Saturday, March 15, 2025

SEC Approves 24 Exchange

24 Exchange, backed by Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures fund, had filed with the US Securities and Commission Exchange to launch the first round-the-clock exchange.  In the filing 24X said it plans to operate a fully automated electronic trading platform for the trading of listed NMS stocks 23 hours per day, 7 days per week, including certain holidays.

24 Exchange Receives SEC Approval of its New National Securities Exchange, “24X National Exchange”

 24 Exchange announced that it has received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to operate 24X National Exchange as the first national securities exchange in the U.S. that allows trading of U.S. securities 23 hours each workday. The extended hour trading is subject to Equity Data Plans making changes that would facilitate overnight trading hours and 24X National Exchange making an additional rule filing with the SEC confirming the changes and the Exchange’s ability to comply with the Securities Exchange Act.

24X National Exchange will be subject to the SEC’s ongoing regulatory oversight and full range of investor protections. The new Exchange will enable retail and institutional customers anywhere in the world to trade in U.S. equities via broker-dealers who are approved members of 24X National Exchange. 

24X National Exchange will be launched in two stages. A first stage will open in the second half of 2025, with the Exchange operating from 4:00AM ET to 7:00PM ET on weekdays. The second stage, which will launch once the conditions noted above are met, will offer trading in U.S. equities from 8:00PM ET on Sunday through 7:00PM ET on Friday. A one-hour operational pause will occur during each trading day to accommodate routine software upgrades and functionality testing.

24 Exchange CEO and Founder Dmitri Galinov said: “The SEC’s approval of our new exchange is a thrilling development that the 24X Team has been working toward for many years. Traders are most at-risk when the market is closed in their geographic location. 24X National Exchange will seek to alleviate this problem by facilitating around-the-clock U.S. equities trading for broker-dealers and their institutional and retail customers.”

As the first national securities exchange approved by the SEC to operate 23 hours each weekday, subject to the conditions noted above, 24X National Exchange will initially focus on capturing the expanding demand in the APAC region for overnight liquidity in U.S. equities.

The 24X National Exchange will run on a proven, state-of-the-art technology platform provided by MEMX Technologies. The new Exchange’s executive team will place a high priority on enhancing client experience through continuous technology innovations and improvements.

“With this historic SEC approval in place, we will build and operate a customer-driven Exchange that can rapidly align with market demands and adapt quickly to client feedback,” Galinov added. “We look forward to bringing a superior trading experience to global customers. 24X National Exchange will deliver the cost efficiency, speed, resilience, and adaptability that the company’s financial institutional customers have long come to expect.”

24X National Exchange will close on U.S. market holidays, similar to the schedules maintained by the NYSE and Nasdaq.

24 Exchange through 24X Bermuda Limited, an affiliate of 24X National Exchange, will continue to offer FX NDFs, Swaps and Spot trading to institutional clients. Since its launch in 2019, 24 Exchange’s multi-asset offering through a single trading interface has enabled clients to access increased liquidity at lower cost.

Source: 24 Exchange

BlackRock Invests $50m in Pyramid Analytics

Pyramid Analytics, a market-leading, AI-driven analytics and decision intelligence company, announced it has raised $50M in new financing from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Capital Investment Advisors, LLC (“BlackRock”).

The fresh investment comes on the heels of Pyramid being named a Visionary in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms, and being awarded the highest rank in all four use cases of the 2024 Gartner® Critical Capabilities for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms report.

The Pyramid platform’s unique architecture and its powerful AI/ML integration into every step of the data lifecycle eliminates operational complexity without any tradeoffs.

This ease of use and accessibility has attracted the likes of the FDA, which has adopted the company’s solution in 2024. Pyramid’s customer base also includes ABB, Hallmark, Deloitte and Volkswagen.

“We are honored by BlackRock’s vote of trust in our vision and execution as we bring the next-generation analytics solution to the upper mid-market and enterprise organizations,” said Omri Kohl, Pyramid’s co-founder and CEO.

While Pyramid spearheads the AI revolution in business intelligence, BlackRock’s investment rationale is also based on its business performance and efficiency.

“Our investment in Pyramid Analytics complements our track record of investing in innovative software and technology businesses,” said John Doyle, Managing Director at BlackRock. “We are pleased to give our clients exposure to a business such as Pyramid, that sits at the intersection of data analytics and AI capabilities, two segments that continue to benefit from robust secular tailwinds.”

