Abacus Group, a leading provider of hosted IT solutions and application hosting for alternative investment firms, today announced that CRN^®, a brand of The Channel Company, has recognized Abacus Group for earning its 2018 Triple Crown Award. Abacus Group is one of just 46 solution providers in North America that reached the qualifying revenue, growth and technical expertise to be named on three of CRN’s prestigious solution provider lists, earning them the Triple Crown Award this year.

Each year, CRN announces rankings to distinguish solution providers who are outshining their peers in the IT channel. CRN considers it a great accomplishment for a solution provider to make any of its lists, and being named to all three lists deserved special acknowledgement. This year’s CRN Triple Crown Award winners rank among the largest IT solution providers by revenue in North America on the Solution Provider 500 list; are among the fastest growing organizations in the channel today on the Fast Growth 150 list; and have made the Tech Elite 250 list by receiving the highest level certifications from leading vendors.

“As Abacus Group celebrates its 10 year anniversary this year, we are proud to look back at the incredible growth, global expansion, and client wins we’ve achieved,” said Chris Grandi, CEO of Abacus Group. “We are thankful to The Channel Company for its recognition of our success and the high level of technical expertise we are known for providing, and look forward to continuing to deliver award-winning service to our clients.”

Originally founded in San Francisco in 2008, Abacus Group has grown into a global IT services firm, with seven offices across the U.S., a Europe division based in London (UK) and a current headcount of 117 employees. The company has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based infrastructure solutions to the global investment management market, providing an enterprise technology platform specifically designed for the unique needs of the financial services industry. Recently, Abacus Group reported 20% growth in revenue (year-over-year), a 23% increase in number of end-users on its flagship IT-as-a-Service product, AbacusFLEXä, and a 28% increase in number of client firms on its cloud platform. 

“Each Triple Crown award-winner has simultaneously generated high enough revenue to be be ranked on the Solution Provider 500 List, achieved double- or triple-digit revenue growth for recognition on the Fast Growth 150, and devoted significant time and effort to top certifications to attain Tech Elite 250 status,” said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. “Congratulations to each one of these high-achieving companies who continue to raise the bar for success in the IT Channel.”

The need for investing in Cryptocurrency is steadily rising in East Africa; specifically Kenya as more and more people are gradually gaining trust/confidence in the use of Cryptocurrency. Though Cryptocurrency is relatively new and comes with a learning curve, the benefits are a plethora; thus it is good for both sellers and buyers. Cryptocurrency offers a massive wealth distribution globally as well and presents financial freedom to individuals.

In 2016, Citibank analysts estimated that Kenya’s bitcoin holdings were about 2.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), making it among countries with the largest bitcoin holdings. This has created demand of peer-to-peer Cryptocurrency marketplaces in the East African market because more people are primed for the Cryptocurrency market.

In just 3 years, Paxful (www.Paxful.com) has become one of the world’s leading peer-to-peer Cryptocurrency marketplaces built on open source bitcoin and blockchain technology. Boasting $15M in bitcoin global transactions per week, the rapidly expanding platform has solidified an enviable reputation for security and efficiency. Their entrance into the East African market comes at a time where Kenya’s M-PESA system, a mobile phone-based money transfer, and micro-financing service recently announced a bitcoin device, with one in three Kenyans now owning a bitcoin wallet  thus making it more convenient for Kenyans looking into buying and selling bitcoin on peer to peer Cryptocurrency marketplaces.

Paxful has helped to connect buyers and sellers to easily exchange bitcoin, accepting more than 300 different payment methods (for example, Bank transfers, Cash deposit, Debit or credit cards, etc.). As for businesses, Paxful provides a quick and easy way for online shoppers to pay using bitcoin with no buyer fee and 1% seller fee, no deposit fee, no withdrawal fee, ease of use & Speedy transfer deliveries.

Paxful has also just completed a project in Rwanda called #BuiltWithBitcoin (http://bit.ly/2zYKJJ5) charitable initiative: the project is a construction of a school in Rwanda for students aged 6-15. It is Located in the Nyamata Sector of Rwanda's Bugesera District, the school supplement’s Paxful's first bitcoin-funded school, which launched in the same district earlier this year and serves children aged 3-6. "The #BuiltWithBitcoin initiative is a testament to the power of Cryptocurrency," said Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful. "We firmly believe that it can improve lives and make the world a better place." Paxful began the #BuiltwithBitcoin initiative in 2017 to promote philanthropy and charity within the Cryptocurrency industry. 

