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High Frequency Trading: Crying Wolf?

Peter van Wely
Head at InfoReach Automated Trading Software EMEA

High-frequency trading (HFT) may be capturing the headlines, but there is a great deal of misunderstanding about how these strategies work and the technologies involved. see more

HFT automated trading

09:00 am

Compass Plus, an international provider of innovative retail banking and electronic payments software to processors and financial institutions, has announced the migration of Global Processing Centre (GPC) in Antigua, the third largest processor in the Caribbean region, to its open development payments platform, TranzAxis, in just three months. The project was implemented in conjunction with Worldwide Financial Systems Solutions (WFSS), Compass Plus’ distributor in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

The processor chose to migrate to TranzAxis in view of the flexibility and control the platform’s Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) will bring to their efforts to enable alternative payments in the region. TranzAxis has provided GPC the ability to offer more customer-centric support; whether for simple tasks or more complex, country specific projects.

The strategic vision of the GPC management team is to fulfil the more traditional payment processing needs, whilst enabling financial institutions, vendors, and end-users to participate in emerging alternative payments; including mobile and NFC payments, e-wallets and e-government solutions. The development toolbox that is provided with TranzAxis has enabled the processor to provide these solutions, bringing new products and services to the region. An example is the launch of SugaPay, an alternative payment system powered by GPC, which links a payment card to a mobile phone to offer cashless payment options for cardholders and merchants.

“From the moment I saw TranzAxis, I was sure that this was the solution we needed. In our region, systems are disjointed and the use of legacy architecture is prevalent, which can make integration with banks and third party systems more difficult. The Service Oriented Architecture of TranzAxis is invaluable as it gives us the flexibility we need to reassure our customers and third parties that integration will not be a problem, and I have yet to be proven wrong,” commented Justin Stuart-Young, COO at GPC. “Compass Plus specialists supported the GPC team throughout the project, ensuring that our specific aims were met, and continue to do so. In fact, I have been unable to find a situation where Compass Plus could not respond to a request with the exact solution I required.”

01:00 am

DealHub (Option Computers Ltd) announced today that KCG HotSpot, the award-winning institutional FX ECN, is the latest trading platform to connect to the firm’s FX Distribution Hub service.

The move will allow existing DealHub customers, as well as new price makers and takers, to quickly and cost effectively connect to KCG HotSpot, including the firm’s newly launched HotSpot QT dark liquidity pool, via the ‘connectivity as a service’ platform.

Bill Goodbody, Managing Director & Head of Sales at KCG Hotspot comments “Our focus has consistently been on providing our clients with bespoke solutions that help them access liquidity and reduce friction in their workflow. As we deliver innovative new liquidity solutions including HotSpot QT, and continue to experience rapid volume growth, joining FX Distribution Hub is a natural step in helping us meet the increasing demand from new price makers and takers who want to connect quickly and easily to our deep FX Distribution Hub delivers a one-stop solution to managing the complexity and cost of multi-channel price distribution and liquidity sourcing in today’s fragmented FX market.

One simple interface to the Hub provides access to the majority of trading venues and a rapidly growing community of direct counterparties, reducing the cost and time to market of trading connectivity, while taking advantage of DealHub’s high performance, co-located infrastructure and venue specific pricing logic. FX Distribution Hub forms an integral part of DealHub RefleX, the firm’s modular eFX platform launched last month.

Chris Leaver, COO at DealHub comments “We’re delighted to welcome KCG HotSpot to FX Distribution Hub. We’ve reached the point where the cost, time to market and performance benefits of the Hub are well established for banks looking to extend their venue distribution and the Hotspot platform is emerging as a priority for both new and existing customers. With the launch of DealHub RefleX last month, we’re now able offer banks an incredibly flexible route to high performance eFX – whether they’re upgrading an existing platform, or taking their first steps in the market”

FX Distribution Hub is a fully managed distribution platform for pricing into multiple FX trading channels, including all major ECNs and multi bank portals, as well as aggregators,single dealer platforms and via direct APIs.