In addition to being recognized by Gartner, Pyramid Analytics has also landed a number one ranking in 17 different KPIs on BARC’s 2025 BI and Analytics Survey, as well as being recognized as a leader in 52 KPIs across the various groups.

“Pyramid has positioned itself as the thought leader in the Generative BI (GenBI) and Decision Intelligence category. Fortune 2,000 customers use Pyramid on a daily basis to solve and optimize operational, complex, data informed decisions,” stated Yoav Tzruya, General Partner at JVP, and Pyramid board member. “We are proud to receive BlackRock’s support, which further validates Pyramid’s vision and market leadership, enabling us to continue our strong performance, aiming to continue and solve the hardest operational business problems for our customers, solidifying category leadership.”

Source: Pyramid Analytics

Ten Trends Shaping AI-driven Data Analytics in 2025

2024 has been another year of unprecedented growth for AI and machine learning across the financial services industry, with a staggering 80% of trading firms now using this cutting edge technology.[1] As we head into 2025, what will be the trends that dominate the industry as firms continue to leverage this technology and harness the power of transaction and market data? Mosaic Smart Data CEO Matthew Hodgson gives his top ten predictions for the year ahead.

1.            AI-Driven Decision-Making

“Investment banks will increasingly rely on AI-driven insights for decision-making, moving from historical data analysis to predictive analytics. AI models will be used by a growing number of trading firms to process vast amounts of unstructured data, improving forecasting and strategic planning.”

2.            Hyper-Personalised Client Engagement

“Using data analytics, investment banks will continue to improve their ability to offer hyper-personalised experiences tailored to clients’ investment preferences, risk profiles, and financial goals. This kind of personalized advisory will enable banks to deliver tailored solutions, deepen relationships, and anticipate client needs, boosting engagement and retention.”

3.          Real-Time Decision-Making

“Real-time data platforms will drive quicker, more informed decisions in trading, risk management, and client interactions, optimising performance and reducing latency in execution. Coupled with machine learning, this will enhance risk assessment, allowing banks to manage risks on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Predictive analytics will increasingly be used to flag potential risks before they impact the bank’s portfolio.”

4.          Digital Transformation in Sales and Trading

“Digital tools and advanced analytics will automate workflows, optimise trade execution, and provide insights to increase sales performance and maximise profitability across asset classes.”

5.          Optimised Liquidity Management

“Banks will use data to better predict liquidity needs, align inventory with client demand, and improve balance sheet efficiency, particularly in fixed-income markets. Promoting inventory to the most probable client demand will become table stakes.”

6.          AI-Powered Compliance and Surveillance

“Machine learning will enable the integration of transaction and communication surveillance, enabling better detection of fraud, insider trading, and other compliance risks to increase the identification of bad actors.”

7.          Cross-Silo Data Integration

“Investment banks will focus on breaking down internal silos by integrating data across business units, enabling holistic insights into client activity, profitability, and operational efficiency.  This will significantly improve sales effectiveness to cross sell products across asset classes.”

8.          Client Profitability Analytics

“Banks will adopt more sophisticated client profitability tools, analysing granular transaction data to identify high-value relationships and allocate resources more effectively.”

9.          Expanding Use of Alternative Data

“Non-traditional data sources, such as social media sentiment, satellite images, and climate data, will play a more significant role in investment strategies. Banks will leverage this alternative data to gain insights into market trends and investment opportunities to drive alpha generation.”

10.          Harnessing innovation to drive cost-effectiveness

“Rather than viewing innovation as a ‘nice to have’ expense, firms will increasingly look to new technologies to drive the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their operations, with a laser focus on ROI for any new solutions they deploy.”

The Impact AI Has on the Traders’ World

Press Release • updated: Nov 27, 2024 08:00 EST

LONDON, England, November 27, 2024 (Newswire.com) – AI technology has had massive implications for many different industries and sectors, with new tools saving countless hours by generating ideas and automating everyday tasks.

Alpari has put together a new report that gives an overview of how AI is changing the world of trading, as well as showing how far technology has come since the birth of computer-assisted trading in the 1970s.

AI tools traders can use fall into 4 main categories.

