Fintech PR

Cboe Clear Europe Clears First Securities Financing Transactions

Published

4 weeks ago

March 31, 2025

Cboe Clear Europe launches clearing service for European SFTs in cash equities and ETFs
Natixis CIB and JP Morgan among first participants to use new service
Introduced to meet strong client demand for central clearing of SFTs, enhancing capital, operational and post-trade processing efficiencies amid evolving regulatory requirements

AMSTERDAM and LONDON, March 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), the world’s leading derivatives and securities exchange network, today announces that Cboe Clear Europe has commenced clearing of European Securities Financing Transactions (SFTs). Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking acted as a Principal Lender against JP Morgan as a Borrower, as part of the first trades cleared through the new service.

Cboe Clear Europe has leveraged its position as the largest pan-European clearing house for cash equities to bring this first-of-its-kind service to market, which represents a key step in the company’s strategy to become a leading multi-asset class clearing house in the region. This service transforms the bilateral process for SFTs in European equities and ETFs into a centrally cleared model, helping to increase the capital efficiencies associated with activities such as securities lending and supporting the growth of this key market. In addition to the firms that have already used the service, a number of others – including banks, asset managers, broker-dealers, and Agent Lenders – have completed final testing in preparation for clearing.

The service utilises BNY and JP Morgan as Tri-Party Collateral Agents, while Pirum serves as the transmitter of new trade instructions and post-trade lifecycle events on behalf of clients.

Vikesh Patel, President of Cboe Clear Europe, said: “We’re delighted to extend our clearing capabilities with this transformative service for European SFTs. This launch responds to strong client demand for a clearing solution to help improve the capital efficiencies associated with stock borrowing and lending activities – delivering significant benefits to all participants in this ecosystem, including asset owners which lend out inventory as a way of generating additional income for their members. It demonstrates our commitment to both investing in and delivering innovative clearing solutions in collaboration with our clients to meet the growing focus of financial institutions on becoming more capital efficient. We look forward to building out this new ecosystem and exploring opportunities to expand the service into other asset classes and regions.”

Gesa Johannsen, Executive Platform Owner, Global Collateral, at BNY, said: “Cboe Clear Europe’s offering for European SFTs is an important step as the global collateral industry seeks to leverage central clearing solutions that deliver capital efficiency and enhance the safety and resiliency of funding markets. We’re excited to provide clients with the option to clear securities lending transactions through Cboe’s new service while leveraging BNY’s global collateral platform to manage their liquidity and to access cleared and uncleared collateral markets globally.”

Grégoire Froehlich, GSF Trader at Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, said: “Clearing SFTs at Cboe Clear Europe enhances our capital efficiencies and reduces operational complexities associated with these products. We’re delighted to be among the first participants to clear this product at Cboe Clear Europe.”

Robert Frost, Chief Product Officer at Pirum, said: “We are delighted to be supporting this important initiative and to extend our services to cleared securities financing transactions. This collaboration is a fantastic example of innovative firms working together to help increase the efficiency of the securities finance industry, and we look forward to continuing to roll out the service in 2025 with the team at Cboe Clear.”

Jan Treuren, SFT Product Lead, Cboe Clear Europe, said: “Clearing the first trades is an important milestone for our SFT services, and demonstrates our ability to efficiently leverage our infrastructure and technology capabilities to address customer needs. We expect activity to increase in the weeks and months ahead, with active onboarding and testing already underway with principal lenders, agent lenders acting on behalf of special participant lenders (including UCITS and non-UCITS beneficial owners), and the borrower community.”

Cboe Clear Europe is offering central clearing, settlement and post-trade lifecycle management of European SFTs in cash equities and ETFs. This service is available to principal lenders, special participant lenders (UCITS and non-UCITS) and borrowers, with settlements conducted across 19 European Central Securities Depositories (CSDs).

The introduction of central clearing is designed to make the trading of SFTs more capital efficient, particularly with regards to risk-weighted assets. This efficiency is expected to be particularly important given the increased regulatory, capital and operational burdens associated with SFTs resulting from the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR), Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR), and planned Basel IV implementation.

The service also provides margin and operational advantages within the largest cash equities clearing house in Europe, including savings from cross-margining between cash equities and SFTs, greater settlement efficiencies, elimination of agent lender disclosures, and improved practices around fees management and corporate actions.

