Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is today (Thursday) pleased to announce the inclusion of Gold Standard's Verified Emission Reductions (GS-VERs) on the Core Climate platform, HKEX's carbon marketplace, with effect on 1 August 2024. HKEX Co-Head of Markets Glenda So said: "We are delighted to add Gold Standard's Verified Emission Reductions to our carbon market ecosystem. The addition will allow a more diverse range of internationally certified climate projects to be available on the Core Climate platform and reflects our commitment to providing investors and corporates with more options to support climate projects as they progress in their net zero transition journeys." Gold Standard is among the world's most widely adopted carbon credit certification programmes and focuses on accelerating global progress towards combatting climate change and sustainable development. Gold Standard issued Verified Emission Reductions (GS-VERs) are a form of carbon offset that can be traded on the voluntary market for carbon credits. Each GS-VER represents one tonne of CO2 emissions. Core Climate will support the trading, settlement, custody, and retirement of GS-VERs, providing a seamless and integrated experience for Core Climate's users. Launched in October 2022, HKEX's Core Climate is currently the only carbon marketplace that offers Hong Kong Dollar and Renminbi settlement for the trading of international voluntary carbon credits. The platform has over 80 participants and offers quality carbon credits from more than 50 internationally certified projects in Asia, South America and West Africa, covering forestry, solar, wind and biomass initiatives. All projects available on Core Climate are verified against international standards, including the Verified Carbon Standard by Verra. Further details of the inclusion of GS-VERs can be found in the circular published by HKEX today. To learn more about Core Climate, please visit the HKEX Website.  

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Abraham Shafi, the founder and former CEO of Get Together Inc., a privately held social media startup known as “IRL,” with defrauding investors by making false and misleading statements about the company’s growth and concealing his and his fiancée’s extensive use of company credit cards to pay for personal expenses. According to the SEC’s complaint, Shafi, who resides in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, raised about $170 million from investors by portraying IRL as a viral social media platform that organically attracted the vast majority of its purported 12 million users. In reality, IRL spent millions of dollars on advertisements that offered incentives to download the IRL app. Shafi hid those expenditures with offering documents that significantly understated the company’s marketing expenses and by routing advertising platform payments through third parties. The SEC’s complaint further alleges that Shafi failed to disclose to investors that he and his fiancée, Barbara Woortmann, charged hundreds of thousands of dollars to IRL’s business credit cards for personal expenses, including for clothing, home furnishings, and travel. “As we alleged, Shafi took advantage of investors’ appetite for investments in the pre-IPO technology space and fraudulently raised approximately $170 million by lying about IRL’s business practices,” said Monique C. Winkler, Director of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. “Investors in this space should continue to be vigilant.” The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, charges Shafi with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctive relief, civil money penalties, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and an officer-and-director bar against Shafi. The complaint also names Woortmann as a relief defendant and seeks disgorgement with prejudgment interest for the personal expenses she charged to an IRL credit card that were ultimately paid with investor money. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Matthew G. Meyerhofer of the San Francisco Regional Office and Christopher B. Marshall. It was supervised by Christina N. Filipp and Jason H. Lee, both with the San Francisco Regional Office. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Mr. Meyerhofer and Marc Katz. RESOURCES SEC Complaint

The Board of Directors of TMX Group Limited today declared a dividend of $0.19 on each common share outstanding. This dividend is payable on August 30, 2024 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 16, 2024. TMX Group hereby advises that this dividend is designated as an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes. TMX Group Limited Declares Dividend of $0.19 per Common Share

TMX Group Limited [TSX:X] ("TMX Group") announced results for the quarter ended June 30, 2024. TMX Group Limited Reports Results for Second Quarter of 2024

