UPDATE
TECHNOLOGY
BNP Paribas,
Barclays invest
$30 million in AI
FinTech firm
BNP Paribas has led a $30
million funding round in Digital
Reasoning, a FinTech firm that
uses artificial intelligence (AI)
to better understand human
intentions and behaviours.
Barclays and Square Capital
also joined the funding round,
alongside previous investors
including Goldman Sachs, Nas-
daq, Lemhi Ventures, HCA and
the Partnership Fund for New
York City.
The global head of strategic
investments within BNP Pari-
bas’ global markets business,
Angel Rodriguez-Issa, has
joined the board of directors
at Digital Reasoning as part of
the deal.
The investment will see the
expansion of Digital Reason-
ing’s product portfolio, and the
acceleratation of its use of AI
for speech analytics and natural
language understanding.
Olivier Osty, head of global
markets at BNP Paribas, said
that digital transformation is a
focus of the investment bank’s
2020 plan.
“The new investment will
enable us to use our novel and
patented AI technology to turn
all forms of communications
data – including now audio and
voice data – into discoverable,
understandable, and actionable
insights,” Tim Estes, founder of
Digital Reasoning added.
TRADING VENUES
Deutsche Börse plans FX expansion
through launch of new clearing house
Deutsche Börse annual report outlined plans to launch
new clearing house for foreign exchange.
D
eutsche Börse has announced
plans to establish a foreign
exchange clearing house ahead of
a possible expansion of European
Market Infrastructure Regulation
(EMIR) requirements to include
other asset classes such as foreign
exchange (FX).
The exchange group’s 2017
annual report stated that an ex-
pansion of EMIR obligations into
FX markets would create signif-
icant growth opportunities for
the company, particularly after its
acquisition of FX trading platform
360T in 2015.
“To date, regulatory obligations
such as EMIR have not yet been
expanded to cover the foreign
exchange market,” the report said.
“If this were to happen, Deutsche
Börse Group would be able to tap
further growth opportunities from
its extensive portfolio of products
and services it offers in the context
of regulatory requirements.
“For instance, in the first half of
2018, the Group plans to establish
a foreign exchange clearing house
in order to service the fundamen-
tal demand for capital efficient
solutions.”
Deutsche Börse acquired German
FX trading platform 360T for €725
million as it sought to become a
leading marketplace for multiple
asset classes.
The exchange added that, as
expected, overall clearing volumes
in over-the-counter (OTC) interest
rate derivatives rose significantly in
2017 following the introduction of
EMIR clearing rules, and it expects
the trend to accelerate this year.
EMIR, which was rolled out from
June 2016, includes an obligation
to clear standardised OTC deriv-
atives transactions using a central
counterparty. Deutsche Börse said
its Eurex Clearing central coun-
terparty could also be extended to
other asset classes.
Issue 55 // TheTradeNews.com // 13