This Week: State Street/MarketAxess, Aquis, Linedata & More

State Street Global Advisors launches MarketAxess Corporate Bond ETF

State Street Global Advisors, the asset management division of State Street Corporation, has announced the launch of a Standard and Poor’s Depositary Receipt (SPDR) MarketAxess Investment Grade 400 Corporate Bond Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), titled LQIG.

LQIG has been designed to leverage the benefits of an ETF alongside the tradability benefits of investing in US investment grade corporate bonds, the latter of which could offer higher liquidity compared to the broader US corporate bond market.

LQIG intends to offer investors credit exposure, with the potential for tighter bid-ask spreads, lower discounts, and more transparency into the underlying holdings’ real-time valuations.

The SPDR MarketAxess Investment Grade 400 Corporate Bond ETF seeks to track the MarketAxess US Investment Grade 400 Corporate Bond Index, which has been developed to be a more data-driven approach to indexation.

Aquis Exchange collaborates with data provider to deliver analytics

Operator of pan-European equity trading exchanges, Aquis Exchange, has collaborated with data and analytics provider for the capital markets, BMLL, to deliver venue, market, and liquidity analytics to its exchange members.

BMLL will work to provide third-party verification of the availability of passive liquidity dynamics on Aquis Exchange versus European exchanges, to offer insights into market structure dynamics.

Aquis intends to leverage BMLL’s granular Level 3 Data and analytics to monitor and evidence liquidity dynamics. This insight could unlock further trading opportunities for Aquis Exchange members, increasing fill probabilities at better rates and minimum market impacts. 

Linedata launches Cognitive Investment Data Management Service

Asset management and credit tech provider, Linedata, has launched a front-office data management solution to help asset managers and alternative funds. Linedata’s Cognitive Investment Data Management Service utilizes artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP), to help asset managers and credit analysts be more proactive with their data.

The service has been developed to enable teams to act faster to spot alpha through customizable insights and intelligent data, while gaining back time and productivity.

agora gains FCA regulatory authorization

Financial solutions provider, agora Digital Capital Markets, has become authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Separately, agora has announced a receipt of a series of global certifications.

agora first secured the ISO 27001 certification for its information security management system back in 2021. This certification is designed to ensure that only authorized persons have the right to access and change information.

The firm has also received the ISO 14001 certification. This certificate focuses on the company’s environmental management systems.

Wellington Management Joins Finos as a Platinum Member

Investment management firm, Wellington Management, has joined The Fintech Open-Source Foundation (Finos) as a Platinum Member. In addition to this, Wellington’s co-head of technology, Madeleine Dassule will join the Finos board of directors.

This membership intends to highlight the value open-source collaboration could bring to buy-side firms, with Finos being recognized as the neutral umbrella for industry constituents of the financial services ecosystem to contribute to open-source technology.

As Platinum representative on the Finos Governing Board, Dassule represents the buy-side of the ecosystem and could influence the direction of the foundation.

Johannesburg Stock Exchange launches new equity market data analytics platform

Johannesburg Stock Exchange has deployed a new information service in collaboration with data and analytics provider for the trading and investment community, big xyt.

Johannesburg Stock Exchange intends to leverage big xyt’s Liquidity Cockpit for security analytics.

The analytics offering, named JSE Trade Explorer, will be delivered directly to trading participants of the exchange’s cash equity and Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) markets, under a white labelling arrangement.

The offering’s tools are fully hosted and web-based, which enables the service to be accessible without the need for IT integration or support by end-users.

LedgerEdge launched regulated DLT trading platform for corporate bonds

Trading solutions provider, LedgerEdge, has launched a regulated corporate bond trading platform that has been built using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The new platform is currently live.

LedgerEdge’s digital market is a decentralized system that is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF), and is powered by R3’s Corda, a scalable, permissioned peer-to-peer distributed platform that supports applications which foster and deliver digital trust between parties in regulated markets.

Banking Circle partners with Gresham for cash control

Banking services provider, Banking Circle, has adopted software and post-trade services firm, Gresham Technologies’ Control solution for cash reconciliation.

Gresham’s Control offering intends to enable Banking Circle to outsource non-core business functions, including end-to-end management of Gresham’s Clareti platform.

The partnership could pave way for a more streamlined experience for customers and more scalable operations for the bank, due to Gresham’s solution operating as a cloud-based managed service.