Since Cryptocurrencies are so new, they are also very volatile. This is one of the main reasons mass adoption is taking longer than it should but the future appeal of Cryptocurrencies lies in allowing you ultimate control over your money, with fast secure global transactions, and lower transaction fees when compared to all existing currencies. When used properly and fully understood it would be the initiator of many emerging systems that will fundamentally change the African economic system.

The European consulting firm Eurogroup Consulting, in an exclusive study on corporate and investment banking, reveals the numerous challenges European CIBs urgently need to address and outlines solutions to help them return to a growth track. Without in-depth reforms, they risk a significant and continuing performance gap. 

European CIBs are lagging behind their US counterparts. Over 10 years their market share has fallen from 50% to 33%, with a 25% drop in overall turnover over the past 5 years, from €82 billion to €61 billion. These overall figures do not reflect all the disparities between mid-sized banks or those operating in secondary markets. The study shows that there are still opportunities for growth.

Eurogroup Consulting’s study explains the reasons for this gap.

From a cyclical point of view, US banks enjoy strong competitive advantages linked to their own market but also as a result of a more flexible regulatory environment than that in Europe and a judicial system that sanctions European banks. Regulation more favourable to banks in the City of London post BREXIT would strengthen the lack of competitiveness of European CIBs.

The key factor is the slowness of European CIBs to reorganize and digitalize their operations, a shift that’s much more advanced in the United States. This requires adapting business and operational models to be more customer-centric, not just in the company's IT systems, but also across banking structures, skill-sets, methodologies and decision-making.  

Digital is an increasingly essential driver of performance. It is changing the day-to-day operations of corporate bankers, as well as the overall banking sector, impacting both profit and loss in terms of revenues and costs. The main risk in digital projects lies in not being able to implement them on the scale required without mobilizing staff from the bottom up.

Eurogroup Consulting recommends targeted and cost-effective projects, focusing first on enhancing the customer experience. In a volatile macroeconomic context, the resilience of a bank to the shocks of a financial crisis must be at the heart of any change project.

Traditional corporate and investment banks are also being challenged in their once-essential core business of financing the economy. The entry of new players such as "non-bank financial institutions" is weakening historical European players and disrupting the market. For example, in 2017, so-called alternative financing amounted to US $ 550 billion and could reach $ 1000 billion by 2022.  Even though corporate and investment banks have begun to diversify by positioning themselves in these alternative financing markets, the challenge is immense. 

These profound changes require traditional European CIBs to adapt more quickly. If the ‘augmented banker’ of the future - multi-channel, agile, super-compliant and customer-focused - remains the ideal to aim for, some banks have already begun to lay the groundwork for developing this profile and freeing up time for higher added-value tasks. It remains an enormous challenge to transform the knowledge, expertise and skills in large organizations.

Eurogroup Consulting's Global Head of Wholesale Banking Practice, Pierre Reboul: "With loss of market share, increased regulatory constraints, delays in digitalization ... European banks have major challenges to overcome. Today we are at a crossroads to reinvent the future of corporate and investment banking as agile and resilient. It’s an issue of survival and European sovereignty."

Eventus Systems, Inc., a provider of innovative regtech software solutions for the capital markets, announced today that GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GCAP), a leading global provider of online trading services, has gone live as a client. GAIN has deployed Eventus’ cloud-based version of the Validus platform to manage the market surveillance program for its futures operation.

GAIN’s businesses include global contracts for difference (CFD) and foreign exchange (FX) brands FOREX.com and City Index; and its futures group, which provides access to listed derivatives trading on over 30 global exchanges. GAIN operates as a non-clearing futures commission merchant (FCM), which connects to exchanges and its clearing firm through CQG, Inc., a leading global provider of high-performance trading, market data and technical analysis tools.  As a CQG FCM partner, GAIN offers CQG’s suite of trading tools to its customers, administered through CQG’s Customer Account Service Tool (CAST), for control over account set-ups, risk settings and other matters.

Heather Krakora-Grimm, GAIN Capital Director of Compliance, said: “As we were exploring alternatives for a market surveillance system we really wanted to get up and running, Eventus was highly recommended by another FCM, and we continued to hear great things about the people and the platform so we wanted to see it in action. As a non-clearing FCM with largely retail clients, our needs were unique; everything we do flows through CQG. Eventus was able to work with us and CQG to address our unique requirements. We’re now active on the platform, which is easy to use, and Eventus’ training and responsiveness have exceeded our expectations.”

The FCM’s Compliance and Risk departments and Trade Desk are all relying on Validus for the firm’s trade surveillance efforts, using FIX drop-copy to actively monitor orders on CQG. GAIN staff receive custom alerts and can use the platform to take swift action in the event of any unusual or disruptive trading activity. Krakora-Grimm said that Eventus’ cost-effective cloud offering was the right fit for the firm.