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) released detailed results of auctions held from June 3 to 13, 2024, to sell its warrants for the purchase of common stock of the 11 publicly traded airlines listed below. Treasury announced on June 21, 2024 that it received $556,685,001 in aggregate proceeds from the auctions. Detailed results of the 11 auctions are provided below. Treasury received these warrants in connection with financial assistance and loans Treasury provided to U.S. airlines and certain other types of businesses in 2020 and 2021 under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act); the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021; and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Treasury auctioned these warrants as part of its continuing post-pandemic efforts to recover value for taxpayers in an orderly, fair, and transparent manner. The assistance Treasury provided under these programs protected hundreds of thousands of jobs and helped maintain critical infrastructure capacity during the pandemic. IssuerAuction Date  Proceeds Warrant Shares Winning Bidder Delta Air Lines, Inc. 6/5/2024 $233,000,000 11,137,878.35 J.P. Morgan Securities LLC United Airlines Holdings, Inc. 6/6/2024 $222,500,000 9,928,349 Capital Ventures International American Airlines Group Inc. 6/13/2024 $32,600,000 29,427,914 SRS Partners Master Fund LP SkyWest, Inc. 6/4/2024 $36,200,000 785,226 Capital Ventures International Alaska Air Group, Inc. 6/7/2024 $17,250,000 1,882,517 J.P. Morgan Securities LLC Southwest Airlines Co. 6/7/2024 $5,650,000 4,961,811.77 Southwest Airlines Co. Frontier Group Holdings, Inc. 6/5/2024 $3,450,000 3,117,940 Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. 6/6/2024 $3,450,000 1,134,685 Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. JetBlue Airways Corporation 6/3/2024 $2,295,000 5,598,807 D.E. Shaw Valence Portfolios L.L.C. Spirit Airlines, Inc. 6/3/2024 $195,000 913,382.82 Hudson Bay Master Fund Ltd Allegiant Travel Company 6/4/2024 $95,001 29,562.14 Parallax Master Fund, L.P. The warrants sold in the auctions have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Act), and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration under, or an applicable exemption from, the registration requirements of the Act and applicable state securities laws. The warrants were offered only to (1) “qualified institutional buyers” as defined in Rule 144A under the Act, (2) certain institutional “accredited investors” as defined in Rule 501(a) under the Act, and (3) the issuers of the relevant warrants. Neither this press release nor the information regarding the auctions on Treasury’s website constitutes an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the warrants or any other securities (including the underlying shares of common stock).

ETFGI, an esteemed independent research firm, announced that the global ETFs industry has reached a new milestone with 877 new products listed in the first half of 2024. This surpasses the previous record of 808 new ETFs listed in the first half of 2021. The first half of the year concluded with a net increase of 624 products after accounting for 253 closures. At the end of H1, the distribution of new launches is as follows: 297 in the United States, 281 in the Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan), and 147 in Europe. The United States reported the highest number of closures at 91, followed by the Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan) at 55, and Europe at 53. A total of 219 providers have contributed to these new listings, which are spread across 35 exchanges globally. There have been 182 closures from 73 providers across 29 exchanges. The newly listed products include 355 Active, 296 Equity indexes, and 92 tracking Fixed Income indexes.                        New listings and closures in the Global ETFs industry during H1 2024 The 877 new products are managed by 251 different providers. iShares listed the largest number of new products 44, followed by Global X ETFs with 36 new listings and PGIM with 28 new launches.   Top 15 providers of new launches in H1                                      Source: ETFGI, ETF issuers and exchanges.   During the first half of the years 2020 to 2024, the global ETFs industry has seen a significant increase in the number of new listings going from 467 to 877.  In H1 2024, the US and Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) have seen the largest number of new listings reaching 297 and 281 respectively, while Latin America has seen the fewest new listings only 3. In H1 2024, the United States, Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), Canada, and Japan recorded the highest number of new listings, with 297, 281, 103, and 22 respectively. Europe and Latin America reached their highest listings numbers in H1 in 2022, with 239 and 16 respectively. The Middle East and Africa saw their highest H1 new listings in 2021, with 41 launches. H1 new listings in the global ETFs industry YTD ETF/ETP Launches 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 US 297 205 199 188 126 Europe 147 113 239 214 113 Canada 103 74 64 77 75 Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) 281 235 211 234 127 Japan 22 16 18 17 6 Latin America 3 5 16 15 1 Middle East and Africa 24 34 13 41 19 Total 877 682 760 786 467 Source: ETFGI, ETF issuers and exchanges.   The number of product closures in H1 2024 decreased for every region, compared to H1 2023.  In H1 2024, the US and Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) had the highest number of closures, with 91 and 55 respectively, while Japan and Latin America had the fewest, with only 2 closures each. The US reported its highest closures in H1 in 2023 with 132, Europe in H1 2023 with 97, Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) 79 in 2021 and Canada in 2023 with 44. This report underscores the dynamic nature of the ETF industry and highlights the continued growth and diversification of the market.  Contact ETFGI to learn about our subscription research services contact@etfgi.com   H1 ETFs closures in the Global ETFs industry YTD ETF/ETP Closure 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 US 91 132 43 20 139 Europe 53 97 32 85 50 Canada 37 44 12 20 10 Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) 55 63 36 79 49 Japan 2 3 2 2 1 Latin America 2 4 0 0 1 Middle East and Africa 13 46 20 13 17 Total 253 389 145 219 267 Source: ETFGI, ETF issuers and exchanges.   Assets invested in the global ETFs industry reached a new record high of US$13.14 trillion at the end H1 2024.  The global ETFs industry gathered $136.17 billion in net inflows in June 2024, bringing year to date net inflows to a record $730.36 billion. At the end of June there are 12,420 products, with 24,891 listings, assets of $13.14 trillion, from 758 providers listed on 80 exchanges in 63 countries, according to ETFGI's June 2024 global ETFs and ETPs industry landscape insights report New ETFs listings during the first half of 2024 have accumulated a significant about of new assets.    Leading the pack of the top 25 new listings ranked on AUM at the end of H1 is the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT US) with $18.52 billion in assets, followed by Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC US) with $16.51 billion, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC US) with $10.10 billion, ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB US) and Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust (BITB US) ranked 5th and 6th by asset with $2.78 Bn and 2.26 Bn respectively, are reflecting strong investor interest in the new spot Bitcoin ETFs that entered the market in the US in January 2024. New ETFs listed in Asia Pacific making the top 25 list illustrate the diverse and dynamic markets across the region. Leading the charge for Taiwan is the Yuanta Taiwan Value High Dividend ETF (00940 TT), which has accumulated an impressive $5.72 billion in assets. Following closely is the UPAMC Taiwan High Dividend Momentum ETF (00939 TT), with $1.77 billion in assets. These ETFs focus on delivering high dividends to investors, showcasing the strong appeal of chasing high dividend income investment strategies in the Taiwanese ETF market.   Source: ETFGI, ETF issuers and exchanges.

