Forefront Fintech Digest Week in Review: June 20-23
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Broker News
Clear Street Makes First Chief Admin Officer and Head of Clearing Appointment
Hedgeweek | Staff
Clear Street, an independent, non-bank prime broker, has hired Kevin McCarthy as the firm’s first chief administrative officer and head of clearing, reporting to co-founder and chief executive officer Chris Pinto.?Clear Street says McCarthy will oversee the firm's clearing services for Market Makers, with responsibility for increasing operational efficiencies across the business and supporting Clear Street’s expansion as the firm moves into new markets and asset classes.
Jump Trading’s Top Executive in Europe Is Leaving the Systematic Trading Firm
Insider | Alex Morrell
Jump Trading Group's top executive in Europe is leaving the systematic trading firm after more than a decade. Peter Deaner, the proprietary trading giant's COO in Europe, is expected to exit by early 2024, people familiar with the matter told Insider A Jump spokesperson confirmed the departure. "Pete will be retiring from the industry in 2024, moving on from Jump Trading roughly at the end of Q1," the spokesperson told Insider in an email. "Over the next 9 months, Pete will work to transition his responsibilities across the firm."
Virtu Financial Launches Alert+ to Enhance Automated Block Trading Products
Traders Magazine | Staff
Virtu Financial has launched Alert+, a new workflow solution available in POSIT Alert that enhances the features of POSIT Alert by providing automated routing to Virtu’s Covert execution algorithm to seek non-displayed liquidity. “As non-displayed liquidity continues to grow around the world, our clients have asked for more tools to efficiently source this liquidity to improve their execution outcomes,” said Michelle Butler, European Head of POSIT Alert. Alert+ was built with the goals of enhancing our clients’ execution performance by leveraging Virtu’s unique liquidity seeking products and making clients’ lives easier via automation,” she added.
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Exchange, ATS & Clearing News
Crypto Exchange Backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity, Schwab Starts Operations
Wall Street Journal | Alexander Osipovich
A new cryptocurrency exchange backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab is seeking business from brokers and investors interested in digital assets but wary of troubles at FTX and Binance. The venture, EDX Markets, quietly began executing trades in recent weeks. EDX is expected to announce that it has gone live later Tuesday, nine months after its backers unveiled their plans for the crypto marketplace. The launch shows that some Wall Street firms remain interested in crypto despite a regulatory onslaught by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a market that has cooled off substantially over the past 18 months.?
Aquis Promotes from Within for New Sales Head and New Head of Liquidity and Trading Strategies
The TRADE News | Annabel Smith
Aquis Exchange has promoted two of its long-standing employees to take up new roles as head of sales and head of liquidity and trading strategies. Pasquale Crispi has been promoted to head of liquidity and trading strategies after serving at the exchange for just under 10 years as a director of sales and business development. In his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing the exchange’s liquidity provider relationships. Prior to joining Aquis Exchange, Crispi previously served in various sales trading and trading services roles across Instinet, AKJ, Curzon Securities and Liquidnet Europe.
SIX Swiss Exchange Hires Former Berenberg Senior Electronic Trader to Replace Departing Hlad
The TRADE News | Annabel Smith
SIX Swiss Exchange has tapped a former Berenberg senior electronic trader to replace departing head of equity sales for UK and Ireland, Jennfier Hlad, when she departs in the coming months, The TRADE can reveal. Alexandra Roby will take up the role after most recently spending the last two and a half years at Berenberg as a senior electronic trader, departing in November last year. Prior to joining Berenberg, she spent two years with Goldman Sachs as an electronic trader in its securities division.
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Vendor News
Bloomberg Expands D&I Dealer Initiative with Introduction of New US Treasuries White Label Solution
The TRADE News | Wesley Bray
Bloomberg has introduced a white label solution for US treasuries, allowing a wide range of broker dealers to provide liquidity for trades initiated on its platform as part of its D&I dealer initiative. New minority-owned broker dealers for US treasuries have been added to the offering, including CastleOak Securities, Mischler Financial Group and Tigress Financial – with more firms expected to be on-boarded and integrated soon. The treasury offering adds to Bloomberg’s existing D&I dealer programme, which was introduced in 2017 with boutique investment bank CastleOak Securities.
