By Christopher Hamman
Despite all the twists and turns in the Digital Wealth space, things are moving along nicely.
In the news last week, the CFTC hit Goldman Sachs with a $15 million fine. The Winklevoss twins lent their baby (Gemini) $100 million of their funds, and California residents received access to wildfire protection from Amwins.
Plus, Wise expanded its innovations with a partnership with Bluevine.
This is your week in Digital Wealth!
WealthTech, RegTech and Treasury
Goldman Sachs/CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered investment banking giant Goldman Sachs to pay $15 million in fines over violating swap dealer business standards.
The regulator accused Goldman of inaccurate Pre-Trade Mid Market Disclosures (PTMMM) of trades executed between 2015 and 2016, a core transparency mechanism in the swap markets.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE)
Market infrastructure solutions provider Intercontinental Exchange Inc. revealed that its U.S. dollar (USD) SOFR Spread-Adjusted ICE Swap Rate® for financial contracts and instruments would exit beta status on June 30, 2023.
ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA) will stop publishing the current USD LIBOR ICE Swap Rate settings on the said date.
ION Markets Solutions/Trumid
Trade Solutions provider ION Markets Solutions connected its LatentZero order management system (OMS) to the fixed income ecosystem, Trumid, as part of efforts to increase seamless trading and asset class inclusion and automation.
The integration allows for session and anonymous-based workflows and includes access to Trumid’s data tools.
Liquidnet
Institutional investment solutions firm Liquidnet announced the integration of actionable “liquidity-seeking” alerts to equities trading platforms for U.S. and Canadian residents.
The new functionality will allow traders to spot opportunities faster and generate alphas on the fly while accessing liquidity opportunities within Liquidnet’s ecosystem.
Crypto, Blockchain, and Digital Assets
Ava Labs
Ava Labs, the firm behind the Avalanche blockchain, launched Avalanche Evergreen Subnets, a smart contract-enabled ecosystem for financial institutions, with several joining the initial “Spruce” deployment.
Institutions that joined Spruce include Cumberland, Wellington Management, T.Rowe Price Associates, and Wisdom Tree.
Cameron/Tyler Winklevoss
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the crypto pioneers, and co-founders of the Gemini, helped out the cryptocurrency exchange with $100 million in personal funds as a loan.
The loan came after an unsuccessful attempt at fundraising and increased regulatory scrutiny of Gemini.
Katie Hobbs, Arizona State Governor
The crypto industry took a hit with Katie Hobbs, the Arizona State Governor, vetoing legislation that limits municipality taxes for mining operations.
In a letter to the President of the Arizona State Senate, Gov. Hobbs cited local policy restrictions and energy use as the reasons for her decision.
FinTech, Personal Finance, and Apps
NCR Corporation/Payfare
The gig economy got a boost with the revelation of a partnership between software solutions firm NCR Corporation and gig-focused cardholder payments firm Payfare.
Per the partnership, Payfare cardholders will use the Allpoint+ cash deposit and withdrawal ATMs and NCR’s “NCR Pay360” using Payfare’s digital banking apps, enabling increased self-service transactions.
nShift
Leading logistics solutions firm nShift revealed enhancements and vertical integrations to its checkout process.
The enhancements include real-time access to nShift’s “Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)”, allowing retailers to provide accurate arrival times and customer-centric badges per delivery that meet personal requirements and specifications.
Robinhood
The tug of war between financial services firm Robinhood and regulators from California, Delaware, Texas, Colorado, New Jersey, Texas, Alabama, and South Dakota ended with the latter agreeing to pay $10 million in fines for operational issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Robinhood has had issues with regulators regarding its operations, with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) fining the firm $30 million last year
Banking, Payments, and Infrastructure
Q2 Holdings
Financial institutions have had issues with growing deposits, managing customer relationships, and more (ditto ongoing the current banking situation). To address these problems, boutique financial solutions firm Q2 Holdings launched “Q2 Premium Treasury Pricing”, a Q2 PrecisionLender module that addresses the critical aspect of the banking value chain: customer relationships.
Q2 Premium Treasury Pricing provides relationship managers with the tools to improve deals for customers and optimize customer relationships through bespoke solutions.
Alacriti/Socure
The rise of unique payment solutions has presented several challenges, and fraud tops the list. Payment solutions platform Alacriti and Socure aim to tackle this with their partnership.
Per the cooperation, instant payment via Alacriti is available with Socure’s fraud prevention, enabling customers to get the best of both worlds.
Bluevine/Wise
Leading global payment solutions provider Wise and small business-focused Bluevine partnered to improve solutions for corporate customers in the US.
Small businesses now have access to eight currencies covering twenty-six countries from within the Bluevine dashboard with no hidden fees.
REtech, Insurtech and Investing
Simply Easier Payments
Before now, firms have separately handled insurance billing and finance solutions for clients. That will change with “Intelligent Invoicing”, an invoicing solution launched by Simply Easier Payments.
Agencies can combine billing and finance options with flexible terms and payments within a single contract. Simply Easier Payments also included other features such as electronic signatures and agency management.
Amwins Group
As California’s wildfire season begins, Amwins Group, a nationwide P&C insurance brokerage, launched a California-only Excess Wildfire Product for residential properties.
Amwins wrote the product in partnership with A+ (Superior) rated PartnerRe Insurance Bermuda Ltd. (providing wildfire coverage) and AM Best.
Vouch/Startup OS
The startup community can now heave a sigh of relief with a partnership between Vouch, an insurance provider for VC-backed companies, and Startup OS, an incubation ecosystem.
Per the collaboration, founders can access General Liability and Business Property insurance from the Startup OS platform and Vouch training modules.
