Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, announced today the launch of its industry leading market data services inside Singapore Exchange’s co-location data centre.  This will help provide local financial firms with access to high-performance, high-quality content while lowering their total cost of ownership.

Financial firms in Singapore, in common with the industry globally, are trying to develop agile business models that allow them to connect to new markets and find new trading opportunities quickly and easily.  Continued growth from regional initiatives like ASEAN Link and increasing global trading volumes make access to high quality, timely market data critical.  However, firms in Singapore often have small infrastructure footprints and the large market data requirements needed to access multiple markets around the world can put excessive strain on their resources.

Through the new Elektron Managed Services offering, customers who have their trading applications in the SGX Co-Location site will be able to access Thomson Reuters Elektron Real Time consolidated market data feed via a simple cross-connect. This lowers the requirements for costly infrastructure and provides Singapore-based firms with low-cost, high-quality, global market data to help power applications and inform their trading strategies.

Thomson Reuters also offers fully managed services for Singapore firms through its own locally-based Elektron Managed Services data centre.  With this complemented by the new service within the SGX data centre and other data delivery options, Thomson Reuters can now support local firms’ market data requirements whatever their operational strategy.

“Elektron Managed Services gives customers the ability to scale their businesses rapidly and access low-latency data and services while lowering the typical costs of deploying and managing equivalent solutions in-house,” said Paras Sidapara, global head of managed services, Financial & Risk, Thomson Reuters.  “By offering real-time market data direct to customers inside the SGX data centre, they have access to the breadth of content needed to make informed trading decisions in a cost-effective and highly flexible way. The launch is a continuation of our efforts to support our customers’ growth strategies throughout the Asia Pacific region.”

Tinku Gupta, Head of Market Data & Access at SGX said “We welcome the addition of Thomson Reuters new Elektron Real Time consolidated market data feed to the suite of offerings and services at SGX Co-Location data centre.  The introduction of the service will enrich and diversify the global market data options available for clients who are co-located with SGX.”

Thomson Reuters offers Elektron Managed Services through a network of its own and exchange data centres across established and developing financial markets, including Chicago, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.

Thomson Reuters Elektron is a suite of propositions that power the enterprise and connect global markets. Elektron delivers low latency feeds from thousands of exchange-traded and OTC markets, along with analytics, a market data platform and transactional connectivity to support financial workflow applications. All of these capabilities can be deployed at a customer location or delivered as a fully managed service from any one of Thomson Reuters co-location and proximity hosting sites around the globe. Elektron also powers the Company’s flagship desktop for financial services professionals, Thomson Reuters Eikon.

ICC today announced it has joined the Nimble Partner Network as a managed services partner. Nimble Storage is a provider of flash storage solutions that enable enterprises to meet performance and capacity requirements for any workload in virtualized datacenters and cloud environments.

Nimble Storage offers high performance flash storage architectures, combining the speed of solid state drives with the cost-effective large capacities of traditional hard drives. In addition, they offer integrated data protection, and predictive support tools which help to stop problems before they happen. The solution is easy to use, with automated cloud-based management and support features which help to keep systems running smoothly while minimizing the burden on administrators. The systems are highly scalable, and the patented Cache Accelerated Sequential Layout (CASL™) storage architecture ensures optimum performance for large and small SANs.

ICC has been serving the SAN market since 1998. As a Nimble partner they will be able to broaden their offering to traditional SAN customers. Nimble's CASL architecture is ideal for enterprise markets, and ICC is uniquely qualified to deliver the technology to their user-base.

"Nimble Storage is 100% committed to the channel," said Kristin Carnes, director of channel sales at Nimble Storage. "Nimble Storage believes enterprises should not have to compromise on performance, capacity, ease of use, or price. Therefore, we've built a partner ecosystem with over 900 partners worldwide, to provide enterprises access to our innovative storage technology from their existing trusted partners."

ICC works with many companies that are using legacy systems, and provides onsite maintenance for many of their clients. While there are a wealth of challenges associated with upgrading legacy equipment in a production environment, investing in new hybrid solutions offers long-term benefits in terms of performance and reliability. ICC is excited to be at the forefront of providing this new, disruptive technology to the enterprise marketplace.

ICC is a global IT solutions company specialising in a range of technology solutions, hardware and managed services to the SME, Enterprise & Public sector markets. For more information please visit: https://theicc.group/

Surecomp^®, the leading global provider of trade finance solutions for banks and corporations, announced today that INTRUST Bank, the largest independent bank headquartered in Kansas, has licensed two Surecomp products as part of an end-to-end trade finance solution. INTRUST is implementing allNETT^® the Surecomp front-end solution for banks and their corporate clients. allNETT will seamlessly interface to IBSnet^®, the Surecomp Windows-based back-office trade finance solution.

