Octopus opts for Fidessa ETF trading solution
Multi-manager specialist firm Octopus Investments has extended its use of trading technology provider Fidessa’s buy-side Workstation to trade exchange traded funds (ETFs). Already an established user of the Workstation, Octopus first deployed Fidessa’s execution management system in 2009.
Fidessa’s buy-side Workstation is a broker-neutral, low-latency trading workstation designed to give greater control of the execution process and provide instant access to cross-asset direct market access tools, algorithms and program trading. Delivered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, it is supplied with market data and trading integration via the Fidessa network. The network provides low-latency FIX connectivity between 2,700 buy-sides and 650 brokers across 160 global markets.
“We needed a solution that would give us a high level of control, allowing us to route our ETF orders to brokers quickly and efficiently, and the Workstation provides that,” said Dan Sinclair, OEIC operations manager at Octopus Investments. “The ease of integration with our internal systems also complements our robust operational requirements.”
Compliant Phones to provide investment bank communications
International mobile voice and data recording company Compliant Phones has won multi-million pound contracts with five global investment banks to supply mobile and data recording solutions. The two-year deals have been signed to ensure the banks are fully compliant with UK regulator the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) mobile and data recording regulations, coming into force on 14 November 2011.
The five investment banks chose Compliant Phones’ cloud-based mobile recording solution following extensive product and security evaluation. The technology – underpinned by Compliant Phones’ patented Inline Mobile Recording – performed well under scrutiny to ensure full recording compliance was achieved.
“In a compliance-driven market where a significant proportion of banks are opting for the lowest common denominator option, today’s deals highlight that our solution is reliable, strategic and strongly endorsed globally,” said Curtis Nash, Compliant Phones’ CEO. “In such a tight economic climate, investment banks should be reassured that our technology will fully support FSA compliance guidelines.”
SunGard connects to market maker GETCO
Financial technology provider SunGard has extended the order routing connectivity of the SunGard Global Network (SGN) with a new link to GETMatched Europe, the European broker-crossing network operated by market maker GETCO. GETMatched matches brokers’ orders with passive flow from GETCO’s European market-making operation.
By adding connectivity to GETCO Execution Services’ GETMatched crossing network, SGN aims to help SunGard’s customers better manage fragmented liquidity in the European equity markets. The solution offers connectivity to major European exchanges, most European multilateral trading facilities and dark pools.
“For brokers focused on safeguarding the anonymity of their orders, GETMatched provides an order matching solution that is designed to prevent information leakage and offers direct access to the liquidity of a global market maker,” said Virginie Saade, head of European sales for GETCO. “We are active on the most liquid stocks of the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland and the Nordic countries, and plan to extend coverage further through SGN.”
Nordic Investment Bank selects Omgeo OTC derivatives solution
Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), an international financial institution based in the Nordic and Baltic countries, has selected Omgeo ProtoColl, an end-to-end collateral management solution for their over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trades, from post-trade services provider Omgeo.
With Omgeo ProtoColl, NIB is able to automate its collateral management process for OTC derivatives, reducing exposure to operational and counterparty risk while increasing efficiency. By eliminating manual processes, NIB is able to improve its internal and external collateral management processes. In addition, it is able to reconcile its OTC portfolios with counterparties, better manage cash collateral, complete margin calculations and issue notices directly to counterparties. All OTC derivatives trades will be subject to timely confirmation, robust auditable processes, as well as frequent reconciliation and effective dispute management.
“As OTC derivatives trading volume continues to increase, we needed a single solution that would provide us with the insights to effectively measure and manage our counterparty risk,” said Lars-Ake Olsson, senior director, NIB. “We chose Omgeo ProtoColl because of its robust capabilities as well as its accelerated implementation timeframe.”
AlgoSpan offers high speed London-Frankfurt/Stockholm link
AlgoSpan, a provider of high performance low latency trading technology solutions, has improved the low-latency routes on its market access platform (AlgoNet) to deliver ‘shortest path’ connectivity to the trading community.
AlgoSpan links London to Frankfurt with a one-way latency of 4.324 milliseconds and to Stockholm in 11.045 milliseconds. The upgrade provides faster access to the Equinix FR2 International Business Exchange data centre in Frankfurt and NASDAQ data centre in Stockholm from its network hub at Interxion LON1 in London.
AlgoSpan connectivity services are designed to deliver pre-installed capacity on a platform dedicated exclusively to the needs of the financial community and optimised for high-frequency and low-latency traders.
“We are committed to delivering leading low latency solutions to our customers and responding to the ever-increasing connectivity demands remains a key part of our ‘shortest path’ strategy,” said Robert Bicket, CEO at AlgoSpan. “We are always seeking to invest in new routes and upgrade our infrastructure to provide our customers with a competitive speed advantage that enables them to improve business performance.”
The firm’s Market Access Platform provides fully managed exchange connectivity for direct access to major equity and derivative markets. It delivers round trip access – high capacity routes focused on latency, the latest generation equipment and network management that eliminates any ‘invisible’ sources of latency.
Numerix updates CrossAsset offering
Numerix, a provider of cross-asset analytics for derivatives valuations and risk management, has released new structuring capabilities for OTC derivatives and structured products in its latest version of Numerix CrossAsset.
Numerix CrossAsset, Version 9.6, is now able to provide users with enhanced capabilities to address the growing demand for hedging dividends and the increasing need for commodity futures and forwards. In addition to enhancements to facilitate fast deal definition, Numerix also introduced ‘User Defined Objects’ to accelerate deal and data integration into proprietary and partner trading and risk systems. Within the CrossAsset infrastructure, users can now aggregate multiple objects to create a master ‘deal’ or ‘data’ object. This ‘pairing’ enables deal replication, deal portability and rapid production-quality deployment for bespoke deal types within a trading system environment without new code being written.
“Given Numerix full coverage of OTC derivatives trade types from vanilla to exotic, we continually look for new and innovative ways to enhance our user’s time and experience with our technology,” said Steven R. O’Hanlon, president and COO of Numerix. “For vanilla instruments, we introduced a suite of analytic pricers for commonly traded deal types, for the most exotic, bespoke transactions quant developers can utilise our scripting language. Our PaymentStreams initiative captures 80% of the derivative instruments in the market.”