Global capital markets publisher, Markets Media Group, has acquired Trader TV, the leading online trading TV provider, to form a multi-media giant, spanning the USA, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
“Trader TV adds nearly a decade of video and podcast capabilities to Markets Media’s offering allowing us to reach capital markets professionals in every medium,” says Mohan Virdee, CEO of Markets Media.
Mohan Virdee
“Bringing live, recorded and in-event video will ensure our audience gets the best access to information however they want to consume it.”
Trader TV Ltd currently delivers multiple shows spanning asset classes, and touching upon a broad range of financial services businesses.
These include:
· Trader TV This Week: Hosted by Josephine Gallagher, analysing dynamics impacting trading each week;
· Trader TV Marketplace: Market operators outline the tides of activity that traders need to navigate every quarter;
· Trader TV Thematic: Regular interviews about issues and developments across buy- and sell-side trading;
· Trade Finance TV: A monthly show analysing trade financing of projects and global business, in partnership with Deutsche Bank.
· Trader TV Live: Live-streamed shows for interactive access with an audience;
· Trader TV In Conference: Big screen interviews shown at live events to crystalise ideas for an audience ahead of live discussions.
“Trader TV can now reach Markets Media’s audience of three quarters of a million finance professionals around the world, giving our expert content a far greater reach,” says Hamish McArthur, co-founder of Trader TV.
Markets Media Group is headquartered in New York, with offices in London, and manages titles including Traders Magazine, Markets Media, The DESK, Global Trading and Derivsource, as well as Trader TV.
It operates partnerships with FIX Global, the organisation managing the FIX trading protocol, and events organiser WBR across North America, Asia Pacific and Europe.
Markets Media’s awards programme will be expanding in 2025 to cover Latin America in addition to its existing Asia Pacific, European and US events.
(This article first appeared on Global Trading, a Markets Media Group publication.)
For tourists, Australia and New Zealand offer their natural wonders, cosmopolitan cities, and laid-back vibes; for financial institutions, custodians, and exchange operators, primary attractions are stable economies, fast-growing pension plans, and modernising market infrastructure.
As the Australia and New Zealand markets develop, high-level trends include consolidation, among asset managers as well as custody providers; internationalisation, in the form of expanded access to global markets; and asset servicers stepping up to meet institutions’ increasing need for digital solutions.
A key in the capital markets ecosystem is the custodian, or asset servicer, which provides custody, safekeeping, clearing, and administration of securities held by institutions. Custodians are especially important in relatively small yet evolving markets such as Australia and New Zealand, where inbound capital flows are rising, domestic asset owners are seeking global investments, and all parties want better technology and more efficiencies in trading and clearing.
Mark Wootton, BNP Paribas.
“Offshore investments into the local markets and the domestic investment from the buy side into the markets are critical, and custodians play an important role here, as we see a lot of flow going through our books and onto the exchange,” said Mark Wootton, Co-Head of the Financial Intermediaries and Corporates Client Line in Asia Pacific, Securities Services, BNP Paribas. “Where we add value specifically is on offshore investments into these markets, where we can demystify and give clients one view, whether they’re transacting in Hong Kong SAR, India, New Zealand, Australia, or elsewhere.”
“Custodians are enablers for investors – we’re the ones that do all the behind the scenes work – and also understand client requirements,” Wootton said. “There’s also an element of bringing economies of scale, which means providing a price point for which it makes sense for clients to transact in these markets.”
New Zealand’s KiwiSaver, which launched in 2007, oversaw $115 billion as of March 2024, comprising $68 billion of overseas assets and $47 billion in domestic assets.2
Philippe Kerdoncuff, BNP Paribas.
The pension plans’ oversized importance to the economies of their nations is a unique feature of their capital markets. “It has been a proven successful pension system, representing a very big part of the capitalisation of each market,” said Philippe Kerdoncuff, Head of Asset Owners and Asset Managers Client Lines, Australia and New Zealand for Securities Services at BNP Paribas.
Lisa Briggs, ASX.
Lisa Briggs, Senior Manager, Equity Post Trade Services at ASX, noted bullish demographics for Australia’s superannuation funds – specifically, the strong presence of retail investors between the ages of 18 and 24 who are keen to educate themselves and invest in their future.
As New Zealand is a smaller market – its projected 2024 GDP of $258 billion is about one-seventh Australia’s $1.79 trillion3 – its domestic managers need to look harder for overseas investment opportunities.
