Category: News

Development of DDL of “FENICS Professional”, FX options technology and solution, and “Prélude Enterprise”, multi-asset trading and risk management solution

Fenics Software Limited

NTT Data Financial Solutions Corporation

[Background and purpose]

FENICS is an award winning provider of FX options technology and solutions and enjoys a well established and growing global client base including banks, buy side financial institutions and corporate treasuries. 

On the other hand, NDFS is the Japanese provider of Prélude, which is the multi-asset trading and risk management solutions for funds exchange, derivatives and securities, and already has more than 30 customers of financial institutions with top share in the said field. 

Both companies had agreed the business alliance about financial products on 27Oct2014, and had been discussing on our collaboration.  After much discussion, we decided to develop new solution which integrated the capacities of “FENICS Professional” and “Prélude” to connect front, middle and back office operations under the assumption of increased needs for more precise pricing of FX options in the market and streamline processing.

[Summary]

When financial institutions, etc. use “FENICS Professional” for pricing FX options in front office, it is necessary to input various trading data generated in FENICS and other financial product data generated in “Prélude Enterprise” in middle and back offices to separate system.

By using newly developed integrated solution, with the connection of “FENICS Professional” and “Prélude Enterprise”, various traded data including FX options and market data can be input in real time as one source into “Prélude Enterprise”, and users can easily manage back office operation like risk analysis and settlement dates.

[Features]

1.         Trading data of FX options generated in “FENICS Professional” and trading data of

            various financial products generated in “Prélude Enterprise” can be analyze their risks

            in real-time and integrated manner. It can realize the management sophistication in

            portfolio level such as calculation of VaR (Value at Risk) (note 4), etc. in risk manage-

ment and P/L simulation.

2.         Same as risk management, back office operations like management of settlement

            dates, account and journal, can be managed the traded data of FX option generated

            in “FENICS Professional” with functionality in “Prélude Enterprise”. 
This solution can

            provide to integrate FX option trading, which has been managed separately with other

            trading, or needed to develop separate solution to connect.

3.         Prélude users can take advantage of the industry standard pricing and analytics

            platform, “FENICS Professional”, with its high-quality maths, user-friendly interface and

            wide coverage of products, and enjoy various services through FENICS Gateway (note

            5) by use of this new solution.

[Future Development]

NDFS has been preparing to corresponding globalization including English localization of Prélude to introduce services toward global financial institutions with affiliation of FENICS and targets to start its sales in Asia area in 2016.

FENICS and NDFS will continue to promote the value-added service development by this business alliance with combination of mutual feature benefits toward new needs in financial market like counter measure for strengthening regulation for margin requirements (note 6).

(note 1) Front office operations include negotiation with customers and financial institutions to conclude financial contracts.

(note 2) Middle office operations include checking of front office operation and manage risks.

(note 3) Back office operations include business management as management of settlement dates, fund payments, etc. regarding financial trading.

(note 4) VaR (Value at Risk) is an analytic method to measure risks for financial assets with  forecasted loss amount in certain conditions.

(note 5) Regulation for margin requirements is a regulation to aim stabilization of financial system at financial crisis to require certain margining against non-centrally cleared derivative trading at the risk of default of counter party.

[Reference]

 Overview of FENICS

(1) Name:                     FENICS® Software Limited

(2) Location:                1 Snowden Street, London EC2A 2DQ

(3) Representative:      Richard Brunt – Managing Director

                                    Atsuo Kanazawa – Head of Tokyo Branch

Overview of NDFS

(1) Name:                     NTT DATA Financial Solutions Corporation

(2) Location:                4^th Floor Kandabashi Park Building, 1-19-1 Kanda Nishiki-cho,

                                    Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

(3) Establishment:        1 April 2008

(4) Representative:      Ken Tsuchihashi – Representative Director, President

(5) Capital:                   ¥ 50 million (100% owned by NTT Data)

(6) Business:               Computer software development and consulting

Inquiries for media organization:

FENICS Software Limited

Contact:                                   Atsuo Kanazawa   03-3552-5111

NTT DATA Financial Solutions Corporation

Contact:                                   Takuya Hara      03-6870-6205

London, May 26, 2015: FENICS®, a leading provider of FX options software, announced today that it has renewed and extended its agreement with ORE, a leader in retail-friendly OTC option solutions for web, mobile and MetaTrader4 platforms. Under the terms of the agreement, FENICS will continue to provide ORE with its composite feed for FX options data derived from its premier option pricing, risk management, and lifecycle management software.

Zoe Fiddes Head of Sales at ORE, said: “Our philosophy is simple: create a great product and traders will use it. We focus on making options trading simple and accessible. We renewed and extended our agreement with FENICS because their FX option volatility data allows us to offer a stronger product to our customers and FENICS’ data offers us a deeper view of the market which provides great value to traders.”

“We are delighted to continue providing ORE with an independent and comprehensive view of the market, delivered in real time, through our FENICS XML API,” commented Diego Cruz, Head of Market Data
Sales at FENICS said. “Covering more than 140 currency pairs, our offering is market leading and helps our clients like ORE innovate in the marketplace.”