Language processing: Tools like Crowd Insight offered by Trading Central, which can read what news outlets are publishing about different opportunities and use this information to build a quick overview of the overall market sentiment. This includes an analysis of whether the sentiment is rational or irrational and how much weight each media outlet’s opinion holds.

MetaTrader Expert Advisors: These add-ons are made by independent developers, available for traders to use in version 4 or 5 of the trading platform MetaTrader 4. These bots use AI to analyze opportunities and even execute trades themselves on the trader’s behalf.

High-frequency trading: This is a common trading method used by large hedge fund companies. Powerful computers use algorithms to execute millions of trades in seconds – as AI technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, the effectiveness of this method may continue to increase.

Simulations: AI allows traders to simulate what would happen in the future in the event based on a huge number of variables, meaning they can test trades thoroughly before committing. Simulations are also useful for beginner traders, giving them an artificial environment in which to practice.

Computer-assisted trading has changed and developed over the years, since the founding of Nasdaq, the first electronic stock exchange, in 1971.

Program trading, which uses computer systems to execute large orders, became popular in the 1980s. The Black Monday stock market crash in 1987 was partly attributed at the time to the use of program trading, but opinion is now divided on its true causes.

In the 90s, technological advancements led to the launch of REDI, one of the first electronic order systems. The SEC ruled that Electronic Communication Networks were allowed to compete with traditional stock exchanges.

2000s: The decimalization of stock prices in 2001 made it easier for algorithms to trade in smaller quantities. The SEC introduced the Regulation National Market System in 2005, which encouraged faster trading. By 2007, algorithmic trading accounted for over 30% of equity trading volume in the US.

2010: The Flash Crash which caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to plunge nearly 1,000 points may have been due to a massive sell order carried out by an algorithm. Then, in 2012 an algorithmic trading error caused Knight Capital Group to lose $440 million.

2014: Release of Michael Lewis’s book “Flash Boys” raised awareness of high-frequency trading. By 2016, about 80% of FX trading was algorithmic – and by 2019, 60-73% of trading in the US was algorithmic.

2024: One interesting development is the way that chatbots are entering the trading space, with companies developing tools they say can give informed recommendations.

Alexey Efimov at Alpari, comments:

“AI could have major implications for traders at all levels, so it’s worth researching whether there are any tools that might be able to help you save time and trade more efficiently. As time goes on, it’s likely that these tools will develop even further and become even more advanced. However, trading is risky, with or without AI assistance, so traders should always understand that their money is at risk – don’t let AI tools give you a false sense of security.”

About Alpari

Alpari is a long-established leader in online financial trading. They pioneered online forex trading for retail clients 25 years ago, and remain focused on enabling individuals to access the potential of global financial markets.

Alpari clients are individuals with an appetite to generate financial returns through self-directed trading. They are comfortable taking risks in order to generate returns and are willing to invest time to build the skills needed to succeed.

Alpari’s promise to these clients is to enable them to “access global trading opportunities securely”. They believe that individuals anywhere in the world should be able to access opportunities in financial markets – where local political environments do not support domestic regulation, they provide solutions for individuals to access our services offshore, but offering the same service standards and client protections as a regulated business.

big xyt, Trackinsight Partner to Elevate Analytics for Global ETF Markets

27 November 2024

This collaboration between trusted industry leaders provides the highest quality data for ETFs

London, 27 November, 2024 – big xyt, a leading AI-analytics company for global financial markets, is delighted to announce its partnership with Trackinsight, a globally recognised ETF data provider. This collaboration brings together the complementary strengths of both companies to provide market participants with unparalleled insights into ETF trading and investment across the globe.

With $14 trillion in assets under management, the global ETF ecosystem is rapidly evolving, driven by increasing product complexity, regulatory changes, and growing demand for transparency. This partnership leverages big xyt’s expertise in secondary market analytics processing billions of records every day, and Trackinsight’s comprehensive coverage of ETF reference data, primary market flows, and portfolio data. Together, the firms provide an integrated, high-quality dataset to empower better decision-making for issuers, investors, exchanges, and other market participants.

By combining their capabilities, big xyt and Trackinsight enables clients to:

  • Access a comprehensive view of liquidity across the ETF landscape, integrating primary and secondary market insights.
  • Improve trading efficiency and reduce costs by providing clarity on liquidity and product quality.
  • Enhance pre-trade and post-trade analytics with improved insights for evaluating trading costs, liquidity, and market efficiency.

