Bloomberg today announced that BNP Paribas has adopted the Bloomberg Agency Model (BAM) for their mortgage trading business through Bloomberg's Core Mortgage Premium (CMP) solution. These analytics are used to help support the functions of front office trading, risk management & regulatory compliance. CMP provides daily overnight analytics of Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) such as Specified Pools (Specs), Collateral Mortgage Obligations (CMO), and To Be Announced securities (TBA).

In addition to front office trading, CMP enables research and risk professionals to access the same mortgage functionality via desktop-based tools, including a programmatic API.  These tools give users full control over input assumptions and predictive model parameters, providing a consistent set of analytics with mortgage functionality on the Bloomberg Terminal and other Bloomberg solutions, such as the Bloomberg Indices and MARS.
“Bloomberg’s CMP solution provides us with reliable risk and attribution models, which are more important than ever in today’s market,” said Bassel Kikano, head of Agency Mortgages at BNP Paribas. “Using these models, we continue to be well-positioned to help navigate the constantly evolving mortgage market.”
Russel Parentela, Global Head of Cash Structured Products at Bloomberg, said: “We are pleased Bloomberg is able to support BNP Paribas’ mortgage strategy through their adoption of CMP solution and BAM model. We remain focused on providing our clients with flexible solutions that enable them to generate investment ideas that are supported by Bloomberg’s data and analytics alongside advanced risk management capabilities.”
CMP is accessed through Bloomberg’s Multi Asset Risk System (MARS), a comprehensive suite of risk management solutions. MARS, which is delivered on the Bloomberg Terminal and via APIs, provides risk analytics for cash and derivatives securities, from vanilla to complex and cash structured products. Bloomberg Risk solutions cover all traders and portfolio managers’ front-office needs across market risk, XVA, credit risk, collateral and SIMM among others, which are built on a common pricing library to provide consistency across client workflows.
The BAM model is used to calculate analytics for the Bloomberg US MBS Index. As part of the acquisition of Barclays Risk Analytics and Index Solutions, Bloomberg acquired this model and incorporated its successors into Bloomberg’s mortgage solutions, including CMP.

VibePay, the company powering the next evolution of payments through Open Banking, has become the first to offer account to account voice activated payments in Europe.

VibePay’s users can now pay or request payment from others with their voice directly (via Siri) and instantly from one UK bank account to another, with no fees. The solution was put into production after VibePay listened to community feedback on new tools to make account to account payments, quicker and simpler. Users can activate the voice-initiated technology using Siri with a sentence as simple as “Hey Siri, send money to Luke!”. It is the latest offering in VibePay’s mission to transform how consumers and businesses interact with payments. It comes ahead of the launch of VibePay Pro later this year, which will enable sellers and entrepreneurs - such as businesses built by content creators, video game streamers, social commerce sellers and in person sellers - to interact with their customers and audiences in new ways. By leveraging the capabilities of Open Banking, the service ensures sending or receiving money is not the end of a transaction, and instead enables meaningful on-going interactions to occur in-app.

Luke Massie, CEO of VibePay, said: “This first of its kind feature highlights another significant step in the evolution of payments in Europe. It highlights our commitment to matching the quality of  services provided by the likes of WeChat, CashApp, Alipay and Venmo globally. We are always listening to our users, whether they are business or consumers and believe transactions should be brought to life with conversations and actionable tools. As we move a step closer to launching VibePay Pro, we are excited about our journey in transforming payments for our community across Europe.”

Global analytics software provider FICO announced today a partnership agreement with international consulting and IT company msg group to support and resell FICO’s financial crime compliance and fraud products throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa. msg will offer businesses using FICO® Siron® Anti-Financial Crime Solutions consulting services on financial crime compliance, managed services for Siron solutions and governance services, including AML/KYC governance reports, FIU consultations, stress/effectiveness reviews and forensic investigations.

For more information: https://www.fico.com/en/products/siron-anti-financial-crime-solutions

“This partnership will give our Siron customers across Europe an even higher level of support, from one of Europe’s leading consulting firms,” said Dr. Sebastian Hetzler, vice president of FICO, who oversees the company’s financial crime compliance solutions. “The experts at msg have profound knowledge of the compliance environment, and years of experience with the Siron system, from the business and technological side.”