New York, September 22, 2014 – FENICS®, a leading provider of FX options software, announced today that Yuanta Bank, a leading Taiwanese commercial bank, has connected to FENICS Gateway and also extended its FENICS Professional license.

FENICS Gateway is a FENICS-hosted messaging hub connecting multibank and single bank transactional venues to FENICS Professional clients. It allows STP connectivity of post-trade details both between counterparties, and straight into the client’s FENICS database for risk management and onward distribution to trade repositories via third parties such as Traiana. FENICS Gateway supports STP for FX options, precious metals, NDF’s, spot and forward trades.

Richard Brunt, Managing Director of FENICS, said, “We are delighted that Yuanta Bank has extended its relationship with FENICS, and joined the growing community using FENICS Gateway for post trade messaging.” Brunt continued: “FENICS Gateway was soft launched at the turn of the year and has already processed in excess of a thousand trades a month between execution venues and FENICS clients. We expect the volumes to continue to grow as more clients and publishers come on board”

Sywoei Lui, Senior Trader at Yuanta, said, “As well as innovative solutions for the FX options marketplace we continue to be impressed with the professionalism when dealing with the expert staff at FENICS. We look forward to partnering with FENICS for many years to come.”

FENICS is used at over 350 client sites worldwide with thousands of end users from all across the financial markets benefiting from its solutions.

FENICS®, a leading provider of FX options software, announced today that Nittan Capital, a leading inter-dealer broker in the Asia-Pacific region specializing in financial derivatives between banks and authorized financial institutions, has licensed FENICS ProfessionalTM, a pricing and risk management system for foreign exchange options. Nittan Capital has deployed FENICS Professional in its Singapore and Hong Kong offices.

Richard Brunt, Managing Director of FENICS, said: “We are delighted that Nittan Capital has
selected FENICS Professional as their FXO system, delivering a high level of integration via our locally based Professional Services Group. This is an exciting time for FENICS in the Asia region, as we continue to widen our client base. Our investment in development and support resources in Asia is on-going and is something that we will look to accelerate in 2014”.

Chris Butcher, Head of Regional Currency Options at Nittan Capital said: “We have selected FENICS Professional over the competition not only on the basis of its reputation in the FX Options market place but also because of FENICS’ ability to connect to our back office system seamlessly, making our business process more efficient and allowing us to better service our customers.”

The FENICS Professional STP API allows Nittan Capital staff to quickly and accurately capture FX option trade details and send them through to their back office systems and to their client network without the need for re-keying or human intervention.

FENICS Professional is a suite of pricing, distribution, risk management, analytics and STP
(straight-through processing) components allowing customers to control, monitor and oversee a comprehensive range of FX option trading and lifecycle management from one single interface.

FENICS is licensed to over 350 clients worldwide, financial institutions and corporations, with
thousands of users benefiting from its solutions.

Major Chinese Bank deploys FENICS Middleware Solution

New York, September 11, 2013 – FENICS, a leading provider of FX options software, announced today that Bank of Communications, a leading global financial services group based in Shanghai, has licensed FENICS Professional^TM, a pricing and risk management system for foreign exchange options. The bank will be able to deploy FENICS Professional globally with improved system integration.

Richard Brunt, Managing Director of FENICS said, “We are very pleased Bank of Communications has recently extended their subscription to FENICS Professional and are also now benefitting from a more sophisticated and integrated front to back FX Options workflow as a result of close collaboration with the FENICS Professional Services team. Our continued investment in technology coupled with an industry leading consulting division means we have been very well placed to assist our clients with their integration requirements no matter the level of complexity involved.”

Jeffrey Jin at Bank of Communications said, “We have found that the flexibility in analysing our positions is key to enhancing operations.  We have selected FENICS Professional on the basis of its ability to provide this analysis and to also to connect to our back office system seamlessly, making our business more efficient”

Bank of Communications has been a customer of FENICS since 2009.

Founded in 1908, Bank of Communications (BOCOM) is one of the four oldest banks in China and one of the first note-issuing banks in China. On April 1st 1987, as the pioneer of China’s financial revolution, BOCOM became China’s first state-owned shareholding commercial bank. BOCOM is headquartered in Shanghai.

FENICS Professional is a suite of pricing, distribution, risk management, analytics and STP (straight-through processing) components allowing customers to control, monitor and oversee a comprehensive range of FX option trading and lifecycle management from one single interface.

FENICS is licensed to over 350 clients worldwide, financial institutions and corporations, with thousands of users benefiting fromits solutions.

New York, July 2, 2013 – FENICS^® Software Ltd. today announced that Western Union Business Solutions, a division of the Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, has licensed FENICS Professional^TM, a pricing and risk management system, to enable it to extend increased foreign exchange products and services to its European clients. This new agreement adds to existing services FENICS has been providing Western Union Business Solutions in other markets.

FENICS Professional will provide Western Union Business Solutions in Europe with various bespoke customisations such as mirror ticketing for booking internal trades, multi-lingual client confirmations and internal ticket identifier reporting that will support its efforts to bring new product offering to clients.