The collaboration will pave the way for additional services, such as liquidity analysis across global markets, and peer group analysis to help issuers benchmark their ETFs against competitors to make informed decisions on product development and market positioning.

Robin Mess, CEO of big xyt, commented: “This partnership with Trackinsight represents a pivotal milestone in our mission to deliver unmatched data transparency and actionable insights to the ETF community. At big xyt, we pride ourselves on our leadership in market analytics, offering deep insights into liquidity and trading dynamics across global markets. By aligning our expertise with Trackinsight’s exceptional reference and primary market data, we are creating a comprehensive solution that empowers investors, issuers, and intermediaries to navigate the ETF ecosystem with confidence and precision.”

Philippe Malaise, CEO of Trackinsight added: “Partnering with big xyt allows us to bring a new dimension to ETF data and analytics. Trackinsight’s focus on delivering accurate and comprehensive reference and primary market data, combined with big xyt’s expertise in secondary market analytics, creates a unique offering for the industry. This collaboration ensures that market participants can rely on a unified source for understanding ETF performance, liquidity, and trends, driving smarter decisions and greater efficiency in the market.”

This collaboration reflects the companies’ shared vision of innovation and efficiency, setting a new standard for ETF data transparency and usability across global markets.

< ENDS > 

About big xyt
big xyt’s independent analytics tools provide unrivalled data accuracy and enable users to transform data into decisions and to observations for their audience.   

big xyt has created a global ecosystem for tick data analytics covering more than 120 trading venues across equities, ETFs, FX, and listed derivatives (futures and options), and are available in T+1 and real-time. Our clients include major global investment banks, asset managers, leading exchanges and trading venues, ETF issuers, and regulatory bodies.   

big xyt’s unique private cloud-based technology normalises trade conditions of venues, allowing accurate and transparent aggregations of trading volumes, comprehensive analysis, and delivery of results in flexible and customisable formats. Our APIs support more in-depth quantitative research and feed-dependent systems such as algorithms and decision support tools, which are essential for data science and quant teams. 

In November 2024, big xyt announced a €10 million investment led by European growth investment firm Finch Capital, its first round of external investment after 10 years of profitable bootstrapped growth. 

Firms across the financial services industry choose big xyt as their data analytics partner due to our independence and ability to provide the best quality normalised data, our capability to deliver complex security and execution analytics in sophisticated and data-rich financial markets, as well as the in-depth domain experience of the big xyt team in setting up, running and maintaining data analytics environments for tick data in highly secure environments. 

About Trackinsight 
Since its founding in 2016, Trackinsight has been at the forefront of the ETF industry, delivering accessible, comprehensive, and reliable tools to support the evolving needs of investors. 

Over the years, Trackinsight has expanded its operations across six countries, serving tens of thousands of professional investors while consistently innovating to provide cutting-edge solutions that address the evolving demands of the ETF market. 

In 2024, Kepler Cheuvreux, a leading independent European financial services firm, acquired a majority stake in Trackinsight, becoming its principal shareholder. 

This strategic partnership reinforces Trackinsight’s position as a premier provider of ETF selection and analysis tools and strengthens Kepler Cheuvreux’s commitment to becoming a leading player in the ETF space. 

Together, they are focused on delivering advanced services that empower professional investors, advisors, and institutions, enabling the development of more comprehensive and innovative technological solutions to drive ETF investing to new heights.

Outsourced CIO Industry Poised for Consolidation

High levels of acquisitions are expected in the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) industry according to research provider Cerulli.

A report from Cerulli, U.S. Outsourced Chief Investment Officer Function 2024, said the concentration of assets among the largest providers is expected to increase as industry-wide and idiosyncratic factors drive further consolidation. US assets managed by OCIO providers reached $2.9 trillion at the end of 2023 and Cerulli projected they will reach $4.2 trillion by the end of 2028, reflecting an average annual growth rate of 7.9%.

For example, in September this year the Shell Pension Fund Foundation (SSPF), which had €27bn in assets at the end of last year and more than 30,000 participants, said in a statement it has decided to appoint BlackRock as its fiduciary manager for asset management.