Trading Technologies Establishes New FX Business Line, TT? FX, Appointing Industry Veteran Tomo Tokuyama to Lead Initiative
PR Newswire | Staff
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology platform provider, today announced that the firm has established a new foreign exchange (FX) business unit, TT FX, and appointed industry veteran Tomo Tokuyama to lead it. Tokuyama has an extensive FX trading track record on the buy side and sell side, most recently as Head of Trading at a multi-billion dollar quantitative fund manager. TT made the announcement at the start of the FIA International Derivatives Expo (IDX) in London.
Insurance Quantified Acquires Groundspeed Analytics, Creating the Leading Underwriting Technology Provider to the Commercial P&C Industry
Press Release | N/A
Insurance Quantified, a leading commercial P&C underwriting technology provider, today announced it has acquired Groundspeed Analytics, the market leader in ingestion and data solutions for the commercial P&C industry. The combination strengthens Insurance Quantified’s market leadership in underwriting technology and furthers its mission to maximize the value of data for commercial P&C insurers.?Both companies have made great strides introducing technology that enables faster, more informed underwriting decisions.?
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Buy-Side News
Carlyle CEO to Take on Banks by Supercharging Financing Unit
Bloomberg News | Dawn Lim
Carlyle Group is a bit player in arranging loans for companies, but new Chief Executive Officer Harvey Schwartz is betting the private equity shop can do more to compete with banks. He asked a team to craft a plan to grow a business that secures loans for portfolio companies. By expanding a unit that acts as an in-house investment bank, Carlyle can control costs and recoup some of the roughly $1 billion in annual fees it pays to banks. “It’s kind of obvious white space,” Schwartz, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. co-president, said at an investor conference this month. “Why aren’t we bigger already?”
JPM Asset Management Hires for FICC Team
The Full FX | Colin Lambert
领英推荐
JP Morgan Asset Management has hired an interest rates expert from TD Securities for its global fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) team. Priya Misra is joining as managing director and portfolio manager in JPM AM’s Core Plus team in its FICC business, she will report to Kay Herr, head of research and incoming US chief investment officer for global FICC. At TD, Misra was head of global Rates research for almost eight years. Prior to TD, she was head of US Rates research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for five-and-a-half years.
Abu Dhabi Is the New Switzerland for Brevan Howard
Financial News | Bilal Jafar
Abu Dhabi is the new hot spot for Brevan Howard’s global expansion as the hedge fund moves its founding partner Trifon Natsis to the UAE capital. Brevan Howard’s new Middle East regional hub in the Abu Dhabi Global Market will include representation from its portfolio management, research, trading, risk, operations, client services, business development, compliance and technology teams, a person familiar with the matter told Financial News.
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M&A / Investment News
Illuminate Financial Raises $235m Venture Fund
Markets Media | Staff
Illuminate Financial, a financial services-focused venture firm, has closed its third fund, a $235 million fund to invest in early-stage businesses solving problems for financial institutions. Illuminate Financial will use the capital to make further investments in Series A companies driving innovation in the financial services industry. Illuminate Financial’s investors include some of the largest and most well-respected financial institutions that provide a broad array of banking and market infrastructure services.?
Crypto Custody Firm BitGo Cancels Acquisition of Rival Prime Trust
CoinDesk | Jamie Crawley & Danny Nelson
Cryptocurrency custodian BitGo terminated its acquisition of rival Prime Trust after earlier this month reaching a preliminary agreement to acquire the firm for an undisclosed amount amid speculation it was facing bankruptcy. BitGo ended the process after "considerable effort and work to find a path forward with Prime Trust," the firm tweeted on Thursday. "This decision was not made lightly and BitGo remains committed to our mission to deliver trust in digital assets."
