Toyo Securities Selects Fidessa For Wholesale Agency Trading

Fidessa group plc has announced that Toyo Securities, an independent securities company headquartered in Tokyo, has selected Fidessa as its new wholesale agency trading system.

Fidessa's agency trading platform is currently used by six of the top eight domestic brokers in Japan, as well as by many of the country's mid-tier brokers. Increased liquidity in equity markets as a result of global monetary-easing policies, as well as a push by Abenomics, has driven the Japanese equity market's trading value to its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Algorithmic trading, proprietary trading systems (PTSs) and dark pools are now widely used by Japanese domestic buy-side traders.

As a result, domestic agency brokers have demanded more sophisticated data processing capabilities and functionality from their front-end systems. With the upgrade of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's low-latency trading system 'arrowhead' scheduled for September, these demands from local firms are on the increase.

Fidessa's unrivalled trading capabilities and the fully-managed nature of its service enable clients to keep up to speed with the latest trading rules and system changes from exchanges whilst also minimising IT costs and increasing efficiency.

Wataru Sato, Trading Section Manager for the Corporate Department at Toyo Securities, comments: "For our new trading system we are pleased to announce that we have selected Fidessa, who have extensive experience with Japanese securities firms. With the new system we will further improve our algorithmic trading service, especially our direct strategy access (DSA) offering. We continue to strive to meet the diverse needs of our users by providing faster and more accurate trading services to our existing clients, as well as to new clients, who we hope to acquire through our service expansion."

Ian Chilton, Chief Executive of Fidessa in Japan, comments: "We are very excited that Toyo has selected Fidessa for their agency trading service. We have established our reputation as the system of choice for Japanese securities firms by providing a comprehensive agency system for both equity and derivatives trading. With our extensive market coverage and unmatched network of buy-side and sell-side firms around the world, Fidessa will be able to further strengthen Toyo's new business endeavours with new and existing clients."

Orient Securities Selects Orc For Options Market Making In China

Orc, the global market leader in electronic trading technology for listed derivatives, today announced that Orient Securities Co. Ltd. (Orient Securities), one of the largest securities firms in China, has selected Orc’s Trading Bricks platform for their options market making operations on Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE).

With the signed agreement, Orc and Orient Securities will be able to take advantage of the opportunity in China’s financial market development.

The implemented solution will support Orient Securities’ expanding market making operations in China. The firm intends to engage across multiple markets as new products launch. The market making tools provided as part of Orc’s Trading Bricks platform leverages 25 years of experience in building and deploying leading-edge market making technology, empowering Orient Securities with robust technology that provides both high performance and unprecedented control.

“It is extremely important for us to expand our options market making business, and we have strong confidence in Orc’s Asia leading position and solid experience in the options market making space,” said Al Ling, General Manager of the Financial Derivatives Business Headquarter, Orient Securities. “We are impressed by the functionality and scalability of Orc’s market making system. By deploying Orc’s system, we expect to enhance our trade efficiency on options market making.”

Orc’s Trading Bricks platform has been designed from the ground up to be fast and flexible. The turnkey market making solution addresses the present and future challenges of making markets in listed derivatives. It features an ultra-low latency, server based trading engine for advanced quoting and hedging, and superior trading performance. Firms can manage low-latency quoting strategies across multiple markets from a single interface.

“We are really pleased to provide Orient Securities with our high performance trading system, which can further accelerate their options market making operation,” said Dennis Chen, VP Sales APAC, Orc Group. “Orient Securities’ choice is a great testimony of Orc as a leading advanced trading solution provider in China, and we look forward to establishing a long-term partnership with Orient Securities.”

ICICI Bank Revamps Mobile App

ICICI Bank has upgraded its mobile banking app ‘iMobile’ by taking the total number of services that the users can avail of to over 100, the most by any Indian bank. A host of the new services are unprecedented in the industry.

The first-of-its-kind offerings enable the customers to enjoy the convenience of dual login, connect with the Bank’s call centre from within the app without any further authentication, withdraw cash from an ATM without using a card, tag frequent transactions as favourites, view integrated details of all accounts in the app itself as well as receive alerts from Google Now. The ‘all new iMobile’ also comes with best-in-class security features.

Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, “At ICICI Bank, we believe in investing in innovative technology much ahead of its time. In line with this philosophy, we introduced the country’s first mobile banking app in 2008. Every year, since then, the number of people using our mobile banking platform has doubled. Today, close to 60% of our transactions are carried out on internet and mobile banking channels.

With India at the forefront of mobile phone growth in the world, it has been our strategy to offer a worldclass, industry leading and consistently path breaking customer experience to our valued customers. The ‘all-new-iMobile’ is a result of long and extensive research and has evolved into a seamless interface which comprehensively addresses every banking need of the customer. It offers more than 100 services with many industry first features across banking. We expect mobile banking to continue to grow at a rapid pace, giving us a larger scope to promote its usage among both urban and rural customers.”

iMobile is available on all mobile platforms including Android, iOS, Java, Windows and Blackberry. The upgraded app is available for download on Google Play store and Apple app store. Any ICICI Bank savings account customer, who has a mobile number registered with the Bank can download the iMobile application.

Accenture Acquires PacificLink Group In Hong Kong

Accenture the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company has increased its strength in the strategically important Asia Pacific region with the acquisition of PacificLink Group (PacificLink), an independent set of full service digital agencies in Hong Kong.

PacificLink comprises: PacificLink iMedia Ltd, Pixo Punch Ltd, LemonXL Ltd, AvantBiz Consulting Ltd and DMA Solutions Ltd. The acquisition significantly expands the ability of Accenture Interactive, part of Accenture Digital, to bring its unique blend of digital design, marketing, content and commerce services to clients in the rapidly expanding Greater China market.

PacificLink employs approximately 240 professionals in Hong Kong and includes a number of multi-award winning agencies that specialize in creating and delivering an integrated and connected set of differentiated marketing solutions for brands across a full spectrum of online and offline platforms. “This acquisition bolsters the digital marketing and commerce capabilities of Accenture Interactive and enables us to deliver an expanded set of end-to-end services to brands and organizations across Greater China and the Asia Pacific region,” said Brian Whipple, senior managing director, Accenture Interactive. “The addition of the PacificLink companies is a bold and strategic move to scale our business in the region and strengthen our ability to meet the growing digital demands of our clients.”

Alvin Lam, founder and CEO of PacificLink, said: “During the past 17 years, PacificLink has enthusiastically dared to be different and led the way in digital marketing not only in Hong Kong but across Asia because we are passionate about the endless transformational possibilities that digital offers. That is why we are delighted about becoming part of Accenture Interactive, who like us, believe in the power of digital and collaborating with clients to deliver outcomes that they need to excel in their businesses and to better serve their customers. Joining Accenture, a global leader for digital services, is a huge recognition of the hard work that our truly dedicated team has put in every day over the years.”

Jason Chau, managing director, Accenture Interactive Greater China, added: “Integrating the PacificLink companies into Accenture Interactive demonstrates our commitment to address the needs of CMOs and CIOs in Greater China as they strive to bridge the gap between marketing and digital technologies."