“Compliance teams, especially in tier 2 and 3 institutes, are small, and often become overburdened with both the volume of work and changes in regulations,” said Dr. Frank Schlottmann, Member of the Executive Board at msg. “We give them the flexibility needed to adapt more quickly, and we offer a compliance services subscription model that takes the headaches out of support. We help businesses get more from FICO’s best-in-class financial crime solutions.”

The FICO® Siron® Anti-Financial Crime Solutions have proven their effectiveness at over 1,300 customers in more than 100 countries — scaling across geographies, industries, and organizational sizes. The solutions cover AML, KYC, sanctions screening and other core capabilities.

New financial and risk management solution to provide actionable insight for SMEs to thrive

Experian has partnered with Open Banking Reporting (OBR), a data-driven risk management fintech, to enable UK lenders to provide crucial business support as they look to bounce back from the impact of COVID-19.

OBR’s solution OpenRep uses advanced analytics and robotic automation, connecting the SME’s accounting software and banking transactions with commercial credit and macro-economic data to deliver real time monitoring, proactive alerts, and actionable insights to both the lender and the SME.

OpenRep allows lenders to provide a highly personalised approach to risk assessments through the monitoring of financial trends within a business’ performance; identifying opportunities to support the SME and the insight to act when access to finance is needed most.

The OpenRep solution is powered by Experian’s full range of business information and macro-economic datasets, which provides a far deeper understanding of a business’ financial circumstances.

Eddie Curran, CEO of Open Banking Reporting, said: “We are very proud of our flagship product OpenRep and the positive impact it has for both SMEs and lenders.

“By linking real time financial data with advanced analytics and robotic automation we have developed an early-warning system that can help SME owners and lenders identify risks and opportunities. As we continue in a period of economic uncertainty, it is even more important that SMEs and lenders access not just the most up-to-date data, but the tools and technology that turn it into actionable insight.

“OpenRep helps business owners achieve their strategic goals and allows lenders to provide a more proactive and personalised service.”

James McGarva, Managing Director of Business Information Services at Experian, said: “Although lockdown has come to an end, it still remains a critical time for small UK businesses, so having access to the right support to help them on their road to recovery is essential. This is why our partnership with OBR is an important one.

“By providing a far more comprehensive view of an SME’s circumstances, it allows lenders to understand how they can better support their customers and help them thrive and survive in this challenging business environment. We’re excited to be playing a key role in this process.”

Experian will also act as a reseller of OpenRep, which further enhances its open data solution Acumen – a set of capabilities enabling lenders to make more accurate and faster lending decisions.

Fintech to use funding to accelerate development of its award-winning alternative investment document and data processing solution 

Canoe Intelligence (“Canoe”), a financial technology company redefining data management processes for alternative investors, wealth managers, asset servicers, and capital allocators, today announced the completion of an oversubscribed extension of its Series A financing led by Blackstone Innovations Investments and Carlyle, with participation from existing investor Hamilton Lane.

Since becoming clients of Canoe, both Blackstone and Carlyle have experienced significant efficiencies in automating their investment workflows, particularly related to document collection, data extraction and normalization, and data delivery into internal and external reporting systems. As a result of their experience so far, both firms decided to lead Canoe’s latest funding round and further support Canoe’s strategic direction and the industry adoption of automated technology.

Canoe completed its initial Series A funding round in February 2020 which included investments from multiple participants, many of whom are also strategic partners and advisors, including Hamilton Lane, Nasdaq Ventures, and other alternative investment leaders.

With this additional funding, Canoe plans to continue accelerating the product development of its award-winning platform that brings greater ease and efficiency to the management of data used for alternative investment analysis, accounting, and reporting. The company also plans to expand its product suite to include new tools, functionality and reporting capabilities, and continue to make alternative investment data available to clients in ways that further drive value and bottom-line impact. Finally, Canoe expects to further expand its presence geographically, and grow its leadership team with top-tier product, development, machine learning and data science talent.    

