Following several meetings with the FIF Reg ATS-N Working Group, FIF has submitted a comment letter to the SEC with recommendations that should help facilitate a more efficient and streamlined Reg ATS-N submission process.

Virtu Financial has completed its acquisition of Investment Technology Group, Inc. in a cash transaction valued at $30.30 per ITG share, or a total of approximately $1.0 billion. Upon completion of this acquisition, Virtu will implement a Client Information Security Program (“CISP”) with respect to its broker-neutral client offerings (including, but not limited to, Analytics, Workflow Technology, and Commission Management). As part of this program, Virtu will host Client Information Security Forums, through which the Company will provide information regarding the CISP, receive...

Vela, an independent provider of trading and market access technology for global multi-asset electronic trading, announced that it has won A-Team’s TradingTech Insight (TTI) Europe Award for Best High Performance Market Access Solution. The TTI Europe award recognizes excellence in trading solutions and services for capital markets, and focuses on vendors providing exceptional trading infrastructure, trading technology, and data solutions. Vela’s execution gateways are a software-based market access solution providing a normalized interface to trade on global markets across all...

IHS Markit, a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, announced the addition of new functionality to its Securities Finance platform, a source of data and intelligence on global securities financing transactions. The enhancements deliver public disclosure coverage for the Japanese market, a global data feed on corporate bond lending activity, an updated model for forecasting short interest in the US and multi-asset performance measuring tools. The new functionality in the IHS Markit Securities Finance platform includes: coverage for Japan, a Global Corporate Bond Data...

TradingScreen Inc., an all-asset class order and execution management system, announced a strategic partnership with BIDS Trading, the largest block trading Alternative Trading System by volume in the U.S. and the technology behind Cboe LIS in Europe. The new partnership will give the buy-side access to the largest block provider of liquidity in the U.S. and Cboe LIS’ growing liquidity pool in Europe. Market participants can now benefit from quicker execution and access to orders that will promote competition and remove past inefficiencies of trading blocks of shares....

FIF submitted a comment letter on February 20th on the challenges and proposed solutions of Amended Rule 606. FIF will hold a follow-up meeting with the Rule 606 Working Group on Wednesday, February 27th.  

FIF CAT Working Group -  Provided a status update on CAT, reviewed the revised CAT implementation plan, discussed the possibility of creating a phase 2d/2d CAT subgroup and updated the issue resolution document. FIF SEC Rule 606 Working Group -  FIF performed a final review of the comment letter addressed to the Commission on Amended Rule 606 challenges and proposed solutions. FIF Back Office Committee Meeting - Provided guidance and insight on implementation issues relating to exchange, utility, and industry initiatives as well as regulatory changes affecting...

Nomura has invested in an artificial intelligence (AI) trading venture, established by Brevan Howard in 2015. Known as AIM², the platform uses AI technology, as well as data science and machine learning, to develop various alpha investment strategies. New trading tools for market participants in wholesale financial markets are now being built after Nomura partnered with the AIM² platform last year. The new tools will use AI and data science to analyze large sets of real-time and historical high-frequency data, including client flows, in order to establish quotes and...

Eurex Clearing has announced Bloomberg’s US-based Swap Execution Facility (SEF) and UK Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) have connected to the firm as Approved Trade Sources (ATS), according to a story in The Trade news. The move will allow Eurex Clearing’s clients to submit executed swap transactions directly through the Bloomberg SEF or MTF in the UK to Eurex Clearing as the central counterparty. Bloomberg was the first venue operator to offer direct connectivity to Eurex for its OTC trading services in 2016, is now extending this link to Eurex Clearing from its regulated...