Nasdaq Transfers European Power Business To EEX
Markets Media | Staff
The European Energy Exchange and Nasdaq, announced they have reached an agreement under which EEX will acquire Nasdaq’s European power trading and clearing business, subject to receipt of customary regulatory approvals. The transaction will involve the transfer of existing open positions in Nasdaq’s Nordic, French, and German power futures as well as European carbon emission allowance futures (EUAs) to EEX’s clearing house European Commodity Clearing (ECC). No financial details of the deal are disclosed.
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Regulatory & Legal News
JPMorgan Mistakenly Deleted 47 Million Records, SEC Alleges
Bloomberg News | Austin Weinstein
JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay a $4 million fine to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that the bank mistakenly deleted millions of electronic records, leaving communications unavailable to regulators in a dozen investigations.?The SEC alleged Thursday that JPMorgan Securities permanently deleted 47 million electronic records, including emails and instant messages, from January 2018 to April 2018.?As a result, the regulator said that JPMorgan could not come up with requested documents in eight SEC investigations and four other regulatory probes.?
MiFID U-Turn Plan Would Reverse Ban on Free Research for Clients
Bloomberg News | Justina Lee
A piece of European Union legislation that forced financial firms to separate the cost of investment research from that of trading could be reversed under plans being championed by member states. In upcoming negotiations with the European Parliament aimed at revising MiFID II — a set of broader reforms that came into force in 2018 — the states will seek a near total U-turn on the rules behind so-called unbundling. Their proposals would mean an investment firm would only have to inform clients whether they are paying for research and trading jointly, and record the charges attributable to each.?
Ex-Goldman Banker Convicted of Passing Insider Tips to Squash Pal-Turned-Informant
Bloomberg News | Bob Van Voris, Chris Dolmetsch & Greg Farrell
A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker was found guilty of passing inside information on deals to a once-close friend and squash partner who became the prosecution’s star witness. Brijesh Goel was convicted Wednesday of tipping off former Barclays Plc trader Akshay Niranjan about deals at Goldman. Niranjan made some $280,000 in illegal profits trading on the information but later flipped on his friend, recording their conversations and cooperating with federal investigators before taking the stand at Goel’s trial in Manhattan federal court.
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Crypto?& Digital Asset News
Binance Reaches Deal With Government to Avert U.S. Shutdown
New York Times | David Yaffe-Bellany & Matthew Goldstein
The Securities and Exchange Commission reached a deal with Binance late Friday that would allow the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange to keep operating in the United States and safeguard customer assets as the company battles a government lawsuit. After filing fraud charges against Binance on June 5, the S.E.C. moved to freeze the firm’s U.S. assets in a move that the exchange’s lawyers said would put it out of business in the United States. But in a court filing on Friday, the S.E.C. said that the two sides had reached a compromise after several days of court-ordered mediation.
Trading Teams at Crypto.com Exchange Raise Conflict Questions
Financial Times | Nikou Asgari
Crypto.com, the exchange endorsed by Hollywood actor Matt Damon, deploys internal teams to trade tokens for profit, the latest sign of potential conflicts of interest in the digital assets industry. The Singapore-based group, one of the top-10 crypto marketplaces in the world, operates proprietary trading and market making teams, according to five people with direct knowledge of the matter.?In most markets, exchanges match buyers with sellers at the most competitive transparent price. Market making and prop trading are usually conducted by separate private companies.
Crypto Exchanges Should Phase Out Internal Market Makers, Says Bitmex Boss
The Block | Ryan Weeks
Who better to weigh in on alleged trading desk shenanigans at Crypto.com than BitMEX, the derivatives exchange that faced similar accusations — which it denied — several years ago? Stephan Lutz, acting CEO and group CFO at BitMEX’s parent company, 100x Group, thinks crypto exchanges that make money from proprietary trading should by now have phased out internal market making teams.“It’s not needed anymore,” Lutz said in an interview. “You have critical mass."
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1 年Thanks for posting.