“SSPF’s assets will be managed by an experienced BlackRock team, leveraging the scale and global expertise of the world’s largest asset management company,” said the statement. “Moreover, BlackRock adds relevant experience with the design of the portfolio for the new pension scheme with several other clients.”

 Marc Nachmann, Goldman Sachs

In May this year Goldman Sachs Asset Management said in a statement it had been appointed by the UPS pension plan fiduciaries to provide investment management services for UPS’s US and Canadian defined benefit pension plan assets. UPS’s North American pension plans had a combined $43.4 bn in assets as of March 31, 2024.

Marc Nachmann, global head of asset & wealth management at Goldman Sachs, said in a statement: “Outsourced CIO solutions can deliver investment excellence, economies of scale and enhanced risk management while allowing corporate and pension plans of all sizes to focus on their core business.”

Large-scale OCIO providers, above the 90th percentile in assets under management, account for 61% of global OCIO assets, up from 49% in 2017 according to Cerulli.

Chris Swansey, associate director at Cerulli, said in a statement that an OCIO provider needs sophisticated investment capabilities, expertise working with large client portfolios, and a well-established investment team in order to gain scale among institutional investors. “Acquiring a well-established institutional OCIO provider may help RIAs expand into the channel and gain access to better alternative asset capabilities for their private wealth clients,” he added.

 Chris Swansey, Cerulli Associates

In addition, the rising costs of technology, compensation, and regulatory/compliance requirements have put pressure on many OCIO providers. As a result smaller providers have also shown an interest in selling all or a portion of their businesses.

“Acquisitions from outside entities such as RIAs and private equity firms could lend resources to these providers that enable them to build new market advantages,” said Swansey. “As large providers gain scale and smaller providers entrench themselves within niche markets, middle-market providers will need to differentiate their value.”

Endowments and foundations

Cerulli continued that endowment and foundation clients are one of the only client channels where both large and small OCIO providers can compete for assets.

The majority, 60%, of endowments with between $100m and $250m in AUM already use an OCIO provider and there has been an increase in the number of large institutions with more than $1bn in assets adopting the OCIO model.

 Source: Cerulli

Endowment assets managed by OCIO providers are expected to grow 11.3% annually over the next five years, according to Cerulli.

Hedge Fund Industry Poised to Gain Significant Influence in the Trump Administration

By Don Steinbrugge, Founder and CEO, Agecroft Partners

The hedge fund industry is set to play a more prominent role in the Trump administration compared to previous administrations. While various articles have highlighted individual hedge fund figures who may have influence, few have examined the broader implications of this trend for the industry as a whole.

The most notable development is the selection of Scott Bessent, a former partner at Soros Fund Management, as Treasury Secretary. As one of the most powerful cabinet positions, the Treasury Secretary wields substantial influence over financial policy, including areas that directly impact the hedge fund industry. Bessent’s appointment marks a significant win for hedge fund representation at the highest levels of government. Notably, he edged out other high-profile contenders, including John Paulson, founder of Paulson & Co., who withdrew from consideration but remains a respected advisor to Trump.

Additionally, several major figures from the alternative investment space were significant donors to the Republican Party, including four of the eight largest, which are listed below:

            •           Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel ($101 million)

            •           Jeffrey Yass, Co-Founder of Susquehanna International Group ($96 million)

            •           Paul Singer, Founder of Elliott Management Corporation ($59 million)

            •           Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone Group ($39 million)

These contributions not only reflect financial support but also position these leaders for direct access to the administration, further amplifying the industry’s influence.

Beyond the cabinet and donor base, hedge fund leaders are making their mark in elected office and public discourse. David McCormick, former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, recently won a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, bringing his financial expertise to Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square and a number of other high profile hedge fund managers, have become increasingly vocal on political matters, potentially signaling a shift toward more active engagement in shaping policy.

Taken together, these developments point to a hedge fund industry that is poised to wield unprecedented influence during Trump’s tenure. Whether through key appointments, campaign contributions, or elected representation, the industry is positioning itself as a powerful player in shaping the administration’s policies.

Promoting Carbon Removal Markets and Technology at COP29 – A Step Towards Achieving Net-Zero

TECH TUESDAY is a weekly content series covering all aspects of capital markets technology. TECH TUESDAY is produced in collaboration with Nasdaq.

