ION Markets announced the acquisition of Clarus Financial Technology, a provider of SaaS analytics, data, and research for global derivatives markets. ION is a global provider of trading, analytics, and risk management solutions for capital markets. Financial details are not disclosed.
As part of ION Markets, Clarus will offer its SaaS analytics products for real-time margin and risk management of both cleared and uncleared OTC derivatives. These will broaden ION’s XTP offering and complement ION’s JANUS pricing and valuation expertise with initial margin for OTC derivatives, as well as delivering new portfolio risk management analytics.
Clarus’ functionality also enables firms to comply with the new Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) regulation for OTC derivatives. Its data provides transparency into the trading of derivatives, covering exchanges, clearing houses, execution venues, and trade repositories. This data is relied upon by both buy and sell-side participants, brokers, service providers and regulators to analyze, inform, monitor, and act in traded markets.
“The acquisition of Clarus expands ION Markets’ offering within its XTP platform, further automating and simplifying the post-trade derivatives business. This strategic expansion demonstrates ION Markets’ leading position as provider of capital markets management solutions and our ongoing focus on digitizing and automating workflows,” said Hishaam Caramanli, ION Group chief product officer, in a statement.
“OTC derivatives is a market with regulatory tailwinds driving change and SaaS analytics and data is essential for success.
As part of ION Markets, Clarus will be able to best capitalize on this trend, maximizing the ability to serve customers while providing complementary services to ION’s XTP, JANUS, and other ION Group offerings,” said Amir Khwaja, CEO of Clarus Financial Technology, in a statement.