Posts by Anna Reitman

News and Notes – Fintech, Technology

artificial intelligence, fountech.ai, guest post, Nicolas Kairinos

There are few more exciting developments set to reshape the world of finance than artificial intelligence, and while large traditional banks are often as nimble as freighters, they can be…

J.P. Morgan announces stablecoin for internal settlement

February 15, 2019

blockchain, cryptocurrencies, J.P. Morgan, settlement

J.P. Morgan this month became the first US bank to create and successfully test a digital coin representing a fiat currency. The JPM Coin is based on blockchain-based technology enabling…

Get the weekly SFM update – our February 15 newsletter is online

February 15, 2019

Headlines: US mutual fund and ETF seclending data causing trouble already (Premium); Opportunities for SFTR data in the private sector (Premium); Finadium training – Securities Lending 101 client webinar, March…

Fintech weekly M&A and partnerships round-up

February 15, 2019

Ellie Mae, mortgages, private equity, Thoma Bravo

Alibaba’s Ant Financial buys UK’s WorldFirst for reported $700mn Payments fintech WorldFirst announced that it’s becoming part of Ant Financial Services, operator of payment and lifestyle platform Alipay and a…

Fintech weekly fundraising round-up

February 14, 2019

fundraising, Rapyd, Stripe, Target Global, Venture capital

Fintech-as-a-Service Rapyd raises $40mn led by Stripe Rapyd announced a $40 million series B financing round led by General Catalyst and Stripe, with participation from Target Global, IGNIA and other…

PPM America goes live on CloudMargin platform for collateral automation

February 13, 2019

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

asset managers, automation, CloudMargin, collateral management, collateral optimization, Prudential

CloudMargin announced that PPM America, a subsidiary of UK-based Prudential, has gone live on its platform. The investment manager has some $120 billion AuM, which includes $9.31 billion managed by…

BI: Trump’s AI executive order gets a “show me the money”

February 12, 2019

artificial intelligence, China, Executive Order, Trump

To address concerns of China’s scientific and commercial advance of artificial intelligence and American competitiveness, US president Donald Trump yesterday announced a new executive order for a national strategy called…

SAI Global to buy BWise regtech platform from Nasdaq

February 12, 2019

acquisitions, BWise, Nasdaq, regtech, risk management

Nasdaq announced an agreement to sell BWise to SAI Global, expected to complete in H1 2019 for an undisclosed sum. BWise is an enterprise governance, risk and compliance (GRC) software…

Japan’s SBI and Singapore’s Antworks in RPA/AI joint venture

February 12, 2019

AntWorks, artificial intelligence, NLP, RPA, SBI

SBI Neo Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tokyo-headquartered SBI Holdings, announced it has entered into an agreement with Singapore’s AntWorks to establish SBI Antworks Asia. This joint venture is…

FSB identifies fintech, crypto assets, cyber resilience in 2019 priorities

February 12, 2019

crypto assets, cybersecurity, fintech, FSB

The Financial Stability Board’s work priorities are designed to promote global financial stability. Vigilant monitoring to identify, assess and address new and emerging risks to financial stability lies at the…

Blockchain has integration problems that financial markets have seen before

February 12, 2019

Blockchain, Technology

blockchain, Cindy Mallory, cryptocurrencies, interoperability, Oz Sultan, VRARA

The challenge for blockchain development in the US is two-fold: that there isn’t going to be any kind of standardized blockchain from any near-term perspective, and how that rolls out…

QuantHouse onboards Fenics US Treasuries

February 12, 2019

Fenics UST, QuantHouse

QuantHouse announced direct access via its API and global network to the Fenics US Treasuries (Fenics UST) platform. Fenics UST is a fully electronic US government securities trading venue owned…

Morgan Stanley to acquire Canadian SaaS fintech Solium for $900mn

February 11, 2019

acquisitions, Morgan Stanley, Solium

Morgan Stanley announced an agreement with Solium to acquire the equity plan management SaaS firm in an all cash deal valued at some CAD$1.1 billion ($0.9bn). Solium provides cloud-enabled services…

Tradeweb platform posts record January at $624.5bn yoy

February 11, 2019

China, credit, derivatives, ETFs, MBS, Repo, Tradeweb, trading platforms

While growth was broad-based across all asset classes traded on the Tradeweb platform, some of the sharpest gains were noted in investment grade and high-yield US credit, mortgage-backed securities, and…

Simudyne: advanced simulation in the next execution arms race

February 11, 2019

algorithms, best executions, data analytics, Simudyne

In the last 15 years, perhaps the most important development in financial markets has been algorithmic execution. Together with the fragmentation of liquidity across a multitude of new lit and…

Mauritius launches world’s first crypto custody regulation, positions as African fintech hub

February 11, 2019

crypto custody, crypto regulation, digital assets, Mauritius

Following the recognition of digital assets as an asset class for investment in September 2018, Mauritius’ financial markets regulator, the Financial Services Commission, issued, in November 2018, a consultation paper…