In the U.S., capital markets fuel the economy, providing 74.1% of equity and debt financing for non-financial corporations. Debt capital markets are more dominant in the U.S. at 74.9% of total financing, whereas bank lending is more dominant in other regions, at 80.7% on average. Discover more facts in SIFMA's Capital Markets Fact Book. An annual publication with downloadable data tables, the Fact Book amasses data from dozens of sources into a single, easily accessible reference tool to analyze key industry statistics. Download Report  

Today the Office of Financial Research (OFR) unveiled its new Hedge Fund Monitor, an interactive data visualization tool that makes aggregated data on hedge fund activities from several sources more accessible through one tool. The Hedge Fund Monitor is available for public use, and the data are available for download via an application programming interface (API). View the Monitor Hedge funds play a prominent role in the global financial marketplace. They add depth and breadth to capital markets and perform arbitrage that reduces mispricing across similar securities and instruments. In addition, they take risks that otherwise would have remained on the balance sheets of other financial institutions, thereby providing an important source of risk transfer and diversification. At the same time, some of their activities include risks, such as high leverage or reliance on short-term funding, and hedge funds may pull back from those activities at inopportune times. “The Hedge Fund Monitor reflects the OFR’s commitment to developing data products that provide policymakers and the public comprehensive, reliable, and accessible data about segments of the financial system,” said James Martin, Acting Director of the OFR. The monitor does not reveal entity-level confidential information about hedge fund advisers or the funds that they manage. It includes only aggregated data about private funds, including hedge funds and their advisers. The Hedge Fund Monitor includes data from four sources: The Securities and Exchange Commission Form Private Fund (Form PF) filings. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission Commitments of Traders reports, which provide data on aggregate holdings of futures and options positions across a number of asset classes. The Federal Reserve Board’s Senior Credit Officer Opinion Survey, which includes information about the availability and terms of credit in securities financing and over-the-counter derivatives markets. Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) aggregated sponsored repo data. These data include secured borrowing transactions in which a dealer that is a FICC member sponsors non-dealer counterparties (e.g., hedge funds) onto FICC’s cleared repurchase agreement (repo) platform.   “The OFR Hedge Fund Monitor continues to fulfill the OFR’s mission of better informing the public and policymakers on significant parts of the U.S. financial system,” Martin said. ### The OFR helps promote financial stability by looking across the financial system to measure and analyze risks, perform essential research, and collect and standardize financial data principally to support the Financial Stability Oversight Council and its member agencies. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires the OFR to analyze threats to the financial stability of the United States each year and provide a report to Congress with its key findings.

