Olivetree Financial, a leading independent agency broker, has appointed Fred Ward to its event driven team, in order to further hone the firm’s consultancy skills for the buy-side community. Fred joins from Magnetar Capital, where he headed up its European equities event portfolio, and his responsibilities at Olivetree will be to advise both long-fund and hedge-fund clients on how to navigate tough-to-model special situations. He is based in London and will work across Olivetree’s clients globally.

SunGard, in collaboration with Microsoft Corp., has launched a series of five financial planning applications, available through Windows Store, to help individuals improve their ability to reach their financial and retirement savings goals. The tools run quick assessments of an investor’s position to achieve their retirement objectives, show strategies to improve retirement funding, and illustrate fundamental financial planning preparedness.

Looking back at MiFID I, the Systematic Internaliser (SI) didn’t really take off, resulting in a meagre 1-2% market share in the FTSE 100 today. Many EU countries had different models to execute or internalise order flow, leaving the SI model on the shelf like a dented can of beans.

Axxsys Consulting, a successful and growing financial services consultancy firm, are announcing the acquisition of WS Technology, in order to strengthen their offering on Front Office Technology, Data Management, Performance and Regulatory Advisory Services.

Axxsys' acquisition of financial technology consultancy WS Technology, which had a turnover of GBP 3,000.000 in 2014, adds a more diversified offering to Axxsys Consulting's current client base, which includes major banks, pension funds and asset managers in Europe and North America.

Intelliflo, the leading provider of web-based business management software to over 1,450 firms has partnered with Lindenhouse Software’s leading document management solution Virtual Cabinet to deliver increased efficiencies for clients.

Virtual Cabinet is the preferred document management & cloud portal solution of 30 of the top 100 UK accountancy practices.  It combines industry-leading document management with secure client communication and the electronic sign-off of documents through an integrated portal.

 Omgeo, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and the global standard for institutional post-trade efficiency, today announced that Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) was the first global custodian to go live on the new Omgeo ALERT^SM GC Direct service.

Its ability to combine top-tier industry and trust expertise with leading-edge technology to reinvent traditional trust operations has earned FIS^™ (NYSE: FIS), a global leader in banking and payments technology as well as consulting and outsourcing solutions, a multi-year wealth technology and operations outsourcing commitment from Westwood Trust, a Texas-chartered trust company headquartered in Dalla

Banks are struggling to stay relevant to a shifting customer base that is driven by technology and need to rethink their business models and value propositions to stay relevant to customers, according to a study by Anthemis Group and Claro Partners.

RSRCHXchange officially launches RSRCHX today, its online marketplace for buying and selling institutional research. Built in consultation with asset management institutions and research providers, RSRCHX radically modernises the way in which users interact with research and enables the buy side to comply with the MiFID II research unbundling requirements.

BCS Financial Group, the largest securities broker on the Moscow Exchange, has been granted access to Euroclear, the world’s largest international central securities depository, through BCS Prime Brokerage Limited.

By using Euroclear, BCS Financial Group will broaden its product offering, enhance its operational efficiency, reduce risks and optimise the costs of trading, settlement and custody services. 

BCS anticipates using Euroclear’s services in the European, UK (LSE IOB), US and Russian markets (local equities and government bonds).