“Local asset owners need to work with global custodians to get international exposure,” said Iain Martin, Head of Territory, New Zealand for Securities Services at BNP Paribas. “Also, as in Australia, there’s a real pressure on costs in the market, so there’s a race to gain efficiencies of scale. There’s a lot of consolidation among smaller custodians,” he said.
Iain Martin, BNP Paribas.
Recent consolidation among capital markets participants in New Zealand include Forsyth Barr’s purchase of Hobson Wealth; Jarden and NAB combining their wealth advice and asset management businesses into a new entity called FirstCape; and the merger of global players UBS and Credit Suisse. The local M&A activity has been prompted at least partly by lower levels of market liquidity that has pressured capital markets firms’ cost structures, according to Jeremy Anderson, General Manager, Capital Markets Development at NZX.
Jeremy Anderson, NZX.
In a July 2024 note to clients4, BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business cited post trade as a primary topic of importance globally, especially in light of the U.S. moving to T+1 settlement as of May. Specific to Australia, a potential move to T+1 was cited, while in New Zealand, topics of interest were the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s public consultation on the design of digital cash and financial services conduct regulations.
The country-specific business items underscore that despite global market participants often perceiving Australia and New Zealand as one market, there are important nuances that need to be understood. “For example, there are some very specific New Zealand tax laws around asset owners that are quite different from Australia,” Martin said. “So, for a custodian to properly support New Zealand asset owners, you need an on-the-ground presence.”
Data-Informed Custody Scale has gained importance for custodians as institutional asset owners increasingly adopt master custody, a structure in which they have multiple investment managers but only one custodian. Kerdoncuff noted that master custody provides buy-side clients with a consolidated view of their investments, a single point of contact for all investments, and services pertaining to valuation, reporting and monitoring of investments. While each benefit is important in itself, the true value-add is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
As data – including new frontiers such as environmental, social and governance (ESG) data and private-market data – has become more critical for market participants, a new type of master custody has emerged, enriched with data.
“As a custodian, we are sitting on quite a high level of data, and we want to leverage that data to provide a strong solution for our clients,” Kerdoncuff said. “Clients want to use their data, so we need to structure and clean the data to provide a suite of reporting analytics using that data.”
“And it’s no longer listed assets only – we need to provide a consolidated view across all asset classes, including private assets,” Kerdoncuff continued. “You need to have the proper technology to clean, scrub and aggregate the data, and then provide it to the client in the right manner. It’s a bigger challenge for custodians, but it’s a matter of having the right tools and the right processes in place.”
Digital Transformation
Technology is a critical aspect for smaller securities markets like Australia and New Zealand, both to attract international capital and to provide domestic market participants with the efficiencies and low trading costs found in global financial centres such as New York, London and Hong Kong SAR. Tech innovation and evolution, largely driven by custodians and exchange operators, is prized by market participants for its ability to ‘future-proof’ business models.
The New Zealand Stock Exchange punches above its weight technologically by outsourcing its trading engine to Nasdaq, and its clearing and settlement systems to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). “Beyond that, we are able to innovate more and evolve at the forefront of technology in our systems, like our websites and our adoption of cloud for data delivery,” said Anderson of NZX.
ASX’s Briggs said: “ASX continues to focus on technology modernisation and innovation, and leveraging the data in our customer relationships.”
“There is a lot of work to do, but the technological changes will help uplift the global angle of investment to Australia,” said Wootton of BNP Paribas. “Some of the legacy processes will be revamped, so there will be efficiencies, and it will move more toward what global players see in other markets.”
In the wake of the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Argentina shortening settlement to T+1, market participants are keen to see alignment of settlement cycles in all major jurisdictions to reduce complexity and cost5. ASX published a whitepaper in April 20246, outlining how Australia’s unique market structure, size, time zone, investment flows, and trading activity necessitates careful industry consideration of the risks, benefits, and costs of transitioning to T+1.
Briggs said the ASX will continue to work with the industry and regulators to determine the best course of action, and an update is expected to be announced by the end of this year.
As Australia and New Zealand capital markets enter the next phase of their development, while retaining their uniqueness, global custodians who attain trusted-partner status will go along for the journey.
“We see the role of the custodian as bringing our global technologies to assist with the efficiencies of local capital markets,” BNP Paribas’ Martin said. “Whether that’s third-party clearing products and technology, or derivative products and technology, or anything else, providing a global reach brings efficiencies to local markets.
Charles Schwab has announced it will begin piloting additional access to the overnight trading session by expanding to include stocks in the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and hundreds of additional exchange-traded funds (ETFs) available for trading 24 hours a day, five days a week (24/5).