“We are fortunate to be partnering with some of the most prominent investors in the industry. With the support of Blackstone and Carlyle, we will continue to help asset managers, advisors, asset servicers, and allocators around the world streamline their operations, improve alternative investment data processing, and scale their businesses,” said Jason Eiswerth, CEO at Canoe Intelligence. “The additional capital will ensure we continue to exceed our clients’ expectations with products and services that are second to none.”

Since Canoe’s commercial launch in 2018, the company has established relationships with some of the world’s most sophisticated asset managers, service providers, family offices, and allocators, most recently including State Street. Canoe’s technology has enabled these companies to maximize the value of their data and focus more on investment decision-making, client service and other value-add functions.

“Since becoming Canoe clients, our team immediately experienced new efficiencies in our post-investment workflows from reducing latency in reporting, to populating our internal systems and investment book of record with the most relevant data,” said John Fitzpatrick, Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer of Alternative Asset Management Technology at Blackstone. “We have been highly impressed by Canoe’s technology through our first-hand experience and are thrilled to invest in Canoe’s future.”

“Carlyle has been investing in emerging technology providers that increase efficiency and allow us to harness our significant information advantage. Our partnership with Canoe is an important part of this effort, as it automates back office documentation processes and data extraction, reducing manual tasks and allowing our team to focus on higher value-add work,” said Eric Hanno, Partner and Co-head of AlpInvest’s Primary Investment Team at Carlyle. “We are very excited to support Canoe and to work closely with them on future product development.”

Carlyle is implementing this technology at AlpInvest, a private equity asset manager within Carlyle’s Investment Solutions segment.

Canoe was founded in 2013 within Portage Partners to streamline its operations and was spun out in late 2017 with funding from a select group of investors, clients, and advisors. This news is emblematic of Canoe’s successful year that has included industry award recognition and numerous new client engagements with institutional investors and family offices.

Open Banking Expo, the largest global community of Open Banking and Open Finance executives driving the biggest digital transformation in the financial services sector, will this November bring back together European innovators, disruptors and visionaries. 

On 4 November 2021, leaders and experts from across the breadth of financial services, including the UK’s largest banks, fintechs, credit card and payments providers, business lenders and regulators, will gather to share lessons learnt from the initial implementation journey and insights into the future of the industry, as well as what is required for continued adoption of Open Banking and Open Finance across the globe. 

With Token as its headline partner, this year’s event, the first in-person gathering in over 18 months, comes at a time when the industry is anticipating change in Open Banking governance in the UK and follows the mandate from the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) on variable recurring payments (VRP).

Todd Clyde, CEO of Token, said: “We’re delighted to support the Open Banking Expo UK as its headline sponsor. Since last year’s Confex, Open Banking has seen tremendous growth and is fundamentally changing the payments landscape. As Open Banking payments reach a tipping point, we are excited to reconvene together with industry innovators and visionaries to carry forward the mission that Token shares with Open Banking Expo: to drive the shift to an Open Banking-powered world.”

Adam Cox, co-founder of Open Banking Expo, said: “This year’s Confex comes at a time when we all anticipate change in the governance of Open Banking in the UK. It is therefore the perfect opportunity to bring together the Open Banking and Open Finance community in Europe to explore how far we have come on the implementation journey and what the next chapter will look like. Furthermore, the world of Open Banking payments has exploded in recent months and we’re delighted to welcome first adopters to share their insight as the market predicts continued growth.”

Headlining more than 80 speakers sharing topical and fresh content across five stages, the Confex is the perfect opportunity to reunite with industry friends and colleagues and to build new relationships. Speakers include: 

High-street banks

• Daniel Globerson, Head of Open Banking, NatWest Group

• Harcus Copper, Global Channel Lead, Barclays

• Hetal Popat, Open Banking Director, HSBC

• Duncan Lathwell, Director, Cash & Trade Sales, Midlands & East, NatWest Group

• Jason Wilkinson-Brown, Head of Digital Propositions, Partnerships & Open Banking, TSB

