XTB chooses SunGard to connect with Warsaw
Poland-based central and eastern European brokerage XTB has selected financial technology provider SunGard's Valdi suite of integrated market data, risk management and trading solutions to connect to the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). XTB also plans to connect to the SunGard Global Network (SGN), an international order routing and market data network that links 2,500 asset managers and brokers.
XTB said it chose SunGard's hosted Valdi Market Access service for its WSE market connectivity. SunGard will also provide XTB with integration services for the firm's back office to help with the WSE's upcoming migration to its new NYSE Euronext central trading platform.
“By outsourcing the activities involved in procuring and managing the hardware, software and telecommunication links required for market access, SunGard's hosted solution will help us focus on our business and our clients at a time of vast change in Poland's capital markets structure,” said Christian Oddershede-Jensen, head of equities and CFDs at XTB.
MarketPrizm unveils fast data solution
Market data and infrastructure services provider MarketPrizm has formed a strategic alliance with Exegy, a market data appliance company, to provide PrizmX, a new fast market data solution in EMEA.
The solution integrates Exegy's Ticker Plant technology and MarketPrizm's trading infrastructure service to provide data in less than 10 microseconds from the exchange to the customer application.
Intended to take advantage of the increasing need among financial institutions for technology which can handle higher volumes of market data, PrizmX is designed to use field-programmable gate array technology to give users faster market data without the cost of investing in development and implementation.
PrizmX will be deployed at the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext, as well as pan-European multilateral trading facilities Chi-X Europe and BATS Europe. MarketPrizm has stated PrizmX will be extended to Asia Pacific in the near future.
Ruffer opts for Fidessa workstation
London-based investment management firm Ruffer has gone live with a buy-side workstation for execution management, provided by trading technology firm Fidessa.
Fidessa's buy-side workstation is a boxed solution which provides tools such as direct market access, algorithms and program trading to give users greater control. Delivered as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, the buy-side workstation is supplied with market data and trading integration via the Fidessa network, which provides FIX connectivity between 2,650 buy-side and 650 broker firms in 160 markets.
“The buy-side workstation has provided us with a single point of access to our equity broker community,” said Guy Shirley, business projects manager at Ruffer. “The scalability of Fidessa's solution means we can continue to grow our business without compromising on quality of service.”
As part of the project, a FIX interface was established between Fidessa and Ruffer's investment and order management solution, which is provided by technology company Pulse Software Systems. This allowed straight-through processing of orders.
Tradar builds risk engine into Insight
Tradar, a provider of portfolio management and accounting software to the buy-side, has launched version 4.2 of its flagship product, Insight, which is designed to allow users to have seamless workflows for managing order entry, operational control and compliance within a single platform. The new version incorporates a fully integrated risk engine as well as enhancements to the core system to streamline workflow and improve usability.
The new risk functionality is designed to increase transparency of risk and performance drivers within the portfolio, with analysis of exposure risk and performance including counterparty, liquidity and currency exposure.
“In light of current and impending regulatory changes and increased demand for transparency from investors, it is crucial that funds can demonstrate robust processes around the three key areas of compliance, audit and risk,” said Trevor Headley, global head of product strategy and delivery, Tradar.
Tradar has also added support for the Bloomberg web service, as well as measures to provide more detailed analysis of performance and exposure reporting.