Originally chartered as the Farmers & Merchants Bank in 1876, and later known as the First National Bank in Wichita, INTRUST ranks amongst the top 150 banks in the Unites States. Privately owned, INTRUST is currently led by C.Q. "Charlie" Chandler IV, the fourth-generation descendant of the bank’s founder, C. Q. Chandler II. As a bank with its roots planted firmly in Kansas, INTRUST puts its faith in the local community.

allNETT is a Java J2E enterprise platform used for both initiating trade finance transactions and extracting wide-ranging inquiries and reports. A 24/7 multi-customer, multi-entity solution, allNETT makes the corporate processing of letters of credit (L/Cs) much more efficient by eliminating all manual activities involved in such transactions. This paperless ‘green’ solution also speeds up critical business reporting required by corporations to remain competitive.

INTRUST is able to react quickly to evolving corporate requirements by offering its clients allNETT. INTRUST uses allNETTto greatly increase productivity and transaction processing throughput while mitigating risk and ensuring compliance to regulatory standards.

Dubbed the “Air Capital of the World”, Wichita enjoys a well-deserved reputation for aviation and aerospace, in addition to being an industrial hub for manufacturing and agriculture. INTRUST has recently completed provisioning its largest (international) corporate client with allNETT to help ensure the manufacturer’s smooth initiation and processing of all products relating to international trade finance.

INTRUST has seamlessly integrated allNETT with IBSnet, the Surecomp back-office system, thus enabling a straight-through processing (STP) trade finance solution. Built on proven Windows-based technology, IBSnet will support INTRUST’s drive to strengthen its trade services for clients in the United States and around the world.

“We have recognized the value of offering a premium trade finance solution to our corporate customers. The combined allNETT/IBSnet solution meets our specific need for a comprehensive front-to-back office solution that helps simplify the administrative workload, optimizes processes, and saves time and money for both our clients and the bank,” said Dina M. Aaby, International Banking Manager at INTRUST. “Integrating smoothly with IBSnet, allNETT is a leading-edge trade finance offering that delivers a robust, real-time solution for our corporate clients."

“With further consolidation, deregulation and diversification of the financial industry, the banking sector will become even more complex. As such, banks of all sizes are working to identify new business niches, develop customized services, and capture new market opportunities,” said Joel Koschitzky, Surecomp Chairman. “As the trade finance market leader, Surecomp invests heavily in developing and supporting state-of-the-art products designed to help our banking and corporate customers thrive under ever-changing market conditions.”

“An integrated allNETT/IBSnet solution provides a market-ready operational environment that enables banks to better manage their trade finance portfolios, achieve greater workflow control, and gain improved visibility of cash flows and risk exposure,” said Dan Watkins, Vice President of North America at Surecomp. “Built on a flexible and scalable platform, such a solution also delivers on-demand reporting across multiple entities and business units, giving INTRUST and its corporate clients far greater insight into their trade finance activities.”

Diasoft, a leading provider of cutting edge financial software solutions, announced today that Khan Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Mongolia, has selected Diasoft Custody solution to automate its new line of business.

In May, 2014 Mongolian Government has passed the renewed Securities Market Law that introduces the system of custodian banks along with other securities market practices that opens a door for international investors. Khan Bank is licensed, in June 2015, by Financial Regulatory Commission of Mongolia to provide custodian services to both domestic and international investors given its superior position among Mongolian banks with financial strength, enhanced information security management certified by ISO/IEC 27001-2013 and strong corporate governance and transparency.

“Custodian bank operation is crucial for Mongolian capital market development to provide professional and international standard services to investors and allow the country to attract more investments from international market”, - said Norihiko Kato, CEO, Khan Bank and he added “As a leading financial and banking service provider in Mongolia, Khan Bank committed to provide custodian services as a part of the Bank`s strategy and Diasoft is proven to be competent partner by demonstrating itself as a professional, supportive and cooperative partner with an in-depth knowledge and dedication to Mongolian financial market. We’re looking forward to successful cooperation for our custodian operation establishment with Diasoft.”

To successfully automate its custodian operations Khan Bank required strong software solution ensuring provision of the good level of services with the effective and solid operations and control, and allowing for quick move within this business. By results of thorough evaluation process Khan Bank has selected an innovative Diasoft Custody solution that ensures automation of the whole spectrum of custody activities, including processing of custody transactions, calculation of depository commissions, as well as a full integration with back-office modules of financial institutions. Functional modules of Diasoft Custody fulfill primary custody functions and ensure custody accounting and reporting in full compliance with regulatory requirements.