• Marion King, Director of Payments, NatWest Group

• Phil Gossett, Head of Innovation, Nationwide

Investment bank

• Winston Pearson, UK Open Banking Lead, Goldman Sachs

Challenger & international banks / alternative & business lenders / SME finance 

• Hayley Viner, Products Lead, UK payments, ClearBank

• Helen Bierton, Chief Banking Officer, Starling Bank

• Natalie Ledward, Head of Vulnerable Customers, Monzo

• Vicki Bracey, Open Banking Product Director, Mettle

• Nick Fahy, Chief Executive Officer, Cynergy Bank

• Noam Zeigerson, Chief Data & Technology Officer, Tandem Bank

• Richard Davies, Chief Executive Officer, Allica Bank

• Rob Hale, Chief Digital Officer, Regional Australia Bank

• Ylva Oertengren, Chief Operating Officer & Co-founder, Simply 

• Simon Cureton, Chief Executive Officer, Funding Options

Credit cards & payments

• Charlotte Duerden, UK Managing Director, American Express

• Nilixa Devlukia, Regulatory Expert, Payments Solved

• Sendi Young, Managing Director, Ripple

• Todd Clyde, Chief Executive Officer, Token

• Chris Higham, Head of Cards & Payments, Secure Trust Bank

Fintech 

• Sam Seaton, Chief Executive Officer, Moneyhub

• Will Billingsley, Co-founder, ApTap

• Dr Leda Gyptis, Chief Client Officer, 10x Future Technologies

• Dr Ruth Wandhöfer, Global Fintech 50 Influencer

• Rune Mai, Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder, Aiia

Policy, regulation and industry bodies

• Dr Bill Roberts, Head of Open Banking, Competition & Markets Authority

• Simon Lyons, Head of Ecosystem Engagement, Open Banking Implementation Entity

• Chris Hemsley, Managing Director, Payment Systems Regulator

• Becky Clements, Director of Payments, UK Finance

• James Shafe, Head of Consumer & Retail Policy Department, Financial Conduct Authority

• Liz Barclay, Small Businesses Commissioner

• Janine Hirt, Chief Executive Officer, Innovate Finance

• Phillip Mind, Principal, Financial Services, UK Finance

There are 500 tickets available to senior leaders and executives and the agenda is now live. Open Banking Expo was crowned ‘Best Conference Series’ at the 2020 Conference Awards for its conferences in the UK, Europe and Canada.

Kani payments, the Fintech for Fintechs and specialist data reconciliation platform, has partnered with leading payments challenger, Equals. Operating under an e-money licence, Equals offers a business account that combines cutting-edge technology, support from currency experts, bank-grade connections and high-level security to help businesses reach their goals. The platform offers international payments, faster payments for domestic transfers, expense management, current accounts, multi-currency cards and travel cash.

Equals was founded in 2007 out of a desire to get customers a better deal using technology and comprises well-established international payments and e-banking brands including Equals Money, FairFX and CardOneMoney. The partnership allows Equals to align its data operations across its brand and product portfolio, ensuring accuracy and a clear end-to-end process for managing all its payments data.

Growth-focused Fintechs, like Equals, are choosing to integrate Kani as it allows them to focus on their core offering. With large volumes of data needing to be reconciled, using a system like Kani means huge amounts of time and potential errors are saved due to the automated and accurate approach. Kani removes the need for finance teams to spend days manually sifting through complex transactional data, from multiple sources, to build their required reports.

Equals will now be able to automate, streamline and manage by exception, in addition to being able to create a suite of reconciliations and customisable reports. These provide key insights and regulatory reports - all of which can be achieved in seconds. Having instant access to Kani’s team of payments specialists, who understand the nuances and details of the payment chain, is a huge benefit to any scaling Fintech.

The Group’s goal is always to drive business efficiency and deliver technology that enables a low-friction customer experience for all types of businesses and people. For Equals, this partnership will further aid the pursuit of making it simpler to manage and move money around the world, so their customers can focus on the things that matter most to them.

Matthijs Boon, Chief Operating Officer at the Equals Group, commented:

“We are always on the lookout for the latest and greatest tech solutions to help us deliver the best service possible to our customers. Through Kani, we can streamline and further optimise our internal processes with the end-goal of making our teams’ and most importantly, our customers’ lives easier.”

