Specialist software solution provider FinIQ has launched a multi-asset, multi-dealer connectivity platform for equity-linked and FX-linked structured products.
Delivered in association with Thomson Reuters, the FinIQ EQ Connect platform is dealer-neutral and is designed for the private banking and wealth management industry.
FinIQ said the platform offers connectivity to top market-makers in the equity-linked space for products such as equity-linked notes, range accruals, fixed coupon notes, accumulators and decumulators, while enabling optional integration with other core banking systems.
The launch comes while it is rumoured that a consortium of banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Barclays and HSBC and IT firm AG Delta are about to make public the launch of a multi-issuer platform for the Asia-Pacific region.
The FinIQ EQ Connect platform is powered by Thomson Reuters DataScope Select, which provides a broad universe of cross-asset, intra-day and end-of-day pricing, reference data and evaluated pricing services. Thomson Reuters is also hosting the FinIQ solution as part of a growing ecosystem of services available within its Elektron Managed Services hosting environment.
According to Mahesh Bulchandani, chief executive of FinIQ, the aim of the platform is to provide connectivity with top-tier market-makers for equity-linked and FX-linked products, for securities as well as complex OTC derivatives.
"The platform has been deployed all the way to the relationship manager because it complements price discovery with complete order management and transaction life cycle management," he said. "We offer deployment flexibility. A client can join the hosted platform, saving significantly on infrastructure costs and enjoying faster time to market; or choose to opt for the traditional software licensing model on the bank's own hardware."
Bulchandani added that the hosted platform is available in Hong Kong and Singapore and that the firm hopes to make it available in more countries "in the near future".
Deutsche AWM
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) is the first firm to connect to the platform for the distribution and transaction processing of its treasury and wealth management products.
Kanas Chan, head of trading, solutions and trading group, APAC, at DeAWM, said that by enabling live pricing that can be accessed during conversations with clients the online platform helps provide a view of where the market is so that better decisions can be taken more quickly.
"Through high-speed order management on the platform advisers can identify market opportunities quickly, as well as provide better execution services to clients," he said. "We envision this platform to be part of an adviser's day-to-day workflow and we are working on further enhancements to provide additional stock-specific information and flows. With market information embedded, this platform has the potential to further expand into a sales tool over time."
DeAWM said that it is crowdsourcing feedback to enable the system to continue enhancing the client experience.
"This reflects a growing trend towards solution providers working together in one ecosystem," said Alfred Lee, managing director, financial and risk, ASEAN, at Thomson Reuters. "It's also a great example of our continued efforts to provide customers with premium, high-quality content and solutions delivered in one environment to ensure effective decision-making."