Investment Manager River Global Implements Bloomberg Solutions for New Tech Stack

A win for Bloomberg with UK-based investment manager River Global implementing a suite of the company’s solutions as its new tech-stack to support front-to-back office investment workflows. Solutions adopted by the investment manager include Bloomberg AIM for order and investment management and BQuant Enterprise for quantitative analysis.

“By adopting Bloomberg’s integrated offerings, we have seamless connectivity in our workflow, ensuring efficiency and accuracy across our front, middle and back-office operations,” says Phil Jones, product and operations director at River Global. “Bloomberg is our vendor of choice for our investment tech stack and we look forward to continuing our work together as we optimise strategies and scale the business.”

CUSIP Global Services Adds AI Search Functionality to CGS CUSIP Access

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) has added AI-powered search functionality to CGS CUSIP Access allowing users to perform advanced searches using plain text and eliminating the need to enter values into separate boxes in an advanced search window. The AI search tool uses a large language model (LLM), the GPT-4 model provided by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, to accurately extract the name and value of a search field from a user-entered search prompt in natural language. It then translates the prompt into a valid structured query, which is executed by the system to retrieve precise search results.

The AI search tool has also been incorporated into the Excel ADD-IN, allowing Excel ADD-IN users to search either by identifiers or by using the AI search tool and get return data in an excel workbook.

Snowflake Expands Toronto Office to Support Growth in Canadian Market

Snowflake has expanded and relocated its Toronto office to support strategic growth in the Canadian market and growing headcount. Located in the city’s business and technology core, the new Toronto office will serve as the company’s Canadian headquarters. Snowflake first opened in Canada in 2022, making Toronto home to one of the company’s five global Snowflake Engineering Hubs.

As part of the company’s growth strategy, Snowflake Canada is on track to double its team in 2024 and further build out its Canadian presence. The Toronto office is continuing to hire for positions across engineering, sales, and more as the organisation scales to meet increasing demand from customers.

EDM-as-a-Service Provider Rimes to be Bought by Rothschild Unit

Enterprise data management (EDM) services provider Rimes is to be acquired by the private equity arm of Rothschild & Co.

Rimes investor EQT and its co-shareholders didn’t disclose the financial details of the deal to Five Arrows, but Bloomberg estimated the transaction values the business at between €800 million (US$862m) and €900m.

New York and London-based Rimes was founded in 1996 and its cloud-based EDM-as-a-service technology platform is used by 60 of the world’s 100 largest asset managers, the company said in a statement. Its customers oversee more than $75 trillion.

Rimes has been a long-time supporter of A-Team Group and its representatives have regularly occupied speaker seats at the group’s summits and webinars.

The Five Arrows Long Term Fund (FALT) and Five Arrows Principal Investments (FAPI) make up Five Arrows, which focuses its activities on the B2B data and software sectors.

Rimes chief executive Brad Hunt said the company has grown significantly in the past few years.

“Today, Rimes combines the customer-centric ethos and deep domain expertise that has differentiated us since 1996 with the industry’s most modern technology and an innovative, comprehensive product offering designed to address the investment data challenges of the future,” Hunt said in a statement. “We look forward to joining forces with Five Arrows to build upon our strong momentum going forward.”

Seif Khoufi and Constantin Sabet d’Acre, managing director and director of FALT, said in a joint statement that they believe Rimes is “uniquely positioned to continue to support its customers’ expanding needs”.

The deal is yet to be approved by regulators, but in a statement Rimes said it expected the sale to be passed in the coming months.

DSB Announces 2024 Consultation Schedule for OTC Derivatives Reference Data Services

The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) has outlined its 2024 consultation plan focusing on the OTC International Securities Identification Number (ISIN), Unique Product Identifier (UPI), and Classification Financial Instrument (CFI) services. The consultation paper will be released on 30 April 2024, allowing for feedback until 31 May 2024, and concluding with a Final Report on 16 July 2024.

