Looking back at the most intriguing and popular industry news from the past week between 10th and 14th of August on LeapRate.
Online gaming and financial trading giant Playtech made an announcement in response to recent rumors and speculation. The company confirmed that it is considering the sale of its financial division TradeTech Group (which includes CFH, Alpha, Markets.com). Playtech confirmed it is in discussion about a potential sale of TradeTech with a number of parties. However, the discussions are at an early stage.
Israel-based technology company TipRanks announced its partnership with trading platform Markets.com to make quantitative investing available for retail investors. Markets.com is the first broker to integrate TipRanks’ Quantitative Strategy Builder. The solution gives new opportunities through financial algorithm technology, usually available for banks and hedge funds.
Singapore Exchange (SGX) and pre- and post-trade margin and collateral analytics provider for derivatives markets Cassini Systems announced their partnership aiming to provide free service for SGX market participants and assist them with the preparation for meeting the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) requirements. As part of the partnership agreement, SGX will utilize Cassini’s domain expertise to provide market users with complimentary analyses to determine their average aggregated notional amount (AANA), representing the gross value of open, non-centrally cleared derivatives positions.
Søren Bjerregaard left CFH Clearing Limited after 11 years at his position and joins financial services firm GCEX. Digital asset and currencies technology solution for institutional and professional clients GCEX announced welcoming Bjerregaard as its new sales director. The company is headquartered in London and was established in 2018 to provide its clients with regulated and compliant exposure to the digital asset market. The company is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. He shared with LeapRate that he is happy to be “using new technology to disrupt the standard broker models and develop a genuinely institutional crypto offering”.
Zurich-based SIX reported solid performance for the first half of 2020 despite the heightened market volatility caused Covid-19. The exchange reported CHF 624.1 million operating income for the first half of the year, up by 7.6% compared to the same period last year. The company also registered CHF 151.6 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), with 32.7% rise compared to last year.
Bangkok-based Lightnet announced its partnership with SEBA. The fintech will serve retail as well as institutional investors globally with more transparent and secure settlement solution. Through the new collaboration, the company will strengthen its remittance settlement capabilities and bridge the gap between digital and traditional assets. The Zug-based crypto bank will serve as banking counterparty for the Lightnet Group.
Michael Walker, Managing Director and Chairman of the board for BlackBull Markets sat down with LeapRate for an interview. Michael garnered experience in the industry as a propensity derivative trader for a local firm before founding BlackBull Markets in 2014. Michael has always held a keen interested in the financial services sector and is intently focused on delivering an institutional experience for retail traders which has since become a focus for BlackBull Markets. He shared with us that their strategy for the future is to continue to add products and platforms for their clients to trade.
Boerse Stuttgart Group announced on Monday that it has joined forces with several other companies in order to develop a flexible method for financing industrial capital goods on a blockchain basis. The other participants in the joint research project are the Bosch research team “Economy of Things”, Daimler Mobility and technology partner 51nodes. In addition to technical feasibility, the project, which has been running since May 2019, also covered legal and regulatory aspects.