Effective August 1, 2024, pending filing with the SEC, MIAX Options, MIAX Pearl Options, and MIAX Emerald Options will amend the fee schedules as follows: MIAX Options, MIAX Pearl Options and MIAX Emerald Options Exchanges Modification of the fee routing table, Fees for Customer Orders Routed to Other Options Exchanges Add MIAX Sapphire to the following categories Routed Priority Customer in Penny Program $0.15 fee Routed Priority Customer in Non-Penny Program $0.15 fee Routed Public Customer that is not a Priority Customer in Penny Program $0.65 fee Routed Public Customer that is not a Priority Customer in Non-Penny Program $1.15 fee MIAX Emerald Options Exchange Clarification of the Historical Market Data fee – the fee is on a per device basis. Attached are highlighted summaries of the August 2024 fee changes for the MIAX Options Exchange, MIAX Pearl Options Exchange and MIAX Emerald Exchange.Complete details will be contained in the August 2024 MIAX Exchange Group Fee Schedules, when posted on the MIAX website at MIAX Options Fee Schedule, MIAX Pearl Options Fee Schedule and MIAX Emerald Options Fee Schedule.For additional information, please contact MIAX Sales at Sales@miaxglobal.com or (609) 897-8177.If you need assistance, please contact MIAX Trading Operations at TradingOperations@miaxglobal.com or (609) 897-730 HIGHLIGHT OF AUGUST 1, 2024, FEE CHANGES MIAX OPTIONS EXCHANGE HIGHLIGHT OF AUGUST 1, 2024, FEE CHANGES MIAX PEARL OPTIONS EXCHANGE HIGHLIGHT OF AUGUST 1, 2024, FEE CHANGES MIAX EMERALD EXCHANGE

The latest ISDA SwapsInfo Quarterly Review shows that interest rate derivatives (IRD) traded notional and trade count increased in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023, while index credit derivatives trading activity declined over the same period. Key highlights for the first half of 2024 include: IRD traded notional rose by 9.5% to $197.8 trillion in the first half of 2024 from $180.6 trillion in the first half of 2023. Trade count grew by 10.9% to 1.5 million from 1.4 million over the same period. Cleared IRD transactions made up 74.0% of total IRD traded notional and 76.8% of trade count. IRD transactions executed on swap execution facilities (SEFs) accounted for 58.2% of total IRD traded notional and 72.3% of trade count. Index credit derivatives traded notional declined by 2.3% to $5.8 trillion in the first half of 2024 from $5.9 trillion in the first half of 2023. Trade count fell by 11.5% to 160.6 thousand from 181.4 thousand over the same period. Cleared index credit derivatives transactions comprised 82.6% of total index credit derivatives traded notional and 87.8% of trade count. SEF-traded index credit derivatives accounted for 81.8% of total index credit derivatives traded notional and 86.8% of trade count.   Click on the PDF below to read the full report. Documents (1)for SwapsInfo First Half of 2024 and the Second Quarter of 2024 Review  SwapsInfo First Half of 2024 and the Second Quarter of 2024 Review(pdf)

