS AG. 

Once the transfer has been completed, the trading venue will be known as Aquis Matching Pool.

Managed Funds Association expands European presence

Managed Funds Association, an association for the hedge fund and alternative investment industry, has announced a new office in Brussels, Belgium. The Brussels office will be Managed Funds Association’s first permanent presence outside of the United States.