This Week: Refinitiv, State Street, FlexTrade, FactSet/Microsoft, Cboe, and more

Refinitiv rolls out ESG analytics tool 

Refinitiv announced the launch of MarketPsych ESG Analytics, a new analytics tool to provide numerical ESG insights on companies and countries based on news and social media monitoring.

Refinitiv MarketPsych ESG Analytics aims to complement Refinitiv’s existing ESG data by offering an external “outside-in” perspective on a company or country’s sustainability by processing millions of global articles and social media posts in near real-time.

Refinitiv MarketPsych ESG Analytics can be used in different applications by quantitative investors, discretionary investors, corporate clients, and regulators.

State Street launches new research platform

State Street Corporation announced the launch of Insights, a research platform that offers clients proprietary research, data-driven indicators, and market commentary from the firm’s team of global macro strategists. Insights gives investors access to State Street Global Markets’ multi-asset research tailored to their interests.

Insights brings clients new tools to engage with State Street’s research and daily indicators of flow, risk, inflation and sentiment. There is a scrolling news feed of tailored content, macro strategy analysis, and on-demand analytics with views on markets. Users will also be able to investigate past market performance after specific data signals with the Signal Studio tool, a new feature available exclusively to clients. Insights builds upon, and will eventually replace, State Street’s current IR3 web portal.

FactSet, Microsoft team to deliver financial information on Teams

FactSet has developed an application for Microsoft Teams that will provide the former’s financial data and StreetAccount news directly within the collaboration platform, thus allowing users to access and share detailed company information without having to navigate away from the application.

FactSet is offering this service to any of the over 115+ million active Teams users who install FactSet for Microsoft Teams. Any Teams user can receive notifications around relevant stories, notable events, and daily summaries provided by the StreetAccount news service. They can also search FactSet’s financial data for company information and share it with colleagues and groups directly in Teams.

FactSet clients (nearly one third of which already use Teams) who install the company’s application for Teams will have additional functionality, including the ability to access more detailed information, including company news, quotes, and price alerts, according to the release. Joint FactSet and Teams users will also have access to an “answer” function that allows clients to ask questions within the app and receive replies to hundreds of popular queries, such as sales, net income, bond yields, and industry classifications.

Lyxor Asset Management migrates to FlexTrade’s FlexNow EMS

FlexTrade Systems, a vendor in multi-asset execution and order management systems, has announced Lyxor Asset Management’s adoption of FlexNow EMS, which combines cloud, desktop, mobile, and API technology.  

FlexNOW aims to give Lyxor’s traders the ability to trade several thousand stocks and futures across scores of brokers and algos in seconds. The software has regular updates to add automation, more asset classes, and the ability to adapt to newer workflows.

MCA Finance chooses NeoXam to support its growth

Financial technology vendor NeoXam announced that MCA Finance has chosen its Nx Tracker3 technology to manage front and middle office activities. 

Nx Tracker3 will allow MCA Finance to manage and closely monitor its front and middle office activities and interactions with all of its partners. 

Cboe to enable electronic auctions for S&P 500 index options 

Market operator and trading solutions provider Cboe Global Markets has announced plans to enable its electronic auction mechanism to further serve market participants trading S&P 500 Index options (SPX) and S&P 500 Index Weeklys options (SPXW) on Cboe Options Exchange beginning Feb. 22. 

Cboe plans to activate its electronic crossing auction functionality, AIM (Automated Improvement Mechanism), for SPX and SPXW options during regular trading hours for trades up to a maximum size of 10 contracts. The auctions will aim to offer additional opportunities for price improvement throughout the trading day, leading to an opportunity for enhanced execution quality.

Origin launches Airbrush, a universal data standard aiming to optimize bond issuance

London-based fintech for debt capital markets Origin has announced the launch of Airbrush, an interface data standard that will aim to act as a universal language for bond issuance market participants. The initiative is being launched with the support of Clearstream and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, and follows Origin’s $7 million Series A funding round.

Airbrush aims to create a standard specification and naming convention for defining a new bond. Similar to FIX or an ISO standard, the aim is to foster seamless data exchange between market participants, making the issuance process more efficient, accurate and integrated, through the creation of one standardized data set.

The new language will exist as an open-source standard, with Origin coordinating activity on behalf of market participants. The first iteration of the standard relates to vanilla fixed, floating, and zero-coupon issuances, but new extensions for different structures and other features of a bond will likely be added over time.