FinEx ETF has announced the launch of a new ETF, the FinEx Fallen Angels UCITS  ETF, that allows investors to capture risk premium in USD bonds classified as Fallen Angels. The fund  tracks Solactive USD Fallen Angel Issuer Capped Index. 

After the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the USD high yield space has seen a dramatic expansion  following the market turmoil in 2020. As a result, billions of dollars worth of bonds were re-classified from  investment grade to high yield. Particularly interesting to long-term investors remains one specific area of the  sub-investment grade segment: Fallen Angels. 

Fallen Angel bonds are defined as bonds that have recently been downgraded from investment grade to high  yield while belonging to the relatively attractive BB+ to BB- rating segment. Since these corporate bonds have  recently lost their prestigious investment grade, they are no longer eligible for investors, such as pension  funds, who often face restrictions for investments in non-IG bonds and thus faced some desinvestment  pressure.  

Through investing in Fallen Angel bonds, investors can benefit from higher expected risk-adjusted returns of  the sector. Solactive’s robust methodology allows for both segment representation and rules-based and  transparent selection of the index constituents.  

"As the indexed fixed income market matures, index strategies underpinning passive funds become more  sophisticated," comments Timo Pfeiffer, Chief Markets Officer at Solactive. "The FinEx Fallen Angel UCITS  ETF is a prime example of a passive strategy exploiting a structural characteristic deeply embedded in the  fixed income market previously captured by mostly active investors." 

Oleg Yankelev, CEO of AMC FinEx Plus in Russia, said: “We continue to rely on Solactive to deliver the best  possible solution for implementing index strategies. The FinEx Fallen Angel UCITS ETF is an exciting  opportunity to make a smart move among the global search for yield. This segment of high yield bond market  is exactly where many investors want to be – equity-like returns with fixed income risks.” 

Commenting on today’s positive UK economic data, Rupert Thompson, Chief Investment Officer at Kingswood, said: “UK retail sales bounced 5.4% in March ahead of the relaxation of lockdown restrictions, considerably more than expected. This encouraging news was reinforced by business confidence also beating expectations in April, with the composite Purchasing Managers Index moving up to 60.0, the highest level since 2013. These numbers will bolster hopes that the economy should now recovery rapidly on the back of the fast vaccine roll-out and lockdown easing. The good news was cemented by data showing government borrowing in 2020/21 of £303bn. While this amounted to a massive 14.5% of GDP, the highest level since World War Two, the deficit was rather smaller than the official forecast back in March.”

• Marco Distefano is appointed as Managing Director for Motor and Home at AXA Retail Insurance
• Marco joins from Aviva where he launched the Quote me happy.com brand 
• Anna Fleming appointed as AXA Retail Insurance’s Chief Operating Officer 
• Anna joins from the Motor Insurers' Bureau

AXA UK Retail Insurance has announced the appointment of Marco Distefano as Managing Director for Motor  and Home and Anna Fleming as Chief Operating Officer. The two senior hires will help the business achieve its  strategic ambitions and build on its innovative value proposition for customers. 

Marco Distefano joins AXA UK Retail Insurance in May as Managing Director for Motor and Home. This follows 15  years at Aviva where he most recently led the Aviva Direct business. Marco has a proven track record in leading  and transforming businesses and was responsible for the design, launch and leadership of the successful Quote  me happy.com brand.  

Anna Fleming also joins in May as Retail Chief Operating Officer (COO). Having trained as a solicitor, Anna spent  a number of years in key claims roles at Zurich, including Chief Claims Officer, before moving to the Motor  Insurers' Bureau (MIB) as COO. Anna has significant experience in delivering transformation projects. She led on  the MIB’s transformation programme and other key initiatives, including the implementation of the portal and  contact centre to deliver the Whiplash Reforms. 

They will both report into Tara Foley, Chief Executive Officer of AXA UK Retail Insurance. Both appointments will  take effect from 4 May. 

“I’m thrilled that Marco and Anna will be joining us. They both have a proven track record of driving innovative transformation and strategic change, and I’m excited to work with them on delivering our  strategy within AXA Retail.”

“I am delighted to be joining the AXA team at such an exciting time for the business and industry. We are  in an unprecedented period of change for the Retail Insurance market and AXA is well placed to lead  and innovate for customers. I am looking forward to working closely with the team and our distribution  partners to support our shared growth ambitions. Together we will evolve our strategy right to  proposition and create increasing value for our customers.” 

“It’s great to be joining AXA at this exciting time. I look forward to working with the brilliant Retail team  which Tara has assembled and really delivering for our customers."

