iTB launch platform to access multiple fixed income venues
Software firm iTB launched a new platform connecting institutional investors to electronic fixed income trading venues to cope with the continuing challenge of sourcing corporate bond liquidity.
iTBconnect provides access to multiple fixed income venues through one interface to improve execution and help institutional traders navigate the increasingly fragmented market.
The system will use order processing and routing logic to improve best execution and let traders manage multiple orders simultaneously. It will also let buy-siders access multiple trading venues pre-trade while leveraging straight-through-processing for post-trade.
“Leading buy-side firms recognise the need for a technology solution for centralised access to these fragmented liquidity pools so they can get the best execution they need to remain competitive,” said Michael Chuang, CEO, iTB.
Nasdaq OMX links into Amazon cloud
Nasdaq OMX has teamed up with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide a cloud computing platform designed specifically for financial services.
FinQloud will offer data storage and management to help firms organise data to meet new regulatory requirements and will let firms hold data from all venues, not only Nasdaq OMX-run markets.
The initial launch of the service includes two solutions. Regulatory Records Retention, which lets broker-dealers store and retrieve data to meet US Securities and Exchange Commission rule 17a-4, while the Self Service Reporting tool enables broker-dealers to perform fast, on-demand analysis and reporting of their stored trade data.
“FinQloud, as a protected warehouse for regulated data, fosters efficient and reliable markets for investors. We will continue to work with AWS on cloud technology offerings that fosters transparency and improve the quality of our markets," said Eric Noll, executive vice president of transaction services, US and UK, for Nasdaq OMX.
The services will officially launch in the coming months, although no date has been set yet.
EDI launches adjusted pricing service
Exchange Data International (EDI) will offer an adjusted price feed service as part of its end-of-day pricing offering.
Stock closing prices have now been adjusted to reflect corporate actions and distributions that have occurred since the last trading day to reflect its true value.
The new price file now provides back adjusted historical prices – open, high, low and close prices – for any securities for which an adjustment factor was published on the day.
“The adjusted pricing file has been developed in response to our clients’ request for adjusted data that could be directly fed into their software or in-house database Since we were already providing end-of-day prices and adjustment factors it made sense to use both datasets and provide our clients with exactly what they need,” said Jonathan Bloch, CEO, EDI.
Meantime, software provider DST Global Solutions released a corporate actions automation solution, named HiPortfolio, to help clients incorporate corporate actions event information into their data flow.
Daiwa selects Torstone for back office
Software provider Torstone Technology will implement its Inferno post-trade securities processing system at Daiwa Capital Markets.
Daiwa will use Inferno for convertible bonds and associated equity/hedge products and for FX/MM treasury functions. Daiwa’s cash equities business will move to the system by the end of 2012, with fixed income securities to follow next year.
"Inferno is a 'one stop shop' where you go for everything. No matter what the product or whether you are in finance, compliance, middle- or back-office, the suite of functions you need are all in one place – and it is comparatively easy to add new ones,” said Matthew Hargreaves, CIO of Daiwa Europe.
Equinix opens third phase of London data centre
Data centre operator Equinix's London LD5 International Business Exchange facility has entered into the third phase of its expansion, with an additional 4,000 square metres of data centre space and 1,400 cabinet capacity added.
The fourth and final stage of the expansion will include an extra 16,000 square metres of customer space, with a 5,600 cabinet capacity.
“This facility allows us to offer highly resilient and secure co-location facilities and to add sector-specific enhancements and features as we go,” said Russell Poole, managing director, Equinix UK.
The LD5 data centre has more than 1,000 dark fibre connections into central London with global access to more than 900 network providers.
Qatar Exchange offers market watch products on Apple devices
The Qatar Exchange now offer market data on a new app available for devices that link to Apple's App store.
The new Mobile Market Watch app lets investors view statistics and historical price graphs in real time and trade securities.
Users can configure lists of their preferred stocks for direct access to the associated data, and notifications about stock movements and corporate events will be included in the application’s upcoming second release.
The introduction of this Mobile Market Watch is another step in the implementation of Qatar Exchange’s mobile services strategy. Other initiatives include similar market watch applications for devices running Google Android and Blackberry operating systems,” said Jassim Bukashisha, IT director, Qatar Exchange.