“Diasoft has implemented a great number of custody projects for the leading financial institutions providing its customers with a cutting-edge custody solution proven to handle large volumes of transactions, to address the ever-evolving market requirements and increasing regulations”, - commented Sergey Metelskiy, International Sales Director, Diasoft. “This is a great achievement for Diasoft to be selected by the Khan Bank of Mongolia to help uncover the potential of custody business while shaping the Mongolia’s investment landscape. We are very happy to support the development of such an important operation for the country`s economy by sharing our experience and providing innovative off-the-shelf products”.

Meethaq, the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman from Bank Muscat, as part of continuous endeavour to provide world class services through the latest technology and innovation, has upgraded its core banking system, resulting in a host of cutting edge and first-of-its-kind Islamic banking services covering ATM/CDM, debit card and mobile banking for Meethaq customers. Meethaq now functions with the new iMAL Islamic core banking system.

Sulaiman Al Harthy, Group General Manager - Islamic Banking, said: “Meethaq is delighted to successfully implement the upgrade to a state-of-the-art Islamic core banking solution incorporating the latest technology to meet the bank’s requirements of Sharia compliance, cost-optimisation, improving profitability and serving customers faster and efficiently. With this upgrade, the bank is able to fulfil numerous new business requirements and customer demands”.

Al Harthy added: “The upgrade stems from Meethaq’s commitment and focus to take the lead role in offering a suite of Sharia based banking products and services. Meethaq has adopted the best practices in Islamic banking and finance worldwide to combine a robust model which protects customers and complements the Islamic banking industry.

The Meethaq strategy is to attract customers through innovative Sharia-based products and services. We thank our customers for their co-operation during the upgrade”.

Mohammed Kateeb, Group Chairman & CEO of Path Solutions, said: “It is exciting to see the results of the partnership between Bank Muscat and Path Solutions, bringing the bank’s Meethaq Islamic operations to a successful upgrade to iMAL core banking. The partnership with the flagship financial services provider and the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman endorses the leadership position of Path Solutions as the number one provider of Islamic banking IT solutions. I congratulate both organisations on this amazing success”.

iMAL is a Sharia-compliant core banking system certified by the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). It is an integrated, modular Islamic banking suite with full functionality, including retail, corporate, investment, trade finance, and treasury modules. It supports multi-company and multi-bank environments and is truly global in scope, incorporating both multi-currency and multi-lingual capabilities. In addition, iMAL contains robust risk management and security features that provide a flexible, user-friendly interface while allowing Islamic banks to have complete control over their financial systems.

Payment services specialist allpay is now collecting £1.59 billion per annum in Direct Debit payments, from 12.1 million transactions. With the total BACS Direct Debit transaction volume reaching 3.6 billion each year in the UK, allpay today represents a growing market share of the UK’s total Direct Debit market.

Specialising in the collection of private and public sector bill payments – such as rent, council tax, utility and insurance bills – and working with a wide range of housing associations, government departments, local authorities, energy companies and insurers, allpay provides a fully managed, cloud-based solution to organisations wanting to offer a flexible ‘any day’ direct debit service to their customers, without needing bank sponsorship.

Nick Peplow, Bill Payments Director at allpay, said: “These figures are a real indicator of the trusted reputation allpay now has in the UK private and public sector market. The continuing popularity of Direct Debit as a means of managing household income is reflected by BACS statistics which show that eight-out-of-ten adults in the UK have at least one Direct Debit, and around 71 per cent of household bills are paid in this way.

“The benefits of working with allpay stretch to both our clients and their customers. The digital, paperless service we provide helps reduce the cost of compliance and administration for organisations, making us the ideal solution for SMEs, landlords, utility and insurance companies. At the same time, the streamlined, efficient online service enables our clients to offer full flexibility to their customers on payment dates and frequencies,” he said.

In addition, annual volume figures released by Payments UK shows allpay now processes Direct Debits for one in every five households paying rent for a house or flat by Direct Debit or standing order.

Peplow added: “Our significant presence in the housing rental market is testament to the quality of the service we provide. Despite our successes, we do not believe in resting on our laurels. We are constantly looking to innovate in new ways, and our next generation Direct Debit platform, launched in July 2015, is already enhancing our clients’ experiences even further, providing cutting-edge functionality and additional flexibility for our clients and their customers. Convenience is key for all parties in a transaction, and we see digital innovation as crucial in creating this.”  

iMeta Technologies Ltd., a leader in Client Onboarding and Entity Data Management technology for financial institutions, today announced that industry veteran Mark Bands has been appointed to the role of Head of Product Strategy and Regulatory Intelligence. In this capacity he will be responsible for leading the development strategy and continuous improvement of iMeta’s Assassin platform. Bands will support the firm’s strategic agenda of delivering best of breed client onboarding and end-to-end lifecycle management capability; by combining his breadth of data management experience with his deep understanding of financial services regulation.