Learn more about Cboe Clear Europe’s services here.

About Cboe Global Markets

Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), the world’s leading derivatives and securities exchange network, delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to people around the world. Cboe provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives and FX, across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Above all, we are committed to building a trusted, inclusive global marketplace that enables people to pursue a sustainable financial future. To learn more about the Exchange for the World Stage, visit www.cboe.com.

Cboe Media Contacts		Cboe Analyst Contact
Angela Tu	Tim Cave		Kenneth Hill, CFA
+1-646-856-8734	+44 (0) 7593-506-719 Advertisement		+1-312-786-7559
atu@cboe.com	tcave@cboe.com		khill@cboe.com

Neither Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and its affiliates nor BNY, Natixis, JP Morgan, and Pirum recommend or make any representation as to possible benefits from any securities, futures or investments, or third-party products or services. Cboe Global Markets, Inc. is not affiliated with BNY, Natixis, JP Morgan, and Pirum. Investors should undertake their own due diligence regarding their securities, futures, digital assets, and investment practices. This press release speaks only as of this date. Cboe Global Markets, Inc. disclaims any duty to update the information herein.

Nothing in this announcement should be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell any securities or futures in any jurisdiction where the offer or solicitation would be unlawful under the laws of such jurisdiction. Nothing contained in this communication constitutes tax, legal or investment advice. Investors must consult their tax adviser or legal counsel for advice and information concerning their particular situation.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and its affiliates, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, make no warranty, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties as of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness or timeliness, the results to be obtained by recipients of the products and services described herein and shall not in any way be liable for any inaccuracies or errors.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “may,” “might,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” and the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. All statements that reflect our expectations, assumptions or projections about the future other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, which are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us, may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

We operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all risks and uncertainties, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the loss of our right to exclusively list and trade certain index options and futures products; economic, political and market conditions; compliance with legal and regulatory obligations; price competition and consolidation in our industry; decreases in trading or clearing volumes, market data fees or a shift in the mix of products traded on our exchanges; legislative or regulatory changes or changes in tax regimes; our ability to protect our systems and communication networks from security vulnerabilities and breaches; our ability to attract and retain skilled management and other personnel; increasing competition by foreign and domestic entities; our dependence on and exposure to risk from third parties; factors that impact the quality and integrity of our and other applicable indices; our ability to manage our global operations, growth and strategic acquisitions or alliances effectively; our ability to operate our business without violating the intellectual property rights of others and the costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights; our ability to minimize the risks, including our credit, counterparty, investment, and default risks, associated with operating our clearinghouses; our ability to accommodate trading and clearing volume and transaction traffic, including significant increases, without failure or degradation of performance of our systems; misconduct by those who use our markets or our products or for whom we clear transactions; challenges to our use of open source software code; our ability to meet our compliance obligations, including managing our business interests and our regulatory responsibilities; the loss of key customers or a significant reduction in trading or clearing volumes by key customers; our ability to maintain BIDS Trading as an independently managed and operated trading venue, separate from and not integrated with our registered national securities exchanges; damage to our reputation; the ability of our compliance and risk management methods to effectively monitor and manage our risks; restrictions imposed by our debt obligations and our ability to make payments on or refinance our debt obligations; our ability to maintain an investment grade credit rating; impairment of our goodwill, long-lived assets, investments or intangible assets; the accuracy of our estimates and expectations; and litigation risks and other liabilities. More detailed information about factors that may affect our actual results to differ may be found in our filings with the SEC, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and other filings made from time to time with the SEC.

We do not undertake, and we expressly disclaim, any duty to update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

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Fintech

Fintech Pulse: Your Daily Industry Brief – April 24, 2025 (Revolut, Citigroup, BNP Paribas, Coinbase, Omnea, HKIAS)

Published

5 hours ago

April 24, 2025

Peter Tolan

In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, staying abreast of the latest developments in fintech is not just an advantage—it’s imperative. From blockbuster profit milestones to seismic collapses, and from talent wars in U.S. banking hubs to pioneering academic–industry collaborations in Hong Kong, April 24, 2025, offers a whirlwind of insights. In this edition of Fintech Pulse, we dissect five pivotal stories, offer opinion-driven analysis, and explore the broader industry implications.

