JPMorgan has created a new blockchain unit called Onyx as its "JPM Coin" is ready for commercial use. Takis Georgakopoulos said that a large international technology company is already using JPM Coin for cross-border payments. JPMorgan launched its blockchain-based token JPM Coin in February 2019. At the time, the bank said it would be used to settle cross-border payments in a faster and cheaper manner as redundancies are removed. Each JPM Coin is redeemable for one U.S. dollar or other fiat currencies. Georgakopoulos said JPMorgan has launched the new Onyx unit because...

Intercontinental Exchange announced that ICE Data Services is integrating ESG risk data from RepRisk into its ESG Reference Data service. ICE Data Services has launched multiple ESG data offerings throughout 2020 designed to offer transparency into the area of market risk. These offerings include the ICE Climate Risk product tailored to the U.S. fixed income market, ESG Reference Data, and a suite of ESG indices. The RepRisk ESG data concerns issues related to human rights, labor practices, corruption and the environment, and will be made available alongside more than 400 other unique...

FIF CAT Tech Spec Working Group/CAT Committee: The FIF CAT Tech Spec Working Group and CAT Committee discussed the October 26 and January 4 compliance dates for resolving equities and options interfirm, exchange and TRF linkage validations by 8 am on T+3. The Working Group continued a detailed review of the CAT Phase 2d requirements, including Multi-Leg Order events, Route Modified and Cancelled events, Order Modification and Cancel Request events, responses to RFQs and solicitations, Option Order Internal Route Modified, Cancelled, Modification Request and Cancel Request events, and...

FIF will feature the following spotlight presentations on upcoming FIF Committee and Working Group calls: FIF Data and Technology Committee (October 28 at 10 am ET). John Ramsay of IEX will review an IEX proposal for a new offset-peg order type. FIF Tax Information Reporting Working Group (October 29 at 10 am ET). Stevie Conlon, Robert Schwaba and Anna Vayser of Wolters Kluwer will discuss recently-issued regulations under section 1446(f) of the Internal Revenue Code relating to the withholding tax imposed on the sale, exchange or redemption of a partnership interest held by a foreign...

FIF annually holds one of our in-person events each year in Chicago, where we are hosted by Cboe. To keep up with tradition, this year is no different, however, instead of the normal in-person event, FIF/Cboe will be hosting a webinar. FIFs Advisory Chair, Tom Jordan, will moderate a panel where the topics discussed will focus on the growth of retail options trading, institutional options trading strategies during Covid-19, CAT Options, and other global options trends. FIF will send an invite out for this webinar in the coming days. 

Virtu Financial, Inc. a provider of financial services and products, announced several product and service enhancements in its broker-neutral FX offering, supporting the firms’ strategic initiative to deliver a one-stop solution for buy-side FX execution. According to a story in MarketsMedia news, Virtu announced the following initiatives: 1) Execution Management Platform for FX, 2) Broker – Neutral Access to Dealer Liquidity, 3) FX Trade Analytics and Data: and 4)Analytics Portal and Open Technology API and 5) FX Post-Trade Services: Virtu is also...

Hong Kong-based equity broker KGI Asia is set to deploy the multi-asset order management system (OMS) from electronic trading technology provider Itiviti. Itiviti confirmed it will supply KGI Asia with the new trading stack for both high- and low- touch trading capabilities. The vendor added that the OMS will allow KGI Asia to trade global markets, with execution services on regional and international markets, and will automate its trading operations for care and direct market access client flows.

Nasdaq announced that it is providing real-time market data to eToro, a global multi-asset investment platform empowering its more than 15 million registered users to trade and invest in a simple and transparent way. According to a story in MarketsMedia news, eToro clients have access to Nasdaq Basic, which provides real-time best bid and offer information for all U.S. exchange-listed stocks, based on liquidity within the Nasdaq market center, as well as trades reported to the FINRA Trade Reporting Facility® (TRF®). This enables users to see the diverse U.S. equity...

RBC Capital Markets has launched a new electronic trading platform using artificial intelligence technology, which was developed by its traders in partnership with AI scientists. Known as Aiden, the platform uses deep reinforcement learning processes to adapt to changing market environments and execute trading decisions based on live market data. According to a story in The Trade news, Aiden uses pre-programmed data inputs and can make more than 32 million calculations per order without the need for re-coding like traditional algorithms. RBC Capital Markets said its traders worked alongside...