Aaron Holmes, Chief Executive Officer of Kani Payments, added:

“It’s brilliant to partner with the Equals Group and support its payments data reconciliation and reporting operations. We’re privileged to be able to provide Equals with a better understanding of their numerous datasets which allows for meaningful process improvements and streamlining, while simultaneously freeing up time for them. A few of the team go way back too, so it's great to be able to work with them again.”

Simon England, Managing Director at the Equals Group, added:

“Working with Kani means we have been able to realise the true value of our full product suite in terms of cost and revenue, which makes running our business lines even easier.”

TORA, provider of the industry’s most advanced cloud-based order and execution management system (OEMS) and portfolio management system (PMS), has announced the significant expansion of their UK presence with a London office and new hires Peter Rank and Chris Hopton.

TORA has gone from strength to strength in Europe as the company continues to win new business and scale with its clients. Peter Rank has been brought on as Sales Manager, Europe and Chris Hopton as a Professional Services Manager.

Peter joins TORA from AxeTrading and Bloomberg AIM where he worked with clients across Europe. Peter will be reporting to David Tattan, the Head of Sales for Europe, and is responsible for driving new client acquisition for TORA’s software solutions.

Prior to joining TORA, Chris Hopton was a Senior Account Manager at Trading Screen and SS&C where he was responsible for delivery of fund solutions to his clients. Chris will be joining the global team of professional service managers to help TORA to continue to provide software and workflow solutions, fast onboarding and leading service to global institutional investors.

Chris Jenkins, Managing Director at TORA commented “We are excited to open the new London office, the company has seen substantial growth over the past 18 months with our expansion into new asset classes, an all-in-one front to back trading solution and new generation PMS.”

Jenkins continued “We are gaining solid momentum in Europe with our traditional equity as well as FX and Fixed Income markets. These hires are key to ensuring the company is positioned correctly with the right talent and jurisdictions, so that we can continue to deliver our clients the most innovative products and elite client service.”

TORA’s all-in-one OEMS & PMS offers a wealth of functionality covering execution, allocations, risk control, order management, real time general ledger, positions-keeping, P&L monitoring and SWAP finance modelling. The platform can also provide detailed reports, compliance management & advanced analytics with broker-neutral equity pairs algo suite. The system integrates with brokers, trading venues, custodians, prime brokerages and trade matching providers across the globe.

Launching on International Literacy Day, the Connected Classroom will support child English literacy through world-leading software and reused Colt laptops

Colt Technology Services has today announced the launch of its first globally inclusive and connected Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme with Colt employees at its core – the Colt Connected Classroom.

In partnership with London-based social enterprise Night Zookeeper, the initiative sees Colt donate over 1000 used laptops across the world to children at risk of being left behind by a lack of technology. Night Zookeeper’s charitable programme aims to address the digital divide and provide children with access to online creative writing games to improve their writing skills. The world-leading learning platform emphasises creativity and self-expression while teaching children core English skills. 

Every child receiving a Colt laptop will gain a license to the Night Zookeeper platform and an invitation to join the Colt Connected Classroom, a private and safe virtual space where they are encouraged by professional tutors, Colt mentors and their peers to take up creative writing tasks and improve their literacy skills. ​ 

Night Zookeeper established links in Colt countries where it identified children in need of laptops. Colt employee volunteers will help distribute the laptops from today as part of a wider CSR event taking place across the business. Over two weeks, all Colt employees have been encouraged to take two paid days to volunteer in their local community. Colt is organising group activities, donating to local charities and running charity auctions alongside.

The partnership between Colt and Night Zookeeper will create a sustainable and enduring initiative that delivers ongoing value to Colt’s local communities, supporting children’s literacy through digital tools and the Colt Connected Classroom.

Gary Carr, Colt’s Chief Financial Officer, commented: “At Colt, we believe in the power of connectivity, and the Colt Connected Classroom is a real example of how connectivity can make a positive difference in the world. Working to support our local communities has always been a priority for Colt. With this initiative, we want to help make the world more connected, more sustainable and fairer for all. By donating and reusing old laptops, we’re also saving them from going to waste. That’s why, with the help of our partner, Night Zookeeper, we’re excited to be creating a sustainable programme that brings benefit to people and the planet.”