James Kostulias
“Our goal has always been to offer and expand access to 24/5 trading in a responsible way that takes into account client demand, the evolving dynamics of the overnight trading market, and – importantly – providing clients with the full library of Schwab’s educational content and 24-hour support to help them balance the opportunities and risks, as well as the unique considerations of overnight trading,” James Kostulias, Managing Director and Head of Trading Services at Charles Schwab, said in a statement.
Ameritrade, which was acquired by Schwab in 2020, pioneered 24/5 trading in 2018 when it was the first U.S. retail broker-dealer to make it available to traders.
Since then, clients using the thinkorswim trading platforms at Ameritrade and now Schwab have had access to approximately two dozen ETFs in the overnight trading session. Schwab will begin piloting expanded overnight access with a small group of clients and gradually expand to full client access in 2025.
“More than six years after Ameritrade was the first U.S. retail broker-dealer to launch 24/5 trading on the thinkorswim platforms, we’re proud to see how the overnight market has evolved,” Kostulias said.
Overnight trading is just one way Schwab clients can engage with the markets outside of standard trading hours.
Schwab also offers pre- and post-market extended hours trading sessions across its trading platforms. Futures, including options on futures, and forex trading are available to clients with appropriately approved accounts via thinkorswim.
In addition to expanding overnight trading, Schwab has also recently introduced a range of new trading features and capabilities, including:
Thinkorswim Platform Suite:
Positions on Charts: Across all thinkorswim platforms (thinkorswim desktop, thinkorswim web, and thinkorswim mobile), clients can add a horizontal line to a chart for any symbol they hold a position in that will show the trade price of their equity position or strike price of their options position.
Options Chain Gadget: Clients using thinkorswim desktop can now view the option chain and chart at the same time using this Charts feature.
Index Monitor: Clients using thinkorswim web can monitor indices throughout the day with a rotating chart and quote carousel at the top of the Charts feature.
Analyst Ratings: On thinkorswim mobile, clients can now view analyst reports and ratings for their positions.
Money Movement: Clients using thinkorswim mobile can now add funds to their account using the remote check deposit feature.
Coming Soon: Walk Limit Orders: Clients using all thinkorswim platforms will have the ability to automatically aim to execute at a more favorable price than initially set for single- or multi-leg options trades.
Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile:
Options Chain: Now easier-to-use and more customizable than ever, the updated options chain on Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile allows clients to more efficiently identify and trade single- and multi-leg options strategies; add, remove and rearrange data points; filter by strike price and expiration date; and set default page display settings.
Order Status: Clients on Schwab.com can now add, remove and rearrange their order status columns; change the filter, sort and condensed view preferences and establish new default settings; and add new data points including Mark Price, Day Range, and 52 Week Range.
Streaming Quotes: Clients on Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile no longer need to refresh or toggle between timeframes with indices now updating automatically on Research pages.
Symbol Snapshot: This new, convenient view offers up essential details and interactive charts on a given security without navigating away from the Schwab.com Research page.
Closing Orders: Manage your positions more easily with convenient new actions—including Sell All for equities and Close and Roll, meaning the ability to close an existing position and open another in one trade for options—on Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile.
Coming Soon: Custom Positions Table: Clients on Schwab Mobile will be able to add, remove and rearrange up to 30 columns of quotes, positions and fundamental data points with this new table view on the Positions page.
“We have built a powerful trading experience over a long period of time and are a strong leader in this space thanks to the breadth and depth of our platforms, products and professional support,” Kostulias said.
“Our expansion in overnight trading combined with our steady stream of meaningful platform enhancements demonstrates our overall commitment to keeping our foot on the pedal and continually innovating to meet traders’ rapidly evolving needs. That has always been part of our firm’s DNA,” he added.
By Sylvain Thieullent, CEO, Horizon Trading Solutions
The dominance of Robinhood in the U.S. retail investing market poses a major challenge to traditional brokers, leaving them scrambling to regain lost ground. But the competition is not just about brokers vying for flow — it’s the story as old as time where the incumbent struggles against a disruptor that has revolutionised the market. For traditional retail brokers to stand a chance of competing, they must evolve by not just adopting new technology, but also rethinking how they engage with today’s digital friendly investors.