Additional eFX modules from the DealHub RefleX platform can be integrated with the Hub, including powerful rate construction and management, customer specific price margining, low latency credit checking, and comprehensive post trade connectivity and workflow. A built-in business intelligence capability provides real-time and historical feedback on pricing and infrastructure performance.

The managed service is hosted in Equinix LD4 and NY4, co-located with many of the industry’s leading participants and trading venues. DealHub specialises in comprehensive integration with customer and third party systems, allowing customers to build a bespoke eCommerce solution that offers real differentiation.

05:00 am

Diasoft, a leading financial software vendor, increased the status of its partnership with Hitachi Data Systems GmbH (HDS) to Silver. This status was granted to Diasoft after a 6-month auditing completed by HDS.

The HITACHI TrueNorth Channel Partner program allows its members to get access to HDS's strategic partner resources, including the right to use the facilities of the company's authorized center.

Diasoft's Competency center has been using HDS's hardware complex for more than a year. This complex comprises HDS's high-end equipment that is used for testing and customization of Diasoft's software solutions.

The specialists of the Competency center work on improvement of the quality and increase of the performance of Diasoft's solutions run on HDS's hardware and collaborate with the Partner's technical experts, leveraging their individual skills and contributing to the development of the company's expertise.

The company has built strong expertise in HDS's hardware used to successfully design and implement projects for Diasoft's customer.

Today, Diasoft is ready to demonstrate in its own premises the full range of products and technologies provided by Hitachi Data Systems GmbH; provide quality consultancy services on the use of HDS's hardware for running Diasoft applications; and ensure high quality management of customer projects realized with the use of this equipment.

02.11.2014 -- 05:22 pm

Financial IT interviews Mikhail Kryuchkov Director, Global Markets, Diasoft at Sibos 2014.

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05:00 am

A survey conducted by Compass Plus, an international provider of retail banking and electronic payments software to financial institutions and processors, has revealed that there are three main challenges hindering the mass adoption of contactless payments in the UK; card distribution, fears around security and regional awareness.

The survey, in which more than 700 consumers answered questions about their banking and payments habits, was carried out across the UK, in Sheffield, Nottingham, Wellingborough and London. The results found that despite industry claims that contactless cards are now widespread, more than two-thirds of respondents (70.7%) stated that they still do not have a contactless-enabled card in their wallet. Predictably, the group with the highest number of enabled cards were those based in London, however this figure only reached 37.2%, which means that over 60% of Londoners still do not have a contactless card. Nottingham and Sheffield had achieved 30% penetration, whilst Wellingborough, located in the London commuter-belt, fell behind at 23.5%.

After card distribution, the main barrier of card use was security. Nearly half of all respondents viewed contactless cards as one of the least secure methods of payment (46.8%), behind mobile payments (71.3%). 64.6% of respondents in Wellingborough feel the technology is the least secure, whilst just 45 minutes away by train in London, this figure falls to 39.2%. Out of the total number respondents that did have a contactless card, just under half of them had chosen to make a tap-and-go payment within the last month.

Although nearly three-quarters of respondents stated that they know what contactless payments are (73.6%), almost half of the respondents in Wellingborough do not (43.5%) compared to just 17.3% of Londoners. This shows a distinct lack of education around the payment method outside of larger cities, and emphasised the trend of London being the sole hub of contactless payments; not only as the country’s capital, but also due to the high profile initiatives of its city transport system.

“It is incredible to see that six years after the first contactless cards were issued in the UK, more than 70% of the country still have not been issued one. The lack of penetration is even more surprising in London, due to the high profile contactless transport initiatives that were rolled out earlier this year. When we compare these results to Compass Plus’ 2013 survey, it does show a significant increase in both the awareness and use of contactless cards across the country,” said Maria Nottingham, CEO of Compass Plus GB.

“In 2013, nearly 40% of the public revealed they did not even know what contactless payments are and less than one in 10 people had actually made a purchase using their contactless card in the previous month. Although this growth is promising, the current penetration in no way matches up to industry expectations. It is clear the popularity and use of contactless payments depends solely on the card issuers’ efforts to complete their rollout and education campaigns around this cashless initiative.”