OECD backs ICOs for SMEs fundraising

February 11, 2019

ICOs, OECD, SMEs

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) are having a moment, with much media coverage and hype around their potential for profit making. This extends to their potential to address the SME financing…

Softbank’s first Europe investment is UK fintech OakNorth in $440mn round

February 11, 2019

fundraising, OakNorth, Softbank

OakNorth Holdings announced that it has secured a $440 million investment from the SoftBank Vision Fund and the Clermont Group. OakNorth provides SME loan origination and credit capabilities to North…

AI-driven ESG indices under construction for Solactive and Truvalue Labs

February 11, 2019

artificial intelligence, ESG, machine learning, NLP, Solactive, Truvalue Labs

Solactive, the German index engineering firm, will collaborate with San Francisco-based AI company Truvalue Labs, intensifying efforts to meet a significant increase in client demand for ESG indices. From its…

IHS Markit says finance industry largest blockchain market, predicts $462bn value by 2030

February 11, 2019

blockchain, IHS Markit

Taking into account the projected increase in the number of blockchain projects expected to launch and become commercially deployed in the coming years, market revenues are projected to reach $462…

Key takeaways for financial services from Cybertech Israel

February 10, 2019

Artificial Intelligence, Technology

cybersecurity, Cybertech, Insurance Risk, machine learning, Quantum Computing, Zurich Insurance

Transformation is a “magic” word that represents a slew of digital challenges coming down the pipe, which push banks to think about starting from scratch to find the right solutions.…

GBBC’s annual report highlights Fidelity, provides regulatory view

February 8, 2019

blockchain, cryptocurrencies, Fidelity Digital Assets, GBBC

No matter setbacks on the path, blockchain continues to inspire innovators to question unexamined systems and norms historically accepted as adequate, writes the Global Blockchain Business Council in their annual…

TD bank survey reveals cybersecurity fears and blockchain optimism among finance pros

February 8, 2019

blockchain, cybersecurity, TD Bank

Treasury and finance professionals anticipate more operational challenges in 2019 than in previous years, according to a recent survey conducted by TD Bank at the 2018 Association for Financial Professionals…

MIT SMR: what finance execs think about data as asset

February 8, 2019

Barclays, data analytics, MIT Sloan Management Review, SAS, Sun Life Financial

Deriving more value from analytics and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence starts with trust, simply because data collected for analytics must be trusted. On behalf of SAS, MIT SMR (Sloan…

Credit Suisse and Banco Best putting fund trade process on DLT

February 8, 2019

Banco Best, blockchain, Credit Suisse, DLT, FundsDLT

Banco Best and Credit Suisse Asset Management successfully processed live end-to-end fund transactions, using FundsDLT, a blockchain-based decentralized platform for fund transaction processing. The transactions included every part of the fund…

SunTrust and BB&T merger underpinned by tech and disruption

February 8, 2019

acquisitions, BB&T, SunTrust

SunTrust Banks and BB&T Corporation have agreed to combine in an all-stock merger of equals valued at some $66 billion. The combined company will be the sixth-largest US bank based on…

Get the weekly SFM update – our February 8 newsletter is online

February 8, 2019

Headlines: Finadium Big Ideas Quarterly Q1 2019 now online; DFAST and CCAR scenarios for 2019: what’s the worst that could happen?; Comments on whether the US NSFR will be a…

Financial system OS OpenFin integrates first real-time market data provider

February 7, 2019

market data, MDX Technology, OpenFin

MDX Technology (MDXT) has become the first provider of connectivity to real-time market data to integrate with OpenFin, the operating system for finance, enabling financial institutions and fintech firms to…

ComputerWeekly: UK fintech making banks Google-like

February 7, 2019

Atom, BBVA, Google, Lloyds

Don’t bank on a Google Bank, bank on banks becoming Google-like, as signaled by a fintech that’s bringing the Google engine room to banks. After three years working at Google…

Wharton: AI head at J.P. Morgan talks about bank’s initiatives

February 7, 2019

artificial intelligence, China, insurance, J.P. Morgan

J.P. Morgan hired Apoorv Saxena in August 2018 as its global head of AI and machine-learning services based in San Mateo, Calif, where he also oversees asset and wealth management…

Deutsche Bank will use CloudMargin’s public cloud for collateral infrastructure

February 7, 2019

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

cloud technology, CloudMargin, Collateral Management IT, Deutsche Bank, Margin

According to a joint statement, CloudMargin’s platform will be integrated into Deutsche Bank’s collateral infrastructure. The move is expected to save on costs and improve the client experience by creating…

ESMA to review fintech regulations and scrutinize crypto assets in 2019

February 7, 2019

crypto assets, ESMA, fintech, ICOs, regtech, suptech

In its annual work program, the European Securities and Market Authority said it would analyze the regimes of national competent authorities of fintech firms across the EU to identify potential…