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor authority, issued today an Opinion to address the risks presented by global crypto firms seeking authorisation under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) Regulation for part of their activities (crypto brokerage) while keeping a substantial part of their group activities (intra-group execution venues) outside the European Union (EU) regulatory scope. ESMA recognises risks associated with global crypto firms’ complex structures where execution venues fall outside of the scope of MiCA. Such structures may include the involvement of an EU-authorised broker effectively routing orders to an intra-group execution venue based outside the EU, potentially leading to diminished consumer protection and to an unlevel playing field with EU-authorised execution venues. Considering these risks ESMA recommends National Competent Authorities (NCAs) to be vigilant during the authorisation process and to assess business structures of global firms to ensure that they do not bypass obligations established in MiCA, to protect consumers and ensure transparent and orderly functioning of crypto markets.  The Opinion calls for a case-by-case assessment, outlining the specific requirements that should be met regarding best execution, conflicts of interest, the obligation to act honestly, fairly and professionally in the best interests of clients and the obligation relating to the custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients. Crypto-asset execution venues play an important role in the functioning of the crypto-asset ecosystem and MiCA sets out comprehensive rules regarding the functioning of trading platforms for crypto-assets. This Opinion is part of broader efforts by ESMA and NCAs to ensure effective application of MiCA and convergent supervisory practices throughout the EU.  Related Documents Download All FilesDownload Selected Files DateReferenceTitleDownloadSelect 31/07/2024 ESMA75-453128700-1048 Opinion on broker models

Eurex is excited to announce that, as part of its commitment to enhance access to trading and risk management, Eurex will be implementing a significant reduction in transaction fees for the EURO STOXX 50® End-of-Day Index Options (OEXP). This fee reduction will be effective from September 1, 2024, to August 31, 2025.   The fee reduction specifically targets A-Accounts, meaning accounts for client transactions, and will cover transactions executed via the order book, Trade Entry Services (TES), and Eurex EnLight. By temporarily lowering these fees, Eurex aims to provide traders with more cost-effective opportunities to engage in the market, particularly those utilizing end-of-day trading strategies.    Product name Product ID Currency Execution Type Accounts Standard Fee per Contract (contract volume ≤ threshold) Reduced Free per Contract (contract volume >threshold)   Threshold (number of contracts) EURO STOXX 50® End-of-Day Index Options   OEXP     EUR   Order book A 0.36 0.20 0.18 0.10 3,000 Eurex EnLight A 0.36 0.20 0.18 0.10 3,000 TES A 0.36 0.20 0.18 0.10 3,000 Further information Daily Options EURO STOXX 50® End-of-Day Index Options DAX® End-of-Day Options Equity Index Derivatives: Introduction of a temporary transaction fee reduction on A-Accounts for EURO STOXX 50® End-of-Day Index Options (circular)

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) has published the revised 2024 and the new 2025 auction calendars for the auctioning of the EU emission allowances (EUA), in coordination with the European Commission, the EU Member States and the EEA EFTA States auctioning on the common auction platform (CAP3) as well as with the competent authorities of Germany (DE), Poland (PL) and the United Kingdom on behalf of Northern Ireland (NI). The 2024 auction calendar has been adjusted for the period of September to December 2024 in accordance with the Auctioning Regulation, due to the operation of the Market Stability Reserve (MSR), based on the 2023 total number of allowances in circulation. For further information please check the document below. Related FilesEEX Press Release - EEX publishes revised 2024 and new 2025 calendars for EUA auctionsPDF (121 KB)