For the first time, the consultation will include the new UPI services. Key topics will include user type functionality, the Traded on a Trading Venue (ToTV) Service; and fair cost apportionment across service provisions. The consultation, in conjunction with the ongoing complementary work of the DSB industry representation groups, aims to align DSB services with evolving market practices, technological advancements, and regulatory demands.

UK and US Agree Collaboration on Testing and Mitigating Risks of AI Models

The UK and US have signed a landmark artificial intelligence (AI) agreement to collaborate on testing and mitigating the risks of AI models. The deal is the first global bilateral agreement on AI safety, bringing together the UK and US governments to share technical knowledge, information and talent on AI safety. The deal was signed by UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan and US Commerce Secretary Fina Raimondo.

Under the deal, the UK’s new AI Safety Institute and the subsequent US organisation, which is yet to begin work, will exchange research expertise with the aim of mitigating the risks of AI, including how to independently evaluate private AI models from organisations such as OpenAI. The partnership is modelled on the security collaboration between GCHQ and the National Security Agency.

Clearwater Analytics to Acquire Risk and Performance Analytics Solutions from Wilshire

Clearwater Analytics, a provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) based investment management, accounting, reporting, and analytics solutions, has entered a definitive agreement to acquire risk and performance analytics solutions from Wilshire Advisors, a financial services firm. Clearwater will acquire Wilshire AxiomSM, Wilshire AtlasSM, Wilshire Abacus and Wilshire iQComposite, which cover fixed income analytics, equity analytics and performance measurement, accounting, and GIPS compliance support analytics. These solutions will be merger with Clearwater’s risk and performance analytics platform.

The partnership will be co-branded as Clearwater Wilshire Analytics and will allow both companies to provide enhanced analytical capabilities for investment managers and institutional asset owners. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024.

Microsoft Selects Solidatus as a Partner in Renewed Data Governance Platform

Microsoft has named Solidatus as its preferred data lineage integration partner as part of renewed data governance in Microsoft Purview. The new software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform provides intuitive business-friendly interaction, seamless integration across data sources, AI-driven efficiency, and actionable insights, empowering users to enhance data governance processes.

Microsoft will extend the value of Microsoft Purview for customers through pre-built integrations with a select group of technologies. Solidatus, a provider of data lineage, is one of these and will provide Microsoft Purview customers with best-in-class data lineage and its capabilities in fine grain lineage, visualisation and version control, strengthening data governance efforts and fostering more resilient businesses.

“Purview customers will gain a unified and actionable view of their governance workflows, empowering them to tackle their most pressing data challenges,” says Philip Dutton, CEO at Solidatus.

Informatica Takes Intelligent Data Management Cloud to Saudi Arabia

Informatica, a vendor of enterprise cloud data management, has set up its AI-powered Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) in Saudi Arabia, claiming a first in the kingdom. The provision includes establishing a point of delivery in Riyadh that supports local, scalable, cloud-first data management services. Informatica launched its first regional point of delivery in Abu Dhabi, UAE in 2023.

The investment underpins Informatica’s commitment to further the Saudi government’s Vision 2030, which includes digitally empowering all sectors of the economy. Jitesh Ghai, chief product officer at Informatica, comments: “Saudi Arabia is making headway on its journey to become a technology hub for the Middle East and is creating a solid cloud foundation to realise its Vision 2030 ambitions. By having a significant cloud, data, and AI presence in the kingdom, we will be providing organisations with an in-country AI-powered data infrastructure to run their cloud-based technology solutions.”

Confluence Adds MSCI ESG Research Data into Style Analytics

Confluence Technologies, a solutions provider to the investment management industry, has integrated MSCI ESG Research data into its factor investing analytics solution, Style Analytics. The data will help asset managers and fund selectors by offering in-depth analysis, comparison, and enhancement of portfolios.

Damian Handzy, managing director, analytics, at Confluence, comments: “Style Analytics’ integration of MSCI’s ESG data marks a significant step to help our clients make informed investment decisions and achieve sustainable growth.”

The integration supports drill-down capabilities, fund-of-funds capabilities for United Nations SDGs and analytics, as well as factor analysis using an intuitive user interface. Users can gain actionable data, identify optimal investment opportunities and monitor performance over time.