Referred to as ‘the finance COP’ to highlight the critical nature of negotiations to advance various financial tools and mechanisms designed to aid in climate change mitigation efforts, Nasdaq was proud to be present for a fourth consecutive year at the UN Climate Change Conference COP29 which was held from November 11th to 22nd  in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Tomas Thyblad

Despite efforts to cut carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions via renewable energy and efficiency, residual emissions persist. With excessive amounts of CO₂ accumulating in the atmosphere, achieving the Paris Agreement’s goals rests heavily on increasing the pace of reductions while also investing in durable Carbon Dioxide Removals (CDRs) to manage the residual emissions that are proving impossible to reduce. While permanent carbon dioxide removal is essential to neutralize emissions, it remains scarce and is primarily supported by voluntary corporate initiatives.

Achieving net-zero emissions necessitates a multifaceted approach that includes reduction activities combined with the development of a mature carbon removal market. The carbon removal market needs to expand to gigaton capacity, requiring swift action and cooperation between public and private sectors.

Clear guidelines for using carbon credits in corporate net-zero strategies are necessary to ensure high-quality carbon removal projects are effectively utilized. Consensus on handling durable CDRs and clear definitions for compensation, contribution, and neutralization claims utilizing carbon credits are essential for effective implementation and to ensure that private capital is mobilized.

An important example is the utilization of durable CDRs for corporate claims in the era of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. It is of utmost importance to clarify that durable CDRs would not require a so-called Corresponding Adjustment to be eligible for neutralization claims. A Corresponding Adjustment is a technical term in the Paris Agreement and means an adjustment to ensure that an emission reduction or removal is only counted once—either by the country where the reduction or removal takes place or by the country purchasing the reduction or removal to fulfill its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Requiring Corresponding Adjustments for durable CDRs would result in inconsistency where residual emissions would need to be neutralized twice to allow for a net-zero claim. This would also significantly raise costs and hinder scaling. Clarity on this issue would be highly beneficial to minimize uncertainty for buyers of carbon removals. And since the growth of the CDR market is highly dependent on long-term offtake agreements, such uncertainty creates unnecessary barriers for the scaling of the CDR market.

Beyond clear policies and industry guidelines, scaling the carbon removal market will also require the creation of efficient pricing mechanisms, verified and trusted carbon standards, and transparent and interconnected marketplaces and registries. Competition fosters innovation and a well-organized carbon market can use financial market insights to improve carbon removal efficiency.

This is where Nasdaq’s expertise in managing effective capital market infrastructures comes in. Nasdaq’s new registry technology, as described in Tech Tuesday’s recent article, brings registry solutions in line with modern capital markets standards by meeting resiliency, security, performance and interoperability expectation. Robust technological infrastructure will be essential also for managing the complexities of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) transactions established under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and facilitating successful cross-border transfers. Efficient and transparent asset creation, and issuance and transfer of sovereign carbon credits with full auditability ensures accurate ownership and facilitation of transfer from issuing countries to acquiring countries and corporates.

To further advance the carbon markets, it is crucial to create more standardized carbon spot and futures contracts, as well as to develop a vibrant secondary market for better price discovery and demand signaling. The European Union’s Emissions Trading System has already set a global standard for carbon pricing. To expand these initiatives and integrate high-integrity durable carbon removals into emission trading systems in a controlled way would create an important foundation for the development of a more liquid market. This would also drive demand for additional carbon removal projects, encourage climate-positive corporate behavior, and ultimately support the objectives set forth in the Paris Agreement.

The availability and allocation of capital is a critical enabler, underpinning all other innovations, solutions, and initiatives that will accelerate progress – from investments in new and emerging technologies, to funding of large-scale, capital-intensive energy and carbon removal projects, to investments that help decarbonize traditional industries and infrastructures. Capital markets will play a critical role at the epicenter of capital formation and allocation. Experience and solutions from the financial market should be leveraged on when developing the structure of carbon markets. Simultaneously, building a robust and transparent carbon removal market is crucial to encouraging corporate involvement in climate solutions and achieving significant climate results.

Achieving net-zero emissions will require various approaches. Implementing a diverse array of tactics, including the policy measures outlined here, can drive the significant climate impact that is needed.

Tomas Thyblad is VP, Carbon & ESG Solutions, European Markets at Nasdaq.