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today launched a public consultation on its draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) for uniform reporting templates in relation to the level of charges for credit transfers and share of rejected transactions under SEPA Regulation. These templates aim to standardise reporting from Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to their National Competent Authorities (NCAs). With such standardisation, the European Commission will be able to monitor the effects of changes to Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Regulation on the fees paid by customers of PSPs for payment accounts, as well as instant and non-instant credit transfers. The consultation runs until 31 October 2024. In these draft ITS, the EBA is proposing that Payment Service Providers (PSPs) report the level of charges for regular credit transfers and instant credit transfers with breakdowns by type of transfer (domestic or cross-border), type of payment service users, type of payment initiation channels, and the party subject to the charge. The EBA is also proposing that PSPs report charges for payment accounts, as well as the share of instant transfers, both domestic and cross-border, that were rejected due to the application of EU-wide restrictive measures. With this public consultation the EBA is seeking stakeholders’ feedback on the proposed approach to standardising the reporting requirements, including the clarity of the draft templates and instructions to complete them. The EBA is also seeking feedback on whether the draft ITS strike the right balance between the need to obtain the data required for a robust analysis of the impact of the changes to the SEPA Regulation and the need to avoid excessive reporting burden for the industry. The draft ITS is accompanied by a preparatory statement addressed to the PSPs, where the EBA stresses that PSPs are expected to record and store information on the level of charges for credit transfers and payment accounts, and numbers of rejected transactions, to comply with future reporting requirements under the revised SEPA Regulation. Consultation process Comments to the consultation paper can be sent by clicking on the "send your comments" on the EBA's consultation page. The deadline for the submission of comments is 31 October 2024 at 23:59 CET. The EBA will consider the feedback received to this consultation when finalising the ITS. A public hearing on the technical standards for uniform reporting under the Single Euro Payments Area Regulation will take place via online meeting on 9 October 2024 from 10:00 to 11:30 CET. Please register for the hearing here by 7 October 16:00 CET. All contributions received will be published following the end of the consultation, unless requested otherwise. Legal basis and background Article 15(3) of the amended SEPA Regulation requires that “PSPs shall report to their competent authorities on: (a) the level of charges for credit transfers, instant credit transfers and payment accounts; (b) the share of rejections, separately for national and cross-border payment transactions, due to the application of targeted financial restrictive measures.“ Article 15(5) of the amended SEPA Regulation stipulates that “The EBA shall develop draft implementing technical standards to specify uniform reporting templates, instructions and methodology on how to use those reporting templates for the purposes of reporting as referred to in paragraph 3.” Documents Consultation paper on ITS under SEPA Regulation EBA CP 2024 19 (425.67 KB - PDF) Download Consultation paper on ITS under SEPA Regulation - preparatory statement (160.48 KB - PDF) Download Consultation paper on ITS under SEPA Regulation - Annex I - reporting templates (28.98 KB - Excel Spreadsheet) Download Consultation paper on ITS under SEPA Regulation - Annex II - instructions for PSPs (244.14 KB - PDF) Download Related content Consultation31 OCTOBER 2024 Consultation on draft implementing technical standards for uniform reporting under the Single Euro Payments Area Regulation Topic Depositor protection

July 2024 Chicago Report™ The Chicago Business Barometer™, produced with MNI slipped 2.1 points to 45.3 in July, after rising in June for the first time since November 2023. The fall was broad based with four out of five subcomponents down, in comparison to all five components rising last month. Production led the deterioration this month, with New Orders, Order Backlogs and Employment also lower. Meanwhile, Supplier Deliveries edged up. Production fell 8.2 points, making it the lowest since May 2024. Respondents have become increasingly polarized.  New Orders declined 2.5 points, after jumping up 16.9 points in June.  Order Backlogs lessened by 2.8 points, also after it recorded a large rise of 14.2 points in June.  Employment slowed by 2.2 points. This was due to the proportion of respondents reporting lower levels of employment increasing. Meanwhile, Prices Paid curtailed a further 0.7 points, taking it to the lowest level since June 2023. This was due to the number of respondents reporting lower prices paid at the highest since June 2023.  Supplier Deliveries rose for the third consecutive month by 5.1 points to the highest since November 2023.  Finally, Inventories fell 4.0 points, after reaching the highest levels seen since November 2023 last month.    The survey ran from July 1 to July 15

