This Week: Janus/SS&C; Wolters Kluwer; Tora/Neptune; Standard Chartered/Northern Trust; SimCorp; & More

Janus Henderson Taps SS&C for Transfer Agency Services

Asset manager Janus Henderson has selected SS&C Global Investor & Distribution Solutions and IFDS to provide global transfer agency services to its funds. 

The platform will provide Janus with recordkeeping, operational insights, real-time oversight, automation, and digital tools. SS&C will service Janus using a “follow-the-sun” model. IFDS will complete local servicing in Ireland for European funds. 

Wolters Kluwer GRC to Acquire eOriginal

Wolters Kluwer Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) has signed an agreement to acquire eOriginal, a cloud-based digital lending software provider, for about €231 million ($280 million) in cash. 

Paul Lyon, global corporate communications director for the GRC division, says three key factors are driving the growth and adoption of digital lending. “First, borrower expectations are changing, shaped by experiences offered by technology/internet companies. There is a growing comfort with digital processes and an expectation of speed, transparency and predictability in transactions. Second, lenders are increasingly incented to provide digital solutions to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and tackle competitive pressures. Finally, Covid-19 has mandated social distancing and greatly accelerated the demand for “remote and contactless” lending capabilities as an alternative,” he says. 

The acquisition will extend GRC’s compliance solutions position in US mortgage and loan document generation and analytics into the growing digital loan closing, and storage adjacency. The eOriginal platform allows lenders and their partners to create, store, and manage digital assets from close through to the secondary loan market. 

Tora Integrates OEMS with Neptune Networks

Tora has integrated its OEMS with Neptune Networks to improve bond execution quality. The integration allows clients to view pre-trade analytics from the Tora OEMS.

Neptune delivers pre-trade bond market data with real-time connectivity between banks and investors. The new functionality allows clients to see and analyze all axe and inventory data from the Neptune network, for each bond and each broker counterparty within the Tora OEMS. This information is available at point of trade and can help investors improve their success rates when trading with brokers. 

Standard Chartered and Northern Trust Launch Crypto Custody Solution

SC Ventures, the innovation and ventures unit of Standard Chartered, and Northern Trust, provider of asset servicing solutions, have partnered to launch Zodia Custody, an institutional-grade custody solution for cryptocurrencies. 

Pending regulatory approval, Zodia will provide custody services for bitcoin, ethereum, XRP, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. 

Zodia is expected to begin operations in London in 2021. 

SimCorp and IntelliBonds Partner for AI-Augmented Solutions

SimCorp has collaborated with AI fintech firm IntelliBonds to deliver client access to AI innovation, enhanced portfolio construction, and optimization for fixed income portfolios. 

The partnership uses cloud-based, augmented workflows to help buy-side firms improve productivity and portfolio returns. SimCorp will pre-integrate IntelliBonds into its core platform. 

IntelliBonds’ Portfolio Assist AI-augmented platform adapts to clients’ specific investment strategies. Using a set of APIs and secure cloud-based connectivity from SimCorp, IntelliBonds will deliver SimCorp clients with fully integrated workflows and processes, with a real-time dashboard of current holdings, and security and price master data for portfolio construction, rebalancing, and optimization. 

SteelEye and txtsmarter Collaborate for End-to-End Communications

SteelEye and txtsmarter have teamed up to provide clients with native messaging data to ensure full regulatory compliance. 

The partnership combines txtsmarter’s Intelligent Compliance messaging capture and archiving service with SteelEye’s communications surveillance solution. 

The txtsmarter platform captures data from sources such as iMessage, WhatsApp, databases, text documents, spreadsheets, and audio. Once the service is active, it runs in the background. 

Raiffeisen Capital Extends NeoXam Contract

Austrian asset management firm Raiffeisen Capital Management has extended its contract with NeoXam for a further five years. The asset manager has been using NeoXam’s investment management solutions for over two decades. 

The new agreement includes improved features across the two solutions to enhance end-user experience and efficiency. 

Winner Futures Partners Drebbel for Research 

Drebbel, an end-to-end sales team dedicated to financial services, has secured its first Chinese client, Shanghai-based Winner Futures. Winner Futures provides ultra-low latency, co-location, and connectivity services into the Chinese equities and futures markets.

The partnership will see Drebbel lead Winner Futures’ market research and sales services, to launch and build its presence, initially in Europe. Drebbel will focus on providing industry and customer insights into Europe’s appetite for HFT trading in China. 

LPA Launches Capmatix Post-Trade

LPA Group, a capital markets technology and innovation provider, has launched Capmatix Post-Trade, a post-trade automation solution. 

Capmatix is the result of an 18-month collaboration between Commerzbank and LPA Group. Through the new solution, data, and workflows from previously separate systems will converge and flow through Capmatix. 

Capmatix is an extension to LPA Group’s existing Capmatix suite of digital process transformation solutions for banks.