Creating tomorrow’s markets today. Find out more about Nasdaq’s offerings to drive your business forward here.

Capitolis Announces New Strategic Investments from Citi, Morgan Stanley, State Street and UBS

New investments will support continued rapid growth for Capitolis

A representative from each bank will join the Board of Directors

NEW YORK – Capitolis, the technology company helping to create safer and more vibrant capital markets, today announced new strategic investments from four leading global banks. The new round is led by Citi and includes State Street, both existing investors in Capitolis, as well as new investors Morgan Stanley, and UBS. Each bank will invest $5 million and will join other existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, S Capital, Spark Capital, SVB Capital, Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, Standard Chartered and J.P. Morgan.   

The transaction and the funds it will generate will be used to fuel Capitolis’ growth across both its Capital Marketplace and Portfolio Optimization businesses. With an experienced and passionate team of global financial and technology executives, and some of the most innovative solutions in the industry, Capitolis has become a strategic partner to the financial industry. Its unique approach to working side-by-side with its customers to understand their core optimization issues and help solve for them is seen as a true differentiator.     

The need for the products Capitolis offers is expanding and as a result the company is seeing strong business momentum in terms of revenue growth, network participation and new product releases. Capitolis has been named as one of CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies, World’s Best FX Software Provider in the Euromoney Foreign Exchange Awards, and one of Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies.  

“Capitolis has been partnering closely with the industry to make the financial markets safer and stronger within a well-regulated system, and we have seen tremendous growth because of this,” said Gil Mandelzis, CEO and Founder of Capitolis. “Our partnership with the world’s leading banks over the last few years has been terrific and we are excited to expand these relationships as well as add more of the world’s foremost financial institutions as both investors and board members.” 

“State Street is excited to continue our long-standing partnership with Capitolis. Welcoming additional key bank investors will further accelerate Capitolis’ success in capital markets optimization products,” said Tobias Krause, senior managing director, Risk and Capital Optimization at State Street. 

About Capitolis 

We believe the financial markets can and should work for everyone. Capitolis is the technology company helping to create safer and more vibrant financial markets by unlocking capital constraints and enabling greater access to more diversified capital and investment opportunities. Rooted in advanced technology and deep financial expertise, Capitolis powers groundbreaking financial solutions that drive growth for global and regional banks – and institutional investors alike. Capitolis is backed by world class venture capital firms, including Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, SVB Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, and S Capital, as well as leading global banks such as Citi, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, State Street and UBS. 

Founded in 2017, our team brings decades of experience in launching successful startups, technology, and financial services. Capitolis was named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of The World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023, named World’s Best FX Software Provider for the second consecutive year in the 2024 Euromoney Foreign Exchange Awards, and included on each of CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies 2024 list and Deloitte’s 2024 Technology Fast 500 list for the second straight year. American Banker recognized Capitolis among the Best Places to Work in Fintech, and the company was named by Crain’s New York Business as one of New York’s Best Places to Work in 2024 for the third consecutive year. For more information, please visit our website at www.capitolis.com or follow us on LinkedIn

SIFMA Statement on Issuance of Revised No-Action Relief for SEC Rule 15c2-11

Washington, DC, November 22, 2024 – SIFMA today issued the following statement from president and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. on the issuance of revised no-action relief for SEC Rule 15c2-11:

“Extending the 15c2-11 no-action relief is the right outcome and we commend the SEC for taking this approach.  SIFMA has long held that rules need to be fit for purpose and designed thoughtfully.  In this case, an equity-markets focused rule was ill-suited for application to the very different fixed income markets, and if the current no action relief that has allowed fixed income markets to continue to function effectively were to expire, these markets would have seen material disruption and investors would have been harmed through a reduction in liquidity and price transparency.  If this rule is to be applied to fixed income markets, it needs to be revised through a public notice and comment process so that the Commission can design a rule that both protects investors and promotes, rather than impairs, the ability of fixed income markets to fund the consumer, business, and other credit creation that fuels our economy.”

SIFMA is the leading trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. On behalf of our industry’s one million employees, we advocate on legislation, regulation and business policy affecting retail and institutional investors, equity and fixed income markets and related products and services. We serve as an industry coordinating body to promote fair and orderly markets, informed regulatory compliance, and efficient market operations and resiliency. We also provide a forum for industry policy and professional development.  SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA).

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