To further push the digitalisation of trade finance in major trade hubs in the region, DBS Bank has expanded its offerings on Contour’s rapidly growing trade finance network to corporate customers in four key markets in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC).

DBS was the first Singapore-based bank to join Contour’s beta network and completed the first fully digital Letter of Credit (LC) transaction on the platform last year. The bank has now moved from Contour’s beta network to its production network to offer streamlined digital LC transactions for customers across Australia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore from this month.

Contour – also based in Singapore – and its ecosystem of bank partners such as DBS are working together to drive a collective effort to digitise global trade. Built on R3’s Corda, Contour’s network focuses on digitising paper-based trade finance processes, including the creation, exchange, approval and issuance of LCs, which are often cost-intensive and time-consuming.

APAC is a key region leading the digitisation of trade finance as banks and corporates seek to mitigate risk and enhance cost efficiency in the wake of the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditional paper-based LC processes have been a major obstacle to trade growth and created unnecessary complexity, cost and delays.

By joining Contour, DBS will be able to provide a fully digital end-to-end LC settlement process for its customers in Australia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, including the transfer of electronic trade and title documents.

This helps shorten settlement time, reduce paperwork and simplify complex trade processes. To date, those on the Contour network have seen great efficiency gains, reducing the process of an LC presentation by up to 90%.

Contour’s decentralised network also reduces forgery and fraud opportunities as it validates all identities on its secure network and leverages its technology partners to match trade documents to real-time data, greatly reducing the chances of fraudulent activity.

This digital solution not only is secure, but sustainable. Traditional trade uses trillions of pieces of paperwork and millions of courier legs which has a significant impact on the environment. Contour offers a cleaner, more efficient and sustainable option that allows companies to reduce their carbon footprint.

Carl Wegner, CEO at Contour said: “The addition of another major Asian bank to our production network highlights Contour’s growing presence in APAC as an industry standard for digitising trade finance documentation. DBS has been an important partner for Contour in our work to support Singapore’s position as a key trading hub and has already participated in a number of successful transactions on our network. We’re delighted to facilitate its transition to offering live services to customers in these four markets. This is another important step on our journey to becoming the new digital end-to-end infrastructure for global trade.”

Sriram Muthukrishnan, Group Head of Trade Product Management, DBS Bank, said: “Our partnership with Contour aligns with DBS’ ongoing efforts to drive greater efficiencies in trade and unlock strategic value for our corporate customers. We recognise that digitisation is a powerful enabler to simplify the highly complex nature of trade finance, especially for processes relating to letters of credit. Digitising trade processes is also an increasingly relevant and heightened priority for corporates to survive and thrive in the new normal and will form an integral component for resilient trade ecosystems of the future.”

Instamojo, a full-stack solutions provider for MSMEs, today announced its first ever acquihire of Bengaluru-based virtual theatre and vernacular content platform, Showman. The acquihire will see the on-boarding of the founding member team of Showman. Kshitij Bhatawdekar, Cofounder & CEO of Showman joins Instamojo as Product Manager, while Rutveez Roopam Rout, Cofounder & COO of Showman joins as User Research Manager. 

Focused on empowering the Indian MSME sector, the Instamojo platform offers products and solutions which enable small businesses to achieve digital independency. Through the pandemic, the company introduced several products to address the timely need of small businesses that were grappling to survive, and consequently recorded a 25% growth in merchant base. Early last year, the company acquired GetMeAShop (GMAS), an e-commerce enablement firm backed by Times Internet, and closed its Pre-Series C round of funding later in 2020.

Sharing his thoughts on the company’s first-ever acquihire, Akash Gehani, Co-founder and COO, Instamojo, said: “The Acquihire of Showman is a first for Instamojo and comes at a time when we as a company are evolving to move to the next level. We are happy to have both Kshitij and Rutveez join our team, bringing to Instamojo their expertise and knowledge in the product and consumer space, along with their entrepreneurial spirit. This acquihire will help Instamojo strengthen its product and tech prowess as we continue to innovate across multiple categories and achieve our vision of being the most trusted platform for MSMEs to start their business online.”

Founded in 2019, Showman operates a virtual theatre that enables users to buy movie tickets online and watch it from the comfort of their homes. The company recently clocked a compound monthly growth rate of 73.2% and has negotiated $30Mn worth of movie contracts across Indian film industries.

Speaking on joining the Instamojo team, Kshitij Bhatawdekar Founder, Showman said: “As an entertainment-focused platform, we have deep insights into the users of India. When we spoke to Instamojo, we realized our insights can drive real impact for the MSME space of India. Both Rutveez and I are excited and looking forward to beginning this new phase of our journey with Instamojo. We are also thankful to the Passion Connect team which connected us with team Instamojo and helped lead the entire acquisition process in a seamless manner.”