In the U.S., Robinhood has had the largest share of the retail investing market since at least 2020, with its market share fluctuating between one third and one half of the market. Traditional retail brokers have a major job on their hands if they are to steal back the business that they have lost from retail investors to Robinhood. The thing is, they aren’t competing against another retail broker – they are competing against a technology company. And make no bones about it, Robinhood isn’t just a technology company, it is one that has been able to completely shake up the status quo of the retail investing market.
With the SEC proposals to make changes to equity market structure, including a now approved move to reduce the tick size of trades, an opportunity could be presenting itself to the embattled traditional retail broking community – if they are prepared to take advantage before these changes come into effect next November. A reduction in tick size is, in part, designed to rebalance the U.S. equity market. The tighter spreads would see less profitability for high frequency traders (HFTs) and could lead to a pull back from market making in U.S. stocks. This is significant in the retail trading world because of the ‘payment for order flow’ (PFOF) phenomenon which has acted as a lifeblood for firms like Robinhood.
The smaller tick size would have a direct impact on companies like Robinhood, who are able to fund the rebates that are offered to brokers to draw order flow to their platform through PFOF. Unsurprisingly, parts of the market are pushing back as they sense their advantage could be taken from them. If the plans remain in place, there is no doubt that the door is opening, with Robinhood’s dominant position in this market standing on shaky ground.
So, what stands between traditional retail brokers and winning back the business they have lost over the past decade? Technological evolution. For too long now, these companies have ignored the move to digitization, and their internal operational processes are significantly outdated as a result, which has a direct impact on how well they can service clients. Take the move to T+1 settlement for US securities as an example. Many of these firms have been throwing body count at the issue to ensure that trades are settled within the new constrained timeframe. However, by investing in modern execution order management systems, these retail brokers would be able to better ensure that they can meet these new settlement requirements in a sustainable way, one that is built with future adaptability in mind.
Traditional retail brokers also need look at the usability of their trading systems. The new wave of retail brokers has brought the user experience of Netflix and Amazon to trading, which people are flocking to. This provides intuitive applications which can be accessed more easily wherever people are. Not only this, but the technology is able to perform well during periods of high volatility, which is where firms like Robinhood have been able to step up and stand out. And, let’s face it, these periods of increased volatility have become far more common over the last five years across markets, which makes it even more important to adapt so that user experience and market trading are not infringed for technology savvy customers.
The proposed changes to US equity market structure have opened the door back up for traditional retail brokers to win back the business they have lost, by targeting the payment for order flow method that is central to driving volumes to Robinhood. However, if they are to take advantage, they need to differentiate themselves and adapt to modern trading conditions. This means embracing technology, while recognising how today’s retail investor wants to interact with their brokerage firm.
FIA president and CEO Walt Lukken made the following statement regarding the approval of CME’s futures commission merchant (FCM) license.
“The approval of CME’s FCM application is the latest and most significant example of a trend that raises serious concerns about market regulation and systemic risk. The approval comes at a time when the CFTC has yet to propose a strong rule to address conflicts among affiliated CFTC-regulated entities.
“Nearly three years ago, FTX sought CFTC approval for a vertically integrated business model. FIA warned the CFTC at that time that such a novel structure would raise concerns about conflicts of interest from combining multiple market functions under one roof. Three years later, these risks remain unaddressed.
“We strongly believe inherent conflicts of interest exist when one organization controls multiple market functions – trading, clearing, intermediation and market regulation. FIA urges the CFTC to move forward immediately on a rulemaking to address this matter.”
Source: FIA
CME Group Receives Approval to Establish Futures Commission Merchant
CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, announced it has received approval from the National Futures Association (NFA) to establish a futures commission merchant (FCM).
“We are pleased that the NFA has approved our FCM application,” said Terry Duffy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CME Group. “We remain committed to the FCM model and believe in the time-tested risk management benefits it continues to provide. At the same time, as our industry continues to evolve, our FCM will ensure CME Group is in a strong position to quickly adapt to our clients’ changing business needs.”
CoinShares International, an European investment company specializing in digital assets, has made a significant step in its U.S. expansion strategy, according to Jean-Marie Mognetti, Chief Executive Officer of CoinShares.
“As the largest asset management arena and home to 50% of global assets, the U.S. market presents a unique opportunity for CoinShares,” Mognetti said.
Jean-Marie Mognetti
The company just announced the opening of a U.S. central office based in New York City, that will strengthen the company’s presence in the world’s largest financial market.
The New York City office will serve as the primary hub for U.S. operations, allowing the Company to deepen its relationships with American counterparties and support the company’s growing client base across institutional and retail markets.