CQG Chief of Staff Alli Brennan said: “CQG’s mission is to provide best-in-class technology solutions to our customers, and we’re pleased to add Eventus’ market surveillance tools to our suite of add-ons. Eventus allows our FCM partners, like GAIN, to increase their risk management and surveillance capabilities on CQG.”

Eventus CEO Travis Schwab said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome GAIN Capital as a client, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Heather and her team. We look forward to building on that relationship in the coming years. All of our clients have different needs. What distinguishes us is not only our intuitive technology and focus on generating actionable alerts across asset classes, but a willingness to spend time and resources ensuring that our platform meets the needs of each and every client. Our work with more than 10 FCM clients gives us a particular insight into the specific, diverse needs of these organizations. We’re also delighted to be integrated with CQG, which has a tremendous presence in the industry.” 

Available as an on-premise or cloud solution, Validus provides comprehensive market surveillance and trading risk management for firms and marketplaces in global equities, equity options, futures, fixed income, foreign exchange and cryptocurrencies.  Features include sophisticated alerting and visualization; a suite of tools for advanced reporting; delivery of reconciled, multi-party counterparty data; monitoring of key trading functions; and the ability to scale the platform across asset classes and connect into existing systems to meet client needs.

 September 29^th was a remarkable day for Path Solutions as it was recognized and honored twice at the annual Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA). The Group Chairman & CEO, Mohammed Kateeb was honored with the Advocacy Award – Islamic Financial Technology, while the company bagged the Market Leadership Award.

The GIFA Advocacy Award recognizes front-runners with outstanding accomplishments in Islamic finance advocacy; those who demonstrate uncommon commitment and an outstanding work in advocacy at all levels of engagement. Kateeb was selected as the recipient of this year’s most coveted award by the GIFA Awards Committee, being highly impressed with the many contributions made by him to further promote and develop the industry.

As stated in his nomination for this award, “Kateeb brings his tireless advocacy to the Islamic finance community. His immense contributions to develop and promote the industry merit recognition. He selflessly gives his time and in addition to his role, he serves as a true ambassador towards the advancement of the Islamic financial services industry”.

Since 2016, Kateeb is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), an affiliate of Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) that focuses on developing a technology-enabled Islamic financial services sector leveraging state-of-the-art technology to mainstream Islamic economics and finance knowledge. Winner of IFFSA’s 'Honorary Leadership Award in Islamic Finance', Kateeb has been selected three times among the 'Top 50 Most Influential Leaders Who Make the Islamic Economy' in ISLAMICA 500.

The GIFA Market Leadership Awards honor companies that have shown excellence in every area of the market leadership process; those who are helping shape the current and future direction of the Islamic financial services industry. This award is testimony to Path Solutions’ dedication in establishing a successful track record of technology innovation and leadership.

“It is a distinct honour to receive two prestigious recognitions from GIFA. This double accolade is testament to Path Solutions’ profound impact on the sector, demonstrating significant contribution by bringing much needed innovation to a fast evolving industry. While we have received other awards this year that recognized our contributions and pioneering role in the Islamic finance space, this honor has special significance because it raises awareness on some pretty impressive results and milestones we have achieved so far. It is the enduring nature of these accomplishments that drive value beyond immediate outcomes”, said Kateeb.

“We’d like to extend our heartiest congratulations to Path Solutions on this huge achievement and accolade”, commented Dr. Sofiza Azmi, Chairman of GIFA and CEO of Edbiz Corporation. “The GIFA Awards Committee in a recent meeting decided in favour of Path Solutions because the company presided by the Chairman of the Board Mohammed Kateeb, plays an outstanding role by consistently and competitively revolutionizing the segment, given its involvement in key industry initiatives to clearly differentiate itself from its competitors. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition”.

The 8^th GIFA Gala Dinner was held in Sarajevo in the presence of H.E. Bakir Izetbegović, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other heads of states and governments, central bank governors and Islamic financial fraternity from around the world.

GIFA 2018 winners are announced in the October 2018 issue of ISFIRE magazine, as well as online athttp://gifaawards.com/winners.php

A global leader in online multi-asset trading services and currency data and analytics, OANDA has acquired GFM Solutions Group, a well-known risk management and financial reporting company offering cutting-edge software that enables corporate treasury, accounting and finance teams to better manage the impact of currency-related exposure in their business. The purchase marks the first acquisition OANDA has made since being bought by CVC Capital Partners (CVC) Asia Fund IV in May 2018 (subject to regulatory approvals) and will further build on OANDA's existing corporate FX solutions, helping treasurers and finance directors mitigate currency risk and optimise efficiencies.  