Schroders: intelligence augmentation in asset management

February 6, 2019

artificial intelligence, asset managers, data analysis, Schroders

Despite recent advances, many applications of artificial intelligence are still in their infancy, which is particularly true in asset management, writes Mark Ainsworth, head of Data Insights and Analytics at…

Pagaya’s AI will manage $100mn ABS led by Cantor Fitzgerald

February 6, 2019

ABS, artificial intelligence, Cantor Fitzgerald, Pagaya

Pagaya, a global AI asset management fintech, announced $100 million in actively managed asset-backed securities (ABS) led by structuring agent Cantor Fitzgerald. The fintech will use its AI to select…

Institutional investor association tells SEC to consider blockchain for proxy voting

February 6, 2019

blockchain, Council of Institutional Investors, proxy voting, Securities and Exchange Commission

Technological change now offers the opportunity to construct a better system of share ownership based on traceable shares, with the potential to fix a panoply of problems associated with proxy…

Fintech investment hits record $31bn in 2018, M&A cools in H2

February 6, 2019

acquisitions, fundraising, Hampleton Partners

The latest Fintech M&A Market Report from international technology mergers and acquisitions advisor, Hampleton Partners, shows that 2018 witnessed the highest level of investment in fintech start-ups on record, with…

J.P. Morgan’s crypto views may be shifting to trading acceptance

February 5, 2019

Blockchain, Technology

Bakkt, cryptocurrencies, J.P. Morgan

About a year ago, J.P. Morgan’s chief exec Jamie Dimon was making headline-grabbing statements on crypto that were received with a measure of bewilderment and dose of humor, as can…

Kraken in “nine-figure deal” for crypto derivatives exchange and index provider

February 5, 2019

crypto exchanges, Crypto Facilities, cryptocurrencies, Kraken

San Francisco-based digital asset exchange Kraken announced the acquisition of Crypto Facilities, a regulated cryptocurrency trading platform and index provider for at least $100 million, without giving more specific details…

H2O.ai announces Alteryx, Kx and Intel initiatives

February 5, 2019

Alteryx, artificial intelligence, enterprise AI, H2O.ai, Intel, kdb+, Kx

In a slew of announcements, open source AI/ML provider H2O.ai announced a collaboration with Alteryx to advance data science workflows, a partnership with Kx for faster insights on time series…

Bloomberg: Canadian crypto chief dies and takes all passwords with him

February 4, 2019

crypto exchanges, cryptocurrencies, cybersecurity, Quadriga

Digital-asset exchange Quadriga CX has a $200 million problem with no obvious solution — just the latest cautionary tale in the unregulated world of cryptocurrencies. The online startup can’t retrieve…

Goldman Sachs, ANZ, HSBC among investors in fintech Bud for $20mn

February 4, 2019

Bud, fundraising, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Venture capital

Payments fintech Bud announced it’s raised $20 million in Series A funding from HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Banco Sabadell, ANZ and Investec, as well as VC partners 9Yards Capital and Lord…

Equilend partners with Stonewain for securities finance platform

February 4, 2019

Equilend, securities finance, Stonewain Spire

EquiLend has partnered with Stonewain to offer securities finance market participants around the globe the ability to manage their book of business on a single, comprehensive and integrated platform. The…

Space: the next data frontier

February 4, 2019

Artificial Intelligence, Technology

Citi, data analytics

As the market for space exploration grows and expands, the private sector is getting more significant in influencing and shaping it, said speakers at a recent conference in Tel Aviv…

Bloomberg: Paris fintech summit shows banking disruption in spotlight, crypto sidelined

February 3, 2019

blockchain, Ripple, Swift

Crypto fever has truly broken: that was a big takeaway this week from the Paris Fintech Forum, one of the biggest annual gatherings of its kind in Europe where 3,000…

IHS Markit invests in fintech Cobalt with plans to re-engineer FX post-trade

February 2, 2019

Cobalt, DLT, FX, IHS Markit, low latency

IHS Markit announced that MarkitSERV and Cobalt are collaborating to accelerate the delivery of post-trade processing services for foreign exchange (FX) markets based on blockchain technology. As part of its…

FCA authorizes UK firm to trade cryptocurrency CFDs

February 2, 2019

B2C2, CFDs, cryptocurrencies, derivatives, FCA

Cryptocurrency liquidity provider B2C2 announced that its UK subsidiary, B2C2 OTC, is now authorized and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority to arrange and deal in Contracts for Difference…

FT: UK fintech shuts US operation to save Ant Financial deal

February 1, 2019

Ant Financial, trade war, WorldFirst

A British money transfer company has abruptly closed its US operation in an attempt to avoid having its planned £700 million ($918.5mn) takeover by China’s Ant Financial derailed by American…

Boerse Stuttgart launches crypto app for trading

February 1, 2019

Uncategorized

BISON, bitcoin, blocknox, Boerse Stuttgart, cryptocurrencies, ether, EUWAX, Germany, litecoin, Ripple