“The inauguration of our New York City Office marks a watershed moment in the Company’s expansion into the U.S. market, highlighting the growing significance of digital assets within the global financial ecosystem,” said Mognetti.
The digital asset industry is growing exponentially. In January 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the Spot Bitcoin ETFs marked a pivotal moment in the financial industry, signalling a new era of digital asset integration into regulated financial markets.
According to recent data from CoinShares, digital asset inflows reached US$901m last week, pushing year-to-date inflows to US$27bn, nearly triple the 2021 record.
Regionally, the US saw the highest inflows at US$906m, with the recent surge in inflows influenced by US politics and likely linked to the Republicans poll gains.
Mognetti told Traders Magazine that CoinShares has been a pioneer since 2014, offering European investors regulated access to digital assets. “We’ve been the leader in Europe for a decade. Now, we’re aiming to take this success global and transform CoinShares into a worldwide investment powerhouse. It’d be crazy to think we could do that without starting in the U.S, which holds half of the world’s assets under management.”
“We started our investment in the US in 2023 by expanding our broker dealer registration in 53 U.S states and territories” he said.
“The U.S represents a critical market and was a natural expansion,” Mognetti told Traders Magazine.
CoinShares accelerated its U.S expansion with the acquisition of Valkyrie Funds in March 2024. Whilst restructuring and integrating this new business line, CoinShares has seen early positive signs of success, with its global assets under management (AUM) increasing to $6.5 billion.
Valkyrie’s portfolio of ETFs, including standout products like the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund ($BRRR) and the CoinShares Valkyrie Miners ETF ($WGMI), has contributed to CoinShares’ growth and established its foothold in the U.S. market, Mognetti said.
This platform should allow to introduce more actively managed products in the future, according to Mognetti.
“In doing so, we are preparing for the evolution of the ETF sector, which we believe will blend the sophistication of Hedge Funds with the accessibility of regulated listed products such as ETPs,” he said.
As a part of the growth initiative, CoinShares is actively recruiting for key roles in sales, marketing, operations, and compliance to support its commitment to scaling U.S. operations.
When asked about further acquisitions, Mognetti said that “we’re happy with where we are right now, but it’s never out of the question.”
According to Mognetti, the digital asset industry is rapidly transforming: “A week in crypto is like a month in traditional finance.”
“The speed at which everything moves is extremely brutal,” he added.
Listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, CoinShares was the first company to offer cryptocurrency ETPs in Europe and has consistently remained at the forefront of the digital asset investment space.
CoinShares is headquartered in Jersey, with offices in France, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. CoinShares is regulated in Jersey by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, in France by the Autorité des marchés financiers, in the U.S. by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
The company’s approach in the US is encapsulated by CoinShares operational philosophy: “AUM for vanity, revenue for sanity.”
“Our ambition is to leverage our dual strengths in financial product structuring and active asset management, coupled with our technical understanding of the digital asset sector, to redefine industry standards and lead the way in innovation,” Mognetti concluded.
TradingBlock Reveals Customizable Order-Routing Algorithms for Professional and Active Traders, Asset Managers
Traders can now create custom order-routing algorithms designed specifically for their unique strategies
CHICAGO – Oct. 29, 2024 – TradingBlock, a provider of custom trading technology solutions for institutions, individuals and Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), today announced that traders on their platform can now deploy customized order-routing algorithms to meet their specific needs. The capability is available to asset managers and professional and active traders who want to align order-routing algorithms to their unique strategies.
Order-routing algorithms, which are software-based instructions used to determine how to carry out buy or sell orders for securities, help traders by enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of executing trades including options strategies in dynamic market environments.
“By providing clients the ability to deploy customized order-routing algorithms, TradingBlock is once again strengthening its commitment to being made for the way you trade,” said TradingBlock Institutional Trading Manager Gino Stella. “This new capability gives traders more control as they can tailor their order routing algo to their strategy. They are no longer tied to broadly used, off-the-shelf algorithms.”
In addition to allowing traders to design order management protocols that closely align with their strategy, the trader-designed algorithms are kept confidential and can be used in conjunction with built-in order routing redundancy through multiple executing brokers. This redundancy ensures trades are fast and reliable even if certain components of the order routing process fail. Minimizing the risk of delays is crucial in the fast-paced world of options trading.
“Empowering traders with their own customized order-routing algorithms is especially critical in today’s market environment,” Stella said. “It allows them to quickly adapt to changing conditions and optimize their strategy based on their unique insights, taking the efficiency and impact of their trading to the next level.”