Fusion Risk Management (“Fusion”), a leading provider of cloud-based operational resilience, business continuity, and risk management solutions, today announced the launch of its new Scenario Simulation and Intelligence suite. These new capabilities allow companies to simulate thousands of possible scenarios against their resilience plans and strategies in order to identify points of weakness at scale. With thousands of data points and thousands of risks, there are many thousands of possible outcomes for any scenario – meaning that it has never before been possible to truly test your resilience approaches to their limits. Now, for the first time ever, businesses will have the best opportunity to know what could occur, how they will be impacted, and how to best respond no matter how a disruption unfolds.  “What we have heard from our customers is that they want to know – and many now need to know to prove to regulators – where their organization could break during their next disruption. With the complexity of most businesses, it has been nearly impossible for teams to identify every vulnerability and test them to the limit – until now. Scenario Simulation and Intelligence is the answer," said Michael Campbell, Chief Executive Officer, Fusion Risk Management. "This solution represents a significant leap forward in resilience technology. By harnessing the power of AI and businesses’ own data in their Fusion instance, organizations can stress test their operations against a multitude of scenarios, uncover hidden vulnerabilities, and make data-driven decisions to strengthen their resilience. This launch is just the latest of many product enhancements Fusion has made this year, as we continue to invest in innovative solutions that will help organizations thrive in the face of uncertainty.”  Scenario Simulation and Intelligence serves as an extension of resilience teams, acting as an advisor, analyst, and guide to turn data into immediate actionable insights. With these new capabilities, Fusion customers will be able to:   Prepare for anything for the first time ever: Run thousands of severe but plausible scenarios concurrently to uncover previously unknown weak points in your resilience plans along with gaps in your systems, processes, and data. Understand where your organization is most vulnerable and prioritize your focus.  Test more scenarios with less effort: Across multiple scenarios and based on the data in their Fusion instance, customers can know what could occur, the potential impact, and what to fix or have a plan for t Eliminate human bias and prioritize what matters most: Innovative, proprietary generative AI suggests what Fusion customers should test, identifies their organization’s most important vulnerabilities, and recommends improvements.   Improve “less than perfect” data: If data is incomplete or not trusted, instead of calling out vulnerabilities, simulations identify data gaps in business impact analysis, risk, and plan data while prioritizing what to fix first.   Increase engagement with enhanced tabletops: Assess organizational resilience prior to a tabletop, then prioritize what scenarios to test with the proper individuals participating. Save time and resources with a more focused and efficient set of scenarios, exercises, and outputs – all using the same Fusion platform that those individuals will use to handle real incidents.     In addition to Scenario Simulation and Intelligence, Fusion is also debuting Enterprise Exercise Management, an end-to-end event orchestration solution that provides a formalized methodology and workflow for large organizations to manage extensive testing programs, streamlining the entire exercise process from planning to post-event analysis. These enhancements reflect Fusion's commitment to providing comprehensive, integrated solutions that help organizations build resilience, manage risk, and ensure operational continuity in an ever-changing threat environment.   Fusion’s Scenario Simulation and Intelligence and Enterprise Exercise Management capabilities will be commercially available on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.  

TS Imagine, the leading global, cross-asset provider of trading, portfolio, and risk management solutions for financial institutions, is pleased to announce that CoinShares has selected TS One. CoinShares is the leading investment company specializing in digital assets with offices in France, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.  TS One is a premier, purpose-built solution, trusted by the world’s most sophisticated investment firms through changing markets. TS One empowers the whole investing team to perform together at the highest levels with integrated Portfolio Management, Trading, Risk Management, Compliance, Finance, and Operations.  “Our team requires modern execution and risk management solutions to efficiently navigate markets and capitalize on the convergence between Trad-Fi and Crypto,” said Lewis Fellas, Head of Hedge Fund Solutions at CoinShares. “With its embedded portfolio management, trading execution, and battle-tested risk capabilities, TS One was the obvious choice for our new Relative Value Opportunities fund focused on crypto related equities.”   “We are thrilled to have been selected by CoinShares, a leader in digital asset investing,” said Andrew Morgan, President and Chief Revenue Officer of TS Imagine. “Since we introduced TS One last year, it has piqued interest from sophisticated investors across geographies and asset classes, including several of the world’s leading buy-side financial institutions.”   Learn more about TS One, visit the TS Imagine website: here.  

