SIX Financial recently rolled out a platform which enables the electronic exchange of regulatory data and documentation between wealth managers, assets managers, banks and other market participants.  MiFID II requires financial institutions located anywhere in the world selling retail investment products to investors domiciled in the European Union to comply with multiple investor protection regulations, including PRIIPs, MiFID II and UCITS. Firms will have a new duty to exchange data and information about the content and sales of retail investment products, as well as create and issue...

Bats Europe, a CBOE Holdings, Inc. company and the region’s largest equities exchange operator, announced the successful rollout of its software release ahead of MiFID II. All of the major real-time exchange functionality needed for MiFID II compliance was incorporated into this latest software release, which was deployed on July 14, 2017. With this release complete, market participants now have six months to test the MiFID II functionality.  Bats Europe’s final MiFID II release is scheduled to take place in October 2017. This release will incorporate additional...

Exegy Inc., a provider of managed services and technology for low-latency financial market data, introduced twenty-four new feed handlers for direct market data feeds in the first six months of 2017.  The pace was driven by customer requests to expand coverage for Asia-Pacific, fixed income, and alternative liquidity providers, as well as the introduction of new feed products from exchanges in the US and Europe.  

Nasdaq, Inc. announced the addition of four new data sets to the Nasdaq Analytics Hub. The Nasdaq Analytics Hub debuted in May 2017 to address the growing needs of the buy-side to gain access to potential new trading and investment signals derived from the growing number of structured and unstructured data sets. The addition of these four new data sets both broadens and deepens the value content within the Nasdaq Analytics Hub, providing insights from corporate filings, combinations of fundamental and technical factors, and two different approaches for long and short investing.

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has acquired Spence Johnson Limited, a provider of global institutional data and intelligence to the asset management industry. The acquisition will combine Broadridge's global retail fund data and analytics solutions with Spence Johnson's institutional data, market intelligence and insight, bringing together retail and institutional data/analytics in a single industry source. This combination will extend Broadridge's ability to provide its asset management clients with a holistic global market view enabling identification and analysis of growth...

The New York Stock Exchange, part of the Intercontinental Exchange, has enhanced its listing rules and services platform to attract Special Acquisition Companies (SPACs) to list on the NYSE. A final rule filing for NYSE’s SPAC listings was approved by the SEC. SPACs are companies that are formed to raise capital through an IPO, and then use the proceeds to acquire an operating business. SPACs are able to list on either the big board, NYSE or NYSE MKT (the market for small- to mid-cap companies). NYSE MKT will be renamed NYSE American next Monday on July 24.  

Thomson Reuters announced the launch of Thomson Reuters Labs – The Incubator.  Located in Switzerland, the Incubator will host early-stage entrepreneurs building next-generation products in big data, advanced analytics, distributed ledgers, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other transformational technologies.  As part of the official program, startups will receive access to Thomson Reuters data and content sets, mentoring from experienced executives, and networking opportunities for investment and commercialization. The Incubator is the latest step in...

Liquidnet has extended its algo ranking model in Europe as part of the Virtual High Touch MiFID II service, according to a story in The Trade news. The algo ranking technology - which is already available in the US - profiles orders to rank execution strategies in real-time based on order characteristics, trading objectives, market conditions and performance targets. It then ranks Liquidnet’s Next Gen Algos according to performance, fill rate and a combination of both, before it is presented to the user for selection. The tool was developed to support best execution requirements under...

CME Group announced it has received regulatory clearance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to provide clearing services for over-the-counter FX options. The initial launch will include cash-settled OTC FX options with up to a two-year expiration in seven major currency pairs, including AUD/USD, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CAD, USD/CHF, USD/JPY, and EUR/GBP.