Vatsa Narasimha, CEO and President of OANDA, commented, "OANDA's data and analytics business is one of our key business divisions, already well established as the pre-eminent source of currency data for world-leading institutions and corporations. The acquisition of GFM complements our existing currency data offering by providing a comprehensive analytics solution that enables corporate clients to effectively manage their currency exposure." 

GFM is the first in a number of strategic acquisitions that OANDA is looking to complete in the next 18 months following the change of ownership to CVC Capital Partners. Managing Partner of GFM, Charles Brobst will join OANDA as Managing Director of the firm's Analytics division. He commented on the deal, "Trusted for accuracy and reliability by some of the world's leading top audit firms, multinational corporations and tax authorities, OANDA's currency data is widely regarded as the gold standard, so it made perfect sense for the GFM team to join forces in order to help clients reduce currency exposure and mitigate risk. We're very much looking forward to working together over the coming years."

GFM offers a host of financial risk advisory software as a service (SaaS) solutions including exposure measurement and management, hedge accounting and financial reporting, financial instrument valuation and regulatory compliance and risk management policy implementation. These automated solutions ensure the ready-auditability of client data and processes and help reduce risk associated with key employees. GFM's software also helps improve organisational communication and transparency while creating a means to monitor policy, accounting and regulatory compliance. Learn more about OANDA's risk management offerings here.

Meanwhile, The OANDA Exchange Rates API provides access to daily averages, spot and forward rates, central bank exchange rates and tick-level data for 38,000+ currency pairs, over 200 currencies, commodities, and precious metals, as well as exchange rates sourced from 25 central banks and historical currency rates that date back to 1990. The company leverages its access to a full range of interbank liquidity, proprietary trading technology and pricing algorithms to calculate accurate exchange rates based on actual forex transactions, giving users a true reflection of the forex market.

The OANDA Exchange Rates API and related products are available through OANDA Global Corporation, which was acquired by CVC Capital Partners (CVC) Asia Fund IV in May 2018 (subject to regulatory approvals). 

Green Hills Software, the global leader in high-assurance real-time operating systems and virtualization, will showcase its safety- and security-critical technology with product and technology demonstrations from its partners at the 2018 AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 8-10 in Washington, DC. Demonstrations include Resilient Navigation in GPS-denied Environments by Infinite Dimensions, a Multi-Function Smart Display for Mixed Assurance Levels by Esterline, and an Electronic Warfare Management System by Terma.

All demonstrations will run on the Green Hills Software INTEGRITY®-178 tuMP™ real-time operating system (RTOS), the only FACE™ conformant multicore operating system certified for both safety and security. The demonstrations will be in Booth 9053.

Infinite Dimensions will demonstrate resilient navigation technology for use in GPS-denied environments. The open architecture approach builds security- and safety-critical operation in from the ground up, coupled with their foundation of using FACE conformant products like INTEGRITY-178 tuMP to offer a robust capability for next-generation navigation systems. The result is a hardened, cyber-resilient, functionally-correct, and verifiably-safe implementation designed to counteract increasingly complex threats to existing ground, air, space, and unmanned vehicles.

Esterline will be demonstrating their MFD-3038 Multi-Function Smart Display. Using a powerful processing platform based on a Common Processor Module (CPM) and Graphic Processor Module (GPM), the MFD-3068 is an open system very well suited for hosting today's demanding applications. The ARINC-653-based display platform is based on INTEGRITY-178 tuMP RTOS and Esterline's MOSArt (Modular Open System Architecture) middleware. The MFD-3068 can simultaneously host multiple applications of varying design assurance levels up to DAL A, such as the Primary Flight Display (PFD), Navigation Display, and Synthetic Vision.

Terma will be showing the ALQ-213 Electronic Warfare Management System, which is able to control and integrate any combination of sensors and countermeasures systems on any type of aircraft to ensure these subsystems work as one integrated system. The latest versions of the ALQ-213 utilize the INTEGRITY-178 tuMP RTOS, the only FACE conformant multicore operating system certified for both safety and security. Employing INTEGRITY-178 tuMP as the ALQ-213 RTOS of choice enables the maximum utilization of computational resources within mixed Defense Assurance Level partitions, allowing for the ALQ-213 to host numerous 3rd party software applications in addition to Terma's Automatic Threat Response (ATR) and Embedded Training (ET) capabilities to protect our aviators from ever-advancing threats within a cyber-compliant solution. The ALQ-213 extends Terma's global leadership in Electronic Warfare (EW) systems and builds upon their nearly 30 years of experience in providing combat-proven survivability solutions on more than 2,500 frontline fighter, transport, and rotary-wing aircraft.