This Week: SmartStream, LSEG/Finbourne, FactSet/Cobalt, DTCC, BNP Paribas, and more

SmartStream enhances exception management process for SmartStream Air

SmartStream Technologies has enhanced the exceptions management design of its cloud-native and artificial intelligence (AI) data reconciliations platform, SmartStream Air, to allow clients to manage risk more efficiently. The enhancement further simplifies the process of identification, prioritization, allocation, and audit.

The new design reduces manual touchpoints and will provide real-time and dynamic business insights and analytics that users can use, regardless of IT skills.

The enhancement is the result of the work from SmartStream’s Innovations Lab. In October last year, SmartStream launched Affinity, an observational learning AI solution that learns from manual data matching behaviors, which is available in SmartStream Air.

Other developments include the ability to continuously stream data records of multiple data formats in real time. SmartStream Air users can also export all data to a data lake, allowing it to be used for report-writing tools such as Tableau and Power BI.

SmartStream Air is also available in Mandarin for Chinese users, and data use cases.

LSEG partners with Finbourne to form digital data foundation

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has selected Finbourne, an investment management technology solution provider established in 2016, to form a digital data component for its wealth and investment solutions businesses.

As part of LSEG’s digital and cloud program, Finbourne’s Lusid platform—a cloud native, API-centric architecture, specializing in simplifying complex data hierarchies—will provide a scalable and virtual real-time data repository, consolidating multi-asset class data across LSEG’s business.

LSEG has also made a strategic investment in Finbourne, which will allow both entities to innovate and develop new capabilities together.

The Lusid platform was chosen for its ability to deliver an extensive data model securely through a robust Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure. The platform’s open-source architecture and APIs form part of LSEG’s strategy to create an open, transparent, and interoperable ecosystem across the group.

FactSet acquires Cobalt

FactSet has acquired Cobalt Software, a portfolio monitoring solutions provider for the private capital industry. The acquisition allows FactSet to expand its private markets offering and enhances its private equity and venture capital workflow solutions.

The acquisition closed on October 12 and is not expected to have a material impact on FactSet’s fiscal 2022 results.

Cobalt, founded in 2011 and headquartered in Boston, provides solutions that help private capital firms collect, analyze, and report on fund and portfolio company performance metrics and KPIs.

DTCC sees growth in trade matching service

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) has seen the community using its Central Trade Matching Platform (CTM) service for US domestic trade matching grow to over 1,800 firms, as organizations further consolidate global post-trade flows on a single platform.

Now, 99% of US trade flow volumes on the legacy DTCC Oasys services have migrated over or are in the process of migrating to CTM, its platform for central matching of cross-border and domestic transactions.

CTM automates the trade confirmation process across multiple asset classes, including equities, fixed income, repurchase agreements, and listed options. The service allows users to use DTCC’s Alert database of 11.5 million standing settlement and account interactions, Swift messaging, and, for US trades, direct integration with the Depository Trust Company—DTCC’s central securities depository subsidiary—for settlement.

As a result of this automation, firms can now manage their entire post-trade matching process on a single solution across asset classes and jurisdictions with an average 95% same-day matching rate.

Broadrigde adds AML solution

Broadridge Financial Solutions has launched its anti-money laundering solution (AMLS), extending its existing Intelligent Automation suite. The new solution provides an end-to-end machine learning-powered AML platform covering transaction monitoring, name screening, alert prioritization, and customer risk scoring.

The Broadridge AMLS caters to firms and institutions looking to enhance their AML surveillance to detect illicit money flows and bad actors. The solution is powered by Broadridge’s partner, Tookitaki, a Singapore-headquartered cloud-based AML transaction monitoring software provider.

Broadridge AMLS uses machine-learning techniques like AutoML, federated learning, and network science to detect complex money laundering activities and triage legacy system alerts through a smart alert management system that prioritizes alerts for either rapid disposition or increased due diligence.

The platform complements existing rules-bases systems by using supervised machine learning to identify thousands of risk factors to detect threats and self-learn through a proven Champion–Challenger framework that keeps pace with increasingly complex laundering techniques.

BNP Paribas launches Cortex ATS in the US

BNP Paribas has launched its Cortex ATS platform in the US, allowing it to provide the full range of its solutions and services to its quantitative and fundamental investor clients globally.

The Cortex ATS platform will provide clients access to a non-displayed liquidity venue accessible from all execution channels.

The ATS platform builds on BNP Paribas’ existing Cortex platform across equities, foreign exchange (FX), rates, and listed derivatives. Recent enhancements on the platform include new datacenter and exchange connectivity and upgrades to smart order routing logic and algorithmic trading strategies.

As an equity execution platform, Cortex Equities is the core of a broader equity execution services offering for high-touch, portfolio, electronic trading, and exchange-traded fund execution.

The Cortex ATS launch is also a key milestone in migrating Deutsche Bank’s Global Prime Finance and Electronic Equities platform to BNP Paribas. In 2019, the two banks agreed to transfer technology and key staff from Deutsche Bank’s Global Prime Finance and Electronic Equities business to BNP Paribas. The migration is in its final phase and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

Blommberg, Kaiko issue Figi for crypto assets

Bloomberg and Kaiko, a cryptocurrency market data provider for institutional investors and enterprises, have issued the first series of Financial Instrument Global Identifiers (Figis) for all bitcoin and ethereum instruments denominated in fiat currencies.

All Figis are issued via OpenFigi and Kaiko’s Instrument Explorer and are accessible to the public.

The Figi is an open standard of the Object Management Group (OMG) for issuing unique identifiers assigned to financial instruments, including equities, derivatives, bonds, municipals, and currencies. In September, it was accredited as a US national standard by Accredited Standards Committee X9.

Earlier this year, Kaiko became a certified provider for crypto Figis, working alongside Bloomberg as the registration authority for Figi, under the support of the OMG.

Figis for crypto assets allows for interoperability between industry participants such as digital asset exchanges, data aggregators, custodians, service providers, and regulators.