The launch of customized order-routing algorithms follows the recent release of TradingBlock’s executing broker-neutral platform, which allows traders to design a custom execution environment around their unique strategy while reducing the limitations of being tied to a single platform, single executing broker and a limited set of order-routing algorithms.
About TradingBlock
TradingBlock is a FINRA-member broker-dealer and comprehensive trading technology platform and brokerage solutions provider launched in 2003 and headquartered in Chicago. Made for the way you trade, TradingBlock offers highly customizable trading tools across three lines of business serving small institutions, hedge funds and asset managers, sophisticated individual traders and independent RIA firms. When it comes to building, implementing and supporting custom trading technology, TradingBlock provides customers with a top-tier development team that can meet their unique and evolving demands, through a platform that seamlessly integrates options trading. TradingBlock is a member of FINRA, SIPC and NFA. For more information, visit tradingblock.com.
Integrating investor engagement into FactSet’s research workflows for an end-to-end IR solution
NORWALK, Conn., Oct. 28, 2024 — FactSet (NYSE: FDS | NASDAQ: FDS), a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider, today announced it has agreed to acquire Irwin, an investor relations and capital markets solution for innovative public companies and their advisors.
The acquisition builds on a recent successful partnership that integrates Irwin’s award-winning investor relations (IR) CRM with the FactSet Workstation to equip IR professionals with a unified solution to manage investor engagement, conduct research, and streamline corporate access on a single platform.
“Now, more than ever, it’s essential for corporate issuers and their IR teams to increase engagement and stay connected to the investment community,” said Kristina Karnovsky, Executive Vice President, Head of Dealmakers & Wealth Solutions, FactSet. “Irwin’s talented team has built an innovative, highly effective way to manage investor relations. Together, Irwin and FactSet will continue to deliver exceptional value to our corporate clients, enhancing our ability to support the critical workflows of investor relations officers while providing them access to the most comprehensive capital markets insights and data.”
Founded in 2017 and based in Toronto, Canada, Irwin is a modern investor relationship management platform that streamlines investor relations by connecting people, data, and insights into one platform. Its suite of tools combines intuitive design and workflow automation with actionable insight to power workflows that IR professionals rely on daily, from investor targeting and shareholder monitoring, to relationship management and engagement analytics.
“We are delighted to join FactSet and accelerate our shared vision of bringing greater efficiency and transparency to the global capital markets by seamlessly connecting issuers to investors,” said David Whyte, Co-Founder and CEO, Irwin. “Clients are at the heart of both Irwin and FactSet. Further uniting our solutions will empower IR professionals with the necessary tools and insights to strengthen their investor engagement, communication, and trust.”
“We are excited to build a unified solution that combines Irwin’s best-in-class investor relations CRM with FactSet’s industry-leading market data and analytics—both of which are increasingly necessary for every public company,” said Mark Fasken, Co-Founder and COO, Irwin. “Given our common mission, successful partnership, and strong cultural fit with FactSet, we are confident this next step of combining our efforts will amplify Irwin’s ability to enhance the investor relations workflow.”
This acquisition represents FactSet’s commitment to expand its offerings for IR and corporate professionals, aligned with the Company’s strategy to provide comprehensive solutions across the financial services industry. The transaction is expected to close during FactSet’s first quarter fiscal 2025 and is not expected to have a material impact on FactSet’s fiscal 2025 results.
About FactSet FactSet (NYSE:FDS | NASDAQ:FDS) helps the financial community to see more, think bigger, and work better. Our digital platform and enterprise solutions deliver financial data, analytics, and open technology to more than 8,200 global clients, including over 216,000 individual users. Clients across the buy-side and sell-side as well as wealth managers, private equity firms, and corporations achieve more every day with our comprehensive and connected content, flexible next-generation workflow solutions, and client-centric specialized support. As a member of the S&P 500, we are committed to sustainable growth and have been recognized amongst the Best Places to Work in 2023 by Glassdoor as a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award winner. Learn more at www.factset.com and follow us on X and LinkedIn.
About Irwin
Irwin empowers IR professionals with the market’s only purpose-built investor relations and capital markets platform. Our solutions integrate precise data and intelligent automation to streamline how teams discover and connect with investors, monitor shareholder changes, and manage every interaction. By centralizing data and eliminating administrative tasks, Irwin frees IR teams to focus on strategic engagement and relationship building. Founded and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Irwin serves a global community of public companies and their advisors who rely on our solutions to manage and enhance their investor relations programs. For more information, visit https://www.getirwin.com/ or follow us on LinkedIn.