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Chronicle Software (Chronicle), specialist provider of low-latency microservices and technology solutions to financial markets service providers, is collaborating with AbbeyCross, the company reducing integration challenges and transparency, compliance and continuity risk in the fragmented FX payments industry, in the co-creation of its innovative ABX Platform.  ABX Platform provides a single, flexible integration to global FX payments prices from multiple banks and real time payments platforms. In a continuing engagement that leverages Chronicle’s specialist software engineering and development expertise and resources, the first ABX Platform product, ABX Studio, went live in May 2024. ABX Studio provides unique FX market price data to global banks, MSBs and NGOs to support greater price transparency, insights and rate benchmarking capabilities. The next service to be launched, ABX Sync, will enable users to act on these insights to optimise transaction execution and send payment instructions to multiple FX payment partners.  AbbeyCross initially engaged a third-party trading technology company to build out a tactical ‘Proof of Concept' before engaging specialist service provider Chronicle to work directly alongside its internal development teams (and other service providers). This approach resulted in faster design and development timelines for the development and phased launch of ABX initiatives in 2024. Chronicle continues to work closely with AbbeyCross, providing specialist advisory services, dedicated software development resources and proprietary software solutions.  Peter Lawrey, CEO and Founder, Chronicle said: “Our successful engagement with AbbeyCross is another financial services industry endorsement of our commitment to bridging the gap between ‘buy and build’, and the delivery of technology innovation and exceptional performance that enables financial firms to shorten time to market, optimise capital investment and maximise resource capabilities and capacity.  We look forward to continuing to work with AbbeyCross on future ABX Platform product innovations that support a more efficient FX payments landscape.” Abid Mumtaz, Head of Commercial at Wise Platform said: “At Wise, our mission is to make moving and managing money faster, cheaper and more transparent for everyone, everywhere. AbbeyCross and Wise share a common vision to modernise the global financial payment system, and we’re delighted to be teaming up to enable better international payments, especially in Emerging Markets. By joining the AbbeyCross ABX Platform, Wise will be able to help global banks and MSBs leverage our global payments infrastructure to improve cross-border money movement seamlessly.”Ben McConnell, AbbeyCross CTO, said: “From the outset, Chronicle has proved to be a great fit for AbbeyCross, enabling us to very quickly reap the benefits of its reputation, expertise and trusted technology. We have been especially impressed with the responsiveness, flexibility and agility of their service delivery. Their agile approach has resulted in accelerated design and development timelines and reduced time to market for ABX Studio and other Platform initiatives coming to market in 2024.”

Offa, the UK’s first Shari’ah-compliant bridge finance fintech, has announced the appointment of three new senior staff members – as the company continues to expand after the recent launch of its buy-to-let product. Qasim Sajad is the new Senior Home Finance Manager. He has more than 12 years of experience in Islamic Banking including sales, team management, supervisory training, and staff development. Prior to joining Offa, he was part of the sales management team that grossed over £1 billion in home finance and buy-to-let (BTL) finance at Al Rayan Bank. Reflecting on joining Offa, Qasim said: "I am passionate about bringing faith based financial solutions to those who wish to have access to inclusive and ethical financial products. Joining Offa gives give me the opportunity to work with some of the top Islamic finance leaders in the country in a company whose cultural and faith-based values resonate with my own.” Saalik Haleem joins Offa as Senior Intermediary and Product Manager. With 11 years in the Islamic finance industry, he brings a track record of developing and enabling teams to deliver exceptional customer service and achieving company targets.  Saalik was part of the same successful sales team at Al Rayan Bank as Qasim, and he has many years of broker departmental and relationship management experience, working with brokers both in the UK and Internationally. Saalik said of his appointment: “I have joined Offa firstly to help bring innovation to the Islamic finance industry via its groundbreaking products and platform, and secondly to challenge myself in a fantastic new opportunity for personal growth. I am proud to be part of this team, which is led by some of the pioneers and leaders of Islamic Finance in the UK.” Dominic Squires has joined Offa as Head of Compliance & Money Laundering Reporting Officer for BTL and Bridge. He has worked within financial services for more than 20 years, with 16 of those years in the compliance space. He honed his craft across a variety of firms – from large international banks to fintechs. Dominic said: “I am keen to take on the challenge of this role, especially because of Offa’s unique Islamic finance proposition and to help the team succeed with our current and future offerings”. Qasim and Saalik report to Sagheer Malik, Chief Commercial Officer & MD Retail Finance. He said: “These senior appointments are part of our strategy of focusing on the quality of our service along with the speed. Offa has just successfully expanded into the BTL space, and our growing top-class team will help us bring further innovative Islamic finance offerings in the coming months and years.” Amir Firdaus, Offa’s Chief Financial Officer whom Dominic reports to, said: “I am delighted to have Dominic joining our team. We value his significant industry experience, which will result in a better Islamic property finance service for our customers across the UK and beyond.” Offa recently launched an innovative new BTL service – with fast funding decisions delivered via a modern paperless process – aiming to disrupt and transform the traditionally old-fashioned and cumbersome world of Islamic finance. In April, Offa also announced a £100 million credit line for its bridge finance arm from a fund managed by UAE-based Gulf Islamic Investments Group (GII). The credit line is the largest of its kind outside of the Gulf, creating significant capacity for the Birmingham-headquartered business to expand and diversify its financial propositions in the UK property market.