News Nuggets | 28 March: FMA Flags CFDs Broker; AI in Portfolio Management

OptionMetrics Takes Over Dividend Forecast Data Provider Woodseer Global

OptionMetrics, a top provider of historical options and implied volatility data, has acquired Woodseer Global, a provider of dividend forecast data for equities, American depositary receipts (ADRs) and exchange-traded funds. The company announced the acquisition on Tuesday without disclosing the sum of the deal.

OptionMetrics, which provides options and futures database and analytics services to institutional investors and academic research across the world, believes that the acquisition will help it to expand its research data offerings. The acquisition also means that the data provider will now operate offices in London, United Kingdom and Vancouver, Canada.

LCH SwapAgent Executes Initial KfW Trades with EUR

Today, LCH SwapAgent, a service catering to the non-cleared derivatives market, announced the addition of KfW to its platform and the successful completion of the first Transport Currency transactions with KfW and counterparties, including Danske Bank, Santander, Commerzbank and Bank of America.

As one of the world's largest cross-currency swap users, KfW employs bilateral derivative deals to mitigate interest rate and currency risks. In collaboration with LCH SwapAgent and its market participants, KfW has helped launch Transport Currency trades.

“The Transport Currency settlement methodology enables market participants to use EUR for daily margin payments on cross-currency swaps and benefit from standardised discounting and valuations. This important innovation leverages the unique footprint of LCH SwapAgent as a trusted third-party in the bilateral derivatives market as it develops solutions that increase standardisation and reduce risk,” LCH commented.

US Court Halts Voyager's $1 Billion Sale

According to the court documents seen by Finance Magnates, the sale of Voyager Digital to Binance.US has been halted. The federal judge decided to postpone the $1 billion sale after a request by the United States government.

"Upon consideration of all parties' written submissions, as well as the conferences and oral argument held in this matter, the Government's emergency motion is hereby granted," the US District Court in New York, represented by Judge Jennifer Rearden, stated on March 27.

SEC Secures Emergency Action against Fraudulent Adviser

The US SEC has charged ex-broker Surage Kamal Roshan Perera and his firm, Janues Capital Incorporated, with defrauding investors of millions by misrepresenting investment opportunities and strategies, hiding trading losses, and using a Ponzi-like scheme. Emergency relief has been obtained, including a temporary restraining order and asset freeze.

The SEC's complaint states that from February 2022 to March 2023, Long Island-based Perera falsely claimed that Janues had access to discounted restricted securities through institutional investors. In addition, he purportedly promised up to 9% returns, with the potential for 50%, using an 'Options Straddles' trading strategy. The complaint alleges that Perera and Janues misused at least $3.5 million of investor funds for speculative, leveraged trading, resulting in nearly $3 million in losses.

Perera allegedly provided fake confirmation and account statements to conceal the misappropriation and losses and made Ponzi-like payments using funds from other sources.

Sucden Financial Allows Chinese Commodities Markets Access

Sucden Financial announced on Tuesday that it is now allowing clients direct electronic access to trade all 25 of China's futures and options contracts available to international participants with a single account.

It came after Sucden became an Overseas Intermediary (OI) of the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), and the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE).

"We are delighted to offer clients access to three key futures markets in China, the world's largest commodity consumer," said Marc Bailey, CEO at Sucden Financial.

New Zealand's FMA Warns against CFDs Broker

The financial market regulator of New Zealand, FMA, warned against CFDs trading platform Soltechx, pointing out that it could be "a scam." The warning came after several clients of the broker complained to the regulator that they could not withdraw their investments.

Soltechx offers trading with risky CFDs instruments, including volatile cryptocurrencies. The platform does not hold any authorization in New Zealand and operates with registration in St. Vincent and Grenadines.

Earlier, Belgium's financial market watchdog, the FSMA, added Soltechx to its list of scammers.

InvestGlass Brings AI to Portfolio Management

Swiss company InvestGlass launched Copilot AI GPT, thus bringing generative AI technology to portfolio management software and CRMs. It will allow the platform to develop and present personalized investment recommendations tailored to each investor's needs.

"This tool will increase user engagement and enable customers to enjoy a more precise and intuitive approach to portfolio management," said the CEO of InvestGlass, Alexandre Gaillard.

Cboe Enhances Silexx

Cboe has further enhanced its multi-asset order execution management system (OEMS), Cboe Silexx, with the introduction of a new order entry tool, Book Trader. Otherwise known as the ladder, it is a unique way of entering and managing orders.

The platform for the institutional marketplace received an Order Greeks Panel to the Multi Order Ticket, which will dynamically display all greeks for single or complex orders, including theoretical price, notional value, and dollar delta.

Cobalt Relaunches as CobaltFX

Cobalt, a United Fintech-owned company, announced a rebranding and relaunching of its services as CobaltFX to focus only on the forex market. It has temporarily put the digital asset service outside its offerings and will launch a digital asset venture in Q2.

"We believe both opportunities are huge and should be pursued, but not under the same banner," said Marc Levin, the Group COO of United Fintech, who also took over as the CEO of CobaltFX.

Read the full report here.

Komainu Seeks FCA Registration

Nomura-backed digital asset platform, Komainu is seeking to register itself with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, which will allow the company to operate legally in the country. It came as the firm's plans for 'next level' growth.

Currently, the FCA granted registration to 41 cryptocurrency companies, while there is a massive backlog. With the FCA registration, Komainu plans to roll out crypto-staking services.

CMC Markets Expects Up to £290M as FY23 Income

CMC Markets provided a trading update, putting its net operating income expectation between £280 million and £290 million. In addition, it expects the operating costs minus variable remuneration to sum up to between £215 million and £220 million.

Read the full report here.

CFTC Sues Binance

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission brought a lawsuit against the crypto exchange giant, Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, for operating an illegal derivatives exchange in the country. Moreover, it charged the entity and the individual for 'numerous' other regulatory violations.

Read the full story here.