HEDGE FUNDS TURNING TO THIRD PARTIES FOR RISK MANAGEMENT
Cost control and efficiency are key drivers for increased use of third parties
Beacon Platform Inc. research also shows that most hedge funds are likely to switch risk management software vendors over the next two years
London October 29th, 2024 As the overall level of market risk increases and hedge funds toughen their risk parameters, they will increasingly turn to third-party organisations for support on managing risk, with cost control and efficiency the key drivers for the shift, new global research* by Beacon Platform Inc. shows.
Nearly nine out of 10 (86%) questioned say they expect the use of third-party providers to increase over the next five years, with 26% predicting a dramatic increase, the study by Beacon Platform Inc. with 100 hedge fund executives in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Asia responsible for a collective $901 billion assets under management found.
Respondents highlighted cost, efficiency, and subject matter expertise as the top three factors behind the increase in outsourcing to third parties. However, the research for Beacon, the open and cross-asset platform for portfolio analytics and risk management, found outsourcing is not the only action hedge funds are taking to address risk management concerns.
As they try to better understand and increase visibility of portfolio risks and exposures, all hedge funds questioned said they are likely to switch vendors for some or all of their trading and risk management software over the next two years. And around 23% are very likely to switch.
Among those who have seen an increase in risk visibility, nearly 55% ranked greater investment in technology as a key factor behind this, while nearly 47% ranked greater use of third parties who specialise in this area as a reason.
When asked what other actions funds are taking to address any skills gaps in risk management, the study for Beacon found around 72% are increasing the level of training, 54% are outsourcing more, and 52% say they are increasing their IT budget.
Andrew Dunlop, Senior Product Manager at Beacon, said: “Risk management is crucial for hedge funds and our research shows that the industry is taking multiple steps to boost their capabilities. While they are increasingly looking to third-party providers to provide support, outsourcing is not the only solution. Hedge funds are simultaneously increasing investments in training and technology, and many are looking to recruit from a wider range of industries to help enhance their risk management skills gaps.”
Notes to Editors
* Beacon Platform Inc. commissioned independent research company Pure Profile to interview 100 senior hedge fund executives in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Asia collectively responsible for $901 billion assets under management. The research was conducted during August 2024 using an online methodology.
About Beacon
Beacon is a financial technology firm that provides everything quantitative developers need to rapidly build, test, deploy, and share trading and risk applications, analytics, and models. Developed by a team with unmatched financial markets experience, Beacon’s unified platform includes the apps, tools, and infrastructure firms need to migrate their software and infrastructure to the cloud, manage risk across all asset classes, and focus on building innovative strategies that provide a competitive edge. For more information visit www.beacon.io
TECH TUESDAY is a weekly content series covering all aspects of capital markets technology. TECH TUESDAY is produced in collaboration with Nasdaq.
SIBOS 2024, billed as the “global financial services event of the year,” took place on October 21-24. This year’s event convened more than 10,000 participants in Beijing and online, representing more than 150 countries.
The theme of this year’s SIBOS was ‘Connecting the future of finance’ – the premise being, as the industry embraces rapid digital transformation, collaboration is more necessary than ever in order to foster the most resilient and inclusive financial ecosystem.
Panel sessions and keynote addresses over the four-day event covered topics including artificial intelligence, digital currencies, tokenization, the international messaging standard ISO 20022, ESG, embedded finance, interoperability, and compliance.
Nasdaq was represented at SIBOS by executives from its financial technology team, who showcased how advanced solutions are transforming the capital markets ecosystem and driving industry modernization.
Sophie Marnhier-Foy
“The SIBOS conference has been a fantastic opportunity to connect with our existing and future client community, spanning regional banks, investment managers, central banks, exchanges and CCPs,” Sophie Marnhier-Foy, Vice President, Client Solutions Strategy Innovation, Nasdaq Financial Technology, told Traders Magazine after the event.
“Innovation — including AI, cloud transformation, and tokenization — is definitively top of mind for the financial industry,” Marnhier-Foy continued. “In addition, one common theme has emerged from our many conversations: a foundational consolidated platform is a must-have to prepare for upcoming regulatory and market changes, accelerate time to market, and optimize the new industry paradigm for today and tomorrow.”
Among the specific SIBOS discussions Nasdaq participated in was Digitalization to Accelerate Connectivity Throughout the Financial Markets Landscape, with Marnhier-Foy and Brad Wilmot, Vice President, Strategy & Solutions, Calypso, Nasdaq Financial Technology.