Passion Connect, an HR Advisory Unit incubated by Blume Ventures, played a vital role in this acquihire. Led by Sanam Rawal, Passion Connect implements innovative hiring techniques to find the perfect employee-employer fit for their 110+ portfolio startups. The Acquihiring vertical, led by Swati Gupta is one such technique.

According to Sanam Rawal, Lead Talent Advisor at Passion Connect, and Swati Gupta, Lead Acquihiring at Passion Connect: “When we first spoke to Kshitij, we saw a spark - a drive to solve real-world problems faced by the people of India. While Showman was a great product, we absolutely loved their talent and saw potential in their vision. Since we have keen insights into Blume Ventures portfolio companies, we felt that this is exactly what Instamojo is looking for in a team. Once we introduced Kshitij to Akash, the Cofounder at Instamojo, there was no looking back! We wish both teams abundant success in their goal to make products that positively impact the lives of millions of Indians.”

Finastra today announced the availability of its Fusion KTP integrated global treasury management solution in the cloud. Existing customers are already in the process of migrating to Finastra’s cloud solution which is hosted on Microsoft Azure. Accessing Fusion KTP in the cloud will give users the opportunity to accelerate innovation and time to market, and the ability to transform their operations at scale.

Fusion KTP supports treasurers within both banks and corporates in managing their evolving cash management, risk, reporting, compliance and accounting requirements. The solution offers end-to-end multi-asset coverage and supports collaborative cash and workflow management across customer organizations, allowing them to centralize their financial exposures - optimizing hedging cost, reducing risk and ensuring compliance.

“Making Fusion KTP available to customers in the cloud via Microsoft Azure builds on Finastra’s strategic vision to help accelerate the digital transformation of financial services, and help customers on their journeys to open,” said Riteesh Singh, Senior Vice President, Financial Messaging Marketplaces at Finastra. “Customers eager to transform their treasury operations will benefit from increased flexibility in adapting to constant change across global markets. In addition, they will be able to take advantage of the highest standards of security, resiliency, performance and operating excellence.”  

Cubillas Ding, Research Director at Celent, says: “Treasury functions are increasingly called upon to closely partner with internal business teams, as well as with innovative external technology vendors to navigate strategic and tactical course corrections, especially through uncertain markets. Set against global efforts to adapt and remodel, firms have to react to heightened business dislocations, altered competitive playbooks, in addition to a complex interplay of financial, liquidity and cyber risks. A leaner, more responsive posture will enable an organization to quickly steer towards optimal paths for growth, diversification and resiliency.”

Fusion KTP is used by banks and corporates - mainly in France, Belgium and North Africa. For further information click here.

IHS Markit now offers validated reference data on 2.8 million municipal bonds, delivering high quality terms and conditions from more than 55,000 issuers. This critical dataset includes 280 fields which are sourced from IHS Markit’s comprehensive new issue market data, issuer official statements and strategic data partnerships. By leveraging artificial intelligence, parsing technology and real-time primary market data feeds, IHS Markit can deliver both the highest quality and most expedient data in its class.  

Reliable municipal reference data is essential for accurately forecasting bond cashflows, calculating performance attribution, assessing relative value, powering trade execution platforms and risk management. With access to accurate and timely data across functions, firms can create a superior enterprise security master for swifter decision making, enhanced auditing and compliance protocols, as well as precise regulatory reporting.

“Our reference data can provide comprehensive and expeditious views on key information for a diverse range of municipal bonds,” said Gianluca Biagini, global head of Pricing, Valuations and Reference Data at IHS Markit. “These terms and conditions are a foundational component of our own municipal bond pricing solution, and we are excited to make them available to institutional customers seeking a more robust, yet cost-effective municipal data service.” 

IHS Markit aggregates and validates municipal reference data from a variety of sources to provide key data points, including general purpose descriptions, issuer intelligence, cash flows, ratings and optionality schedules, among other attributes. The firm also processes critical corporate action types such as mandatory redemptions, pre-refunding, and defaults. 

The IHS Markit municipal reference data is available through intraday and end-of-day feeds via API, SFTP, Excel add-in, and Amazon S3 transmissions.

This offering is part of IHS Markit’s services for the municipal bond ecosystem, which includes capital markets issuance solutions, valuations and economic advisory services. IHS Markit also offers reference data across government, sovereign, agency and corporate (GSAC) bonds, securitized products, CDS, equities and loans, as well as entity/issuer data.

For more information on pricing and reference data services from IHS Markit, visit https://ihsmarkit.com/products/pricing-and-reference-data.html.