ElectraCard Services announced that AB Bank, the first private sector bank in Bangladesh, has chosen ECS’s electraiTx series - the latest version of the electra payment suite to run their ATM network and process credit and debit cards. ECS has provided AB Bank with their PA-DSS certified electraSWITCH®, electraDEBIT® and electraCREDIT® solutions from the product suite.

AB Bank runs a domestic network of 230 ATMs and is looking to rapidly expand their services within the country and expects to double their card users by 2015. They are leveraging ECS solutions to implement a safe, secure and convenient platform for enabling all their payment requirements. The electra solutions will enable the bank to seamlessly integrate with leading payment associations like VISA® and MasterCard®. This is also the first time AB Bank is launching a complete suite of credit cards for their customers. ECS offers maximum flexibility, scalability and quick turnaround on customizations to meet Bangladesh’s banking standards and ensures the credit cards are compliant in all respects.

electraSWITCH® will also be implemented for managing the switching solutions of the Cashlink Bangladesh Limited (CBL) Network, which is being managed by AB Bank. Bangladesh’s leading banks form a part of the CBL network and is presently used by major local banks as a shared network for ATM switching as well as managed service provider. With the ECS product solutions AB Bank will be able to grow their network, increase the number of ATMs and cardholders.

Mr. Reazul Islam, Head of eBiz and IT, AB Bank said, “We were in need of a platform that was highly scalable and flexible which could be implemented quickly and meet our specifications. We chose ECS because they have proven installations across the globe and a faster go-to-market strategy that fits into our expectations. The product is extremely user friendly and easy to adapt to. We are confident that our partnership with ECS is in tandem with our business objectives.”

“We are pleased to be associated with AB Bank a pioneer in the Bangladesh banking industry,” said Mr. Ramesh Mengawade, CEO, ElectraCard Services. “AB Bank has always been successfully implementing new and innovative ideas in the country. ECS will provide them with the technology solution necessary to help take Bangladesh to becoming a cashless society.”

The electra iTx series platform is a next generation PA-DSS certified secure transaction platform, built from the ground-up on open standards and industry best-practices to support the service oriented architectures (SOA) that are fast becoming the technology backbone of today’s leading organizations. This platform drastically reduces the time to market for integration and to roll out new services.

Joint projects of Thomson Reuters and ARQA Technologies have years of history. Recently ARQA Technologies developed new solutions which are based on Thomson Reuters’ platforms. One of the solutions allows receiving Market Data from international trading venues with minimal delays; another is used for access to Thomson Reuters Spot Matching platform.

ARQA Technologies with support from Thomson Reuters developed a QUIK module which allows receiving real-time Market Datafrom international trading venues supplied by Thomson Reuters (Information interface of TREP-RT system). The interface uses a piece of Thomson Reuters infrastructure - TREP-RT (Thomson Reuters Enterprise Platform for RealTime). Users have access to any level of quotes such as Level I and Level II. If this market data is combined with a FIX-integration of QUIK to a trading platform of an execution broker this may become a fully-functional technology for access to international markets.

Using the same information interface for FOREX market resulted in a QUIK solution for trading through another popular platform – Thomson Reuters Spot Matching.  This trading platform facilitates trades by over 1000 participants – banks dealing in 54 currency-pairs.

‘We are happy to develop mutually beneficial partnership with Thomson Reuters – a leading Market Data vendor and provider of technologies for financial market trading. The interfaces we developed have expanded our range of solutions for trading at international trading venues currently sought by our clients’–said the General Director of ARQA Technologies, Yuri Voronov.

AnreyMaslov, the Technical director of Thomson Reuters pointed out: ‘Many Russian traders now mostly use QUIK software from ARQA Technologies for trading at internal markets. Thanks to the interface implemented with TREP-RTQUIK users may obtain full and reliable information for trading at all principal international venues. Close integration of complimentary solutions is a necessary condition for implementation of modern business processes in electronic trading. Thomson Reuters and ARQA Technologies have completed a successful project which allows their clients to implement most advanced trading strategies’.

ThomsonReuters is a leading provider of analytical information for businesses and professionals. Thorough understanding of industry and employment of innovative technologies allows the company to deliver information for decision-making in finance, legislation, taxation, science and media.

ARQA Technologies is an independent software providerof trading solutions for financial markets. The company offers a range of front-to-backsolutions (front-office QUIK, middle-office midQORT and back-office backQORT) as well as SaaS from its data-centers located in Novosibirsk, Moscow and Kiev. The clients of ARQA Technologies include over 300 banks, investment and asset management companies from different countries. 

 Software developers from ARQA Technologies added new functions into its current version of LSE interface offering direct access from QUIK platform.

QUIK users can now receive Level II quotes (20 x 20) from LSE as well as information about instruments and trading modes through Reference Data service.

The updated functionality of the interface allows users to register and cancel OTC transactions, employ exchange-enabled functions to cancel orders and use the new order types.

LSE trading interface was developed by ARQA Technologies and certified by LSE in January, 2013 as part of its QUIK platform configuration to offer access to trading on London Stock Exchange.

The interface is built around the FIX protocol – for receiving market data it uses the FIX Fast protocol and for order routing it uses the FIX London Stock Exchange protocol.

As the interface is a part of QUIK platformits operation employsefficient tools of fast pre-trade checks.

Another solution developed earlier by ARQA Technologies - FIX2LSE - provides direct access to trading on London Stock Exchange for external software platforms bypassing the QUIK server (sponsored access).

Based on the Exchange’s API, the FIX2LSE interface is the fastest in the product range of similar solutions (FIX2Markets) by ARQA Technologies. This solution provides all potential users with an opportunity to engage various risk management tools of the QUIK complex including pre-trade control.