032706

The German bank Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank (HVB) signed an agreement with Kalahari, a provider of real-time price discovery, analytics and data publishing software solutions, to deploy Kace, a pricing, calculation and analysis tool for global traders. The solution will be used to price interest rate and foreign exchange swaps in HVB's offices in London. Kace will allow HVB to test "what if" scenarios in a speedier manner. Functions that have been previously created through internal systems and spreadsheets, such as Microsoft's Excel, will now be provided within the Kace environment. The deployment is expected to take place this year. HVB officials did not return calls for comment.

SunGard last week unveiled a revamped version of Martini, its real-time global trading platform for bond and equity securities financing. The new version includes white-labeled reconciliation, interfacing and reporting services for hedge fund clients. Immediate, online reconciliation is intended to help reduce trade fails and manual processes. Prime brokers can make corrections and record changes, and send notifications as they occur while hedge fund operational personnel can receive and view files in real time and reconcile with multiple prime brokers.

Electronic fixed-income broker eSpeed is using Exchange Simulator and Client Simulator from Aegis Software to test FIX-based links of its transaction systems, officials from both companies confirm. Exchange Simulator allows for the verification of trading systems against re-creations of exchanges and ECNs. Several exchanges can be run simultaneously. Exchange Simulator includes capabilities for functional, regression, conformance and load testing. Client Simulator emu lates FIX connections coming in from customer environments. It operates as a virtual order/entry interface that lets users follow transactions and their associated FIX messages from beginning to end. The software creates test scripts that automatically verify a set of transactions.

Wiener Börse, a.k.a. the Vienna Stock Exchange, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Sarajevo Stock Exchange for future cooperation. In addition, the exchanges in Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Belgrade have signed collaboration agreements with the Vienna and the Budapest exchanges. The first joint project between Vienna and Sarajevo could be a common index. The average daily trading volumes on the Sarajevo Stock Exchange hit $1.8 million in 2005, with the Wiener Börse attaining $413 million last year.

The MTS market in Europe for trading fixed-income securities is adding Internet access for its Money Marker Facility (MMF), which governs trading operations in European repo products. MTS launched MMF in September 2005. "We are looking to expand our market reach with the introduction of our new Money Market Facility," Oliver Clark, product manager at Money Market in London tells DWT. "Currently, almost all our markets are accessible over dedicated and secured leased lines," Clark says. "The cost of dedicated leased lines is not viable for a number of institutions." The Internet link, which will also be secured, allows financial institutions to use a solution that requires minimal configuration. "The software is the same, as is the trading experience," Clark says. "However, we won't be able to guarantee that the Internet will always work." The Internet access is currently awaiting final ratification of the security protocol. The service will be launched "as soon as the clients interested are ready," Clark says, expecting a release in the next month.

FutureTrade, an electronic equity and option execution services vendor, is upgrading its trading platform with the release of version 3.3. The new upgrade adds a series of new algorithms such as the Block algorithm, which scans ECNs and exchanges to deliver best executions according to a user's minimum share requirement. Buyback and Volpart algorithms are also part of the new release. Buyback allows users to execute corporate buy-back orders while keeping with the compliance rules regarding timing, price and volumes. Volpart allows users to specify the percentage of volume over a selected period of time. Version 3.3 also integrates a commission management module, as well as a transaction cost analysis (TCA)feature.

Electronic energy exchange IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) opened a new London telecommunications hub last week, ICE officials say. The hub is designed to improve access and reduce connectivity costs to ICE's electronic trading platform. ICE has two other telecommunications hubs—Chicago and Birmingham in the U.K. ICE plans to open hubs in Singapore in May and in New York in June, ICE officials say. The hubs provide access to ICE's energy futures and over-the-counter (OTC) markets.