That panel session was framed as follows: challenged by regulatory reforms, intensified margin pressures, market volatility and ESG compliance, financial institutions need to change their approach around data and connectivity. Digitalization, connected ecosystems, and innovation can establish a sound foundation for firms to grow, while mitigating risks.
Specific discussion points included updates on data automation and digitalization; new settlement initiatives for regulatory compliance; system consolidation for better straight-through processing (STP) rates; platform and cloud transformation to optimize data and related costs; and AI-powered initiatives to accelerate change.
Brad Wilmot
“More and more, digitalization dictates the customer experience and how we interact,” Wilmot said. “We’ve come a long way through the integration and automation of communication, networks, data processing and messaging but as the recent BIS reports indicate, there is still much to be done around the interlinking and interoperability of payment systems and beyond. As we continue to innovate, we connect in new ways, open new horizons and become much more efficient.”
In sum, having a foundational consolidated platform will be fundamental to optimizing the new industry paradigm and addressing upcoming regulatory and market changes.
Next year the SIBOS community will congregate in Frankfurt to share further key insights into issues relevant to the financial industry and how collaboration can help address them.
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Retail Brokers Need to Remodel to Steal Business Back from Robinhood
By Sylvain Thieullent, CEO, Horizon Trading Solutions
The dominance of Robinhood in the U.S. retail investing market poses a major challenge to traditional brokers, leaving them scrambling to regain lost ground. But the competition is not just about brokers vying for flow — it’s the story as old as time where the incumbent struggles against a disruptor that has revolutionised the market. For traditional retail brokers to stand a chance of competing, they must evolve by not just adopting new technology, but also rethinking how they engage with today’s digital friendly investors.
In the U.S., Robinhood has had the largest share of the retail investing market since at least 2020, with its market share fluctuating between one third and one half of the market. Traditional retail brokers have a major job on their hands if they are to steal back the business that they have lost from retail investors to Robinhood. The thing is, they aren’t competing against another retail broker – they are competing against a technology company. And make no bones about it, Robinhood isn’t just a technology company, it is one that has been able to completely shake up the status quo of the retail investing market.
With the SEC proposals to make changes to equity market structure, including a now approved move to reduce the tick size of trades, an opportunity could be presenting itself to the embattled traditional retail broking community – if they are prepared to take advantage before these changes come into effect next November. A reduction in tick size is, in part, designed to rebalance the U.S. equity market. The tighter spreads would see less profitability for high frequency traders (HFTs) and could lead to a pull back from market making in U.S. stocks. This is significant in the retail trading world because of the ‘payment for order flow’ (PFOF) phenomenon which has acted as a lifeblood for firms like Robinhood.
The smaller tick size would have a direct impact on companies like Robinhood, who are able to fund the rebates that are offered to brokers to draw order flow to their platform through PFOF. Unsurprisingly, parts of the market are pushing back as they sense their advantage could be taken from them. If the plans remain in place, there is no doubt that the door is opening, with Robinhood’s dominant position in this market standing on shaky ground.
So, what stands between traditional retail brokers and winning back the business they have lost over the past decade? Technological evolution. For too long now, these companies have ignored the move to digitization, and their internal operational processes are significantly outdated as a result, which has a direct impact on how well they can service clients. Take the move to T+1 settlement for US securities as an example. Many of these firms have been throwing body count at the issue to ensure that trades are settled within the new constrained timeframe. However, by investing in modern execution order management systems, these retail brokers would be able to better ensure that they can meet these new settlement requirements in a sustainable way, one that is built with future adaptability in mind.
Traditional retail brokers also need look at the usability of their trading systems. The new wave of retail brokers has brought the user experience of Netflix and Amazon to trading, which people are flocking to. This provides intuitive applications which can be accessed more easily wherever people are. Not only this, but the technology is able to perform well during periods of high volatility, which is where firms like Robinhood have been able to step up and stand out. And, let’s face it, these periods of increased volatility have become far more common over the last five years across markets, which makes it even more important to adapt so that user experience and market trading are not infringed for technology savvy customers.
The proposed changes to US equity market structure have opened the door back up for traditional retail brokers to win back the business they have lost, by targeting the payment for order flow method that is central to driving volumes to Robinhood. However, if they are to take advantage, they need to differentiate themselves and adapt to modern trading conditions. This means embracing technology, while recognising how today’s retail investor wants to interact with their brokerage firm.