With over seventeen years of information management experience in the financial services sector, Bands has worked for a number of banks; including Credit Suisse, DBS Bank Singapore, Macquarie Securities and most recently ANZ Institutional Bank as data management lead for the OTC reform programme.

“iMeta is committed to the ongoing development of our Assassin platform to provide financial institutions with a best of breed end-to-end onboarding and entity data management solution,” said Ben Marsh, CEO of iMeta Technologies. “I am thrilled to welcome Mark to this new role, and confident that his deep comprehension of customer requirements, regulation and industry acumen will help to enhance our proposition even further.”  

“iMeta’s suite of proven capability places it amongst the front-runners in the client onboarding software market,” said Bands. “Client lifecycle management; with its diversity, and the scale of operational complexity and required levels of compliance, makes it the most compelling drama currently being played out in financial data management. I am looking forward to working with Ben and the team to further consolidate and strengthen iMeta’s position during these innovative times.” 

Emerald Advisers, Inc. Rapidly Implements INDATA’S iPM Cloud Technology Platform for Elessar Investment Management following acquisition

INDATA, a leading industry provider of software and services for buy-side firms, today announced that Emerald Advisers, Inc., an INDATA client since 2013, has fully transitioned Elessar Investment Management onto INDATA’s iPM Cloud platform.

Emerald Advisers, Inc, based in Leola, PA with more than $3.6 Billion in assets under management, announced its intention to acquire the assets and hire the senior staff of Elessar in January of this year.  Elessar is a boutique investment firm that employs a value-driven, research-based investment process that includes a rigorous and disciplined bottom-up fundamental research analysis. The Elessar team is based in Cleveland, OH.

After the transaction formally closed, Emerald began the process of migrating the firm’s portfolio data and end users onto the INDATA iPM Cloud technology platform already used by Emerald.  Cloud computing provides a number of advantages for money management firms. iPM Cloud offers the full security benefits of a dedicated hosted environment but with the flexibility of a SaaS Model (Software as a Service).  With iPM Cloud, each INDATA client has a private environment with hardware security and physical infrastructure security built in.  In addition, with INDATA’s proprietary model, data and infrastructure delivered via iPM Cloud can be accessed from anywhere.

“Choosing iPM Cloud has proven essential to our growth strategy, since it removes the technical obstacles and IT expenditures that firms like ours would typically experience in trying to get remote sites up and running,” commented Scott Rehr, Chief Operating Officer, Emerald Advisers, Inc. “This combined with the fact that iPM is very easy to use and seamlessly integrates the automated trading platform with the portfolio management system has helped tremendously in moving the Elessar end users off of their old system and getting them up and running with iPM quickly, delivering noticeable benefits and speed to the investment process” he added

“We are very fortunate to have many client success stories like Emerald Advisers, and are always gratified to see our clients expand, giving us the opportunity to work with new end users and different investment processes,” added David J. Csiki, President of INDATA. “We wish Emerald continued success in their growth ambitions and look forward to continuing to serve as their technology partner in the future,” he added.

Profile Software, an international banking and investment management solutions provider, announced today the launch of its new website and new brand logo to reflect the innovative approach inherent in its product line and celebrate its 25 years of successful operations.

Profile Software’s new brand logo reflects the interaction of all the elements in the company in order to provide an integrated solution to its clientele. The 'motion' of the logo represents the flexibility and adaptability of the company’s solutions, as well as the global interaction between the company and its clientele.

The company’s new website offers a modern navigation environment with responsive design. The focus is on the presentation of key solutions’ range with easy links on the same page to help visitors effectively find the information needed. The completion of a quarter of a century in the software industry developing solutions for the financial institutions, along with the changes happening in this ever evolving sector, are incorporated in the company’s new branding and mark a new era focused on delivering innovative, differentiated and customer-centric solutions that can effectively cover the needs of the financial services organisations, end-to-end. In addition, taking advantage of the unique modularity of the systems, each solution can be implemented as stand-alone while seamlessly integrating to the business’s ecosystem or as a complete platform.

Both these brand changes (logo and website) are a big step forward for the company to match its “appearance” to the era’s modern and flexible platforms utilising cutting edge technologies such as mobile and cloud, all bundled in a secure environment offering a unique user experience (both to the organisation and its clients)

The new logo is presented in the modern looking website which is live at www.profilesw.com. The website is designed to offer an optimum view via modern devices e.g. smartphone, tablets and web browsers.

“The objective of this branding exercise was not only to celebrate the 25 years mark of servicing the financial industry, but most importantly to denote a truly international approach to our presence and effectively meet our existing and potential customers’ needs. Both the logo and website show the “fresh” and flexible approach of the business to understand market trends and deliver reliable solutions as needed” states Mr. Babis Stasinopoulos, CEO at Profile Software.