Richard Brunt, Managing Director of FENICS, said: “We are delighted Western Union Business Solutions has chosen to use our software in Europe. FENICS has been working with Western Union Business Solutions for seven years and we have developed an excellent relationship during that time. We look forward to supporting their European team as they work to expand the products they are able to offer customers.”

Tony Crivelli, Vice President, Global Options Strategy at Western Union Business Solutions, commented: “Our first priority is to bring best in class service to our clients. We are expanding our product set to meet growing needs around the world, which is why working with the right partners is crucial. We have been using FENICS Professional in other markets with great success, so it was a natural step to expand our relationship to Europe as well.”

FENICS Professional is a suite of pricing, trading, risk management and STP (straight-through processing) components allowing customers to control, monitor and oversee a comprehensive range of FX option trading and lifecycle management from one single interface.

FENICS has been providing leading FX derivatives software since 1987. Its products are licensed to over 350 institutions worldwide with thousands of users benefiting from its solutions. Clients include banks, multinational corporations, brokers, and hedge funds.

Western Union Business Solutions enables companies and organizations of all sizes to send and receive international payments and manage foreign exchange, creating unique solutions tailored to suit their individual needs. It is a business unit of the Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, and offers services through locally licensed affiliates in over 30 countries. Supported by a network of trading offices, strategic banking relationships and a global clearing network, businesses can send cross-border payments in more than 135 currencies. © 2013 Western Union Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

New York, May 6, 2013 – FENICS Software Ltd, a GFI Group Inc. (NYSE:”GFIG”) company, announced today that E.SUN Commercial Bank Ltd., a leading Taiwanese Commercial Bank, has extended its license for the use of FENICS Professional™.

FENICS Professional provides E.SUN Commercial Bank with capabilities such as volatility surface management, Internal RFQ (request for quotes) and automatic term sheet generation. The bank has been a customer of FENICS since 2004.

“We are very proud that E.SUN Commercial Bank has chosen to expand their usage of our software and renew its contract with us for the use of FENICS Professional. Our excellent relationship with the bank goes back almost 10 years”, said Elliott Hann, Commercial Director of FENICS, and added, “This is an exciting time for us as we continue to bring new and innovative capabilities to market through our FENICS Professional service”.

Mr. Peter Shih, Executive Vice President & General Manager, at E.SUN Commercial Bank Treasury Division commented: “E.SUN Commercial Bank encourages innovation in all areas and FENICS Professional fits our strategy in helping to streamline procedures and support innovation in our Foreign Exchange products. E.SUN Commercial Bank is pleased to expand and continue this long standing partnership with FENICS”.

Headquartered in Taipei, E.SUN Commercial bank was founded in 1989 under the leadership of Chairman Mr. Yung-Jen Huang and commenced operations in 1992. The passage of the Financial Holding Company Law in 2001 paved the way for birth of E.SUN Financial Holding Company Ltd, on January 28, 2002. E.SUN Commercial Bank provides complete financial services inclusive of corporate, personal, wealth management, credit card, and treasury division.

FENICS Professional is a suite of pricing, trading, risk management and STP (straight-through processing) components allowing customers to control, monitor and oversee a comprehensive range of FX option trading and lifecycle management from one single interface.

FENICS has been providing leading FX derivatives software since 1987. Its products are licensed to over 350 institutions worldwide with thousands of users benefiting from its solutions. Clients include banks, multinational corporations, brokers, and hedge funds.

Agreement will embed FENICS pricing module within 360T’s TEX trading platform

New York, January 22, 2013 – FENICS® Software Ltd, a GFI Group Inc. (NYSE:”GFIG”) company, announced today that it has signed an agreement with 360 Treasury Systems AG “360T” to embed the FENICS FX Options Pricing engine (FENICS ePricer) into 360T’s TEX multi-dealer trading system.

FENICS ePricer provides indicative price discovery across a wide range of currency pairs, and has been configured to support the strategies and workflows within the 360T TEX platform – including one and two-legged vanilla strategies, supporting both live (without hedge) and delta-hedged requests. Prices generated by FENICS ePricer flow seamlessly into 360T’s TEX trading platform which can subsequently send RFQ’s to the 360T liquidity pool. This incorporated solution also includes all benefits of a multi-bank platform like the documentation of best price execution and a fully straight-through-processing (STP).

Richard Brunt, Managing Director FENICS, said: “We are delighted to have reached this agreement with 360T and to support the TEX platform with the FENICS ePricer, the partnership will introduce FENICS technology to a wider user base in client segments such as corporate treasuries, buy side institutions and smaller regional financial institutions”

Carlo Koelzer, CEO at 360T, added: “The inclusion of the FENICS Options pricer within our TEX service will give our clients in addition to our powerful services, access to the market leading indicative pricing system and will encourage flows through our TEX platform. We have rolled the FENICS ePricer to a cross section of our client base and the feedback has been extremely encouraging, and we look forward to a wider rollout in the coming month.”

Agreement will embed FENICS pricing module within 360T’s TEX trading platform