1. Revolut’s Profit Bonanza: Mainstreaming the Super-App

What happened:
British fintech unicorn Revolut announced a record pre-tax profit of £1.1 billion ($1.46 billion) for the year ending December 31, 2024—up 149% year-on-year—on revenues of £3.1 billion, a 72% increase over 2023.

Why it matters:
Revolut’s profit surge marks its transformation from a niche currency-exchange app into a full-blown digital bank aiming for global scale. Having secured a UK banking license after a protracted three-year approval process, it now seeks to expand into lending products—credit cards, personal loans, and mortgages—to capture a larger share of customers’ financial lives.

Analysis & Commentary:
In my view, Revolut’s results underscore a broader trend: “super-apps” consolidating diverse financial services under one roof. Crypto trading and wealth management now account for a significant slice of profits, but true differentiation will come from how seamlessly Revolut integrates lending. As traditional banks shutter branches, fintech challengers can accelerate customer acquisition—but must manage credit risk carefully to avoid overextension. I believe regulators will keep a close watch on how Revolut scales its loan book, especially given its 86% year-on-year increase in customer lending balances to £979 million.

Source: CNBC

2. Stenn’s Implosion: A Cautionary Tale in Trade Finance

What happened:
Trade-finance fintech Stenn Technologies, once touted as a $1 billion rising star, collapsed into administration last December, leading to the loss of most of its 200 jobs. Investigations revealed that major banks—including Citigroup and BNP Paribas—backed deals they barely vetted, missing warning signs as weekly deal summaries ballooned to nearly $1 billion in size.

Why it matters:
Stenn’s collapse highlights persistent due-diligence gaps in trade finance. As fintechs promise speed and efficiency, established banks must not sacrifice risk controls for deal flow. The fallout eroded confidence and may prompt stricter counterparty assessments industry-wide.

Analysis & Commentary:
I argue that this episode is symptomatic of a “too eager to lend” mindset. In an environment of slackening yields, large banks pursued yield-rich fintech credit lines, only to face unexpected defaults. Going forward, I expect banks to re-evaluate their fintech partnerships, incorporating more robust real-time monitoring and third-party risk assessments. Stenn’s demise should catalyze the adoption of blockchain-based trade-finance platforms that embed transparency and immutable audit trails. Until then, caution remains the watchword.

Source: Bloomberg

3. Coinbase’s Southern Pivot: The Talent Play

What happened:
Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, is targeting Charlotte, North Carolina, for a major talent investment—adding over 130 employees to its compliance and customer-support teams and potentially scaling to 1,000 new U.S. hires this year.

Why it matters:
Charlotte has long been a banking powerhouse, but its rising pool of tech talent makes it an attractive fintech hub. Coinbase’s move signals a shift in talent strategy: “meet talent where they are,” rather than concentrate in coastal tech camps.

Analysis & Commentary:
In my assessment, spreading operational centers beyond saturated markets is a savvy cost and culture play. By embedding in Charlotte, Coinbase gains access to experienced banking professionals and benefits from lower cost structures. However, maintaining a cohesive company culture amid geographic dispersion will be a challenge. Remote-first models must be balanced with local engagement to foster innovation. I anticipate other crypto players following suit, seeking a “hybrid hub” approach across U.S. secondary cities.

Source: Axios

4. Omnea’s eProcurement Crown: The Automation Imperative

What happened:
Procurement orchestration platform Omnea clinched the “Best Overall eProcurement Software” award at the 2025 FinTech Breakthrough Awards, recognized for its AI-driven intake, deduplication, and end-to-end automation.

Why it matters:
Procurement remains a pain point for enterprises—manual approvals, fragmented tools, and shadow processes lead to inefficiencies and maverick spending. Omnea’s win spotlights a surging wave of procurement fintech aimed at centralizing workflows, enforcing policies, and integrating with ERP ecosystems.

Analysis & Commentary:
I believe Omnea’s approach exemplifies the next frontier of “invisible finance”—embedding financial controls directly into business processes via Slack, Teams, or web portals. By surfacing policy-aligned choices and automating renewal reminders, companies can mitigate risk and free strategic buyers from administrative drudgery. Given Omnea’s backing by Spotify, Wise, and Pleo post-Series A, it’s clear that market demand for frictionless procurement tools is accelerating. Expect consolidation as ERP vendors scramble to embed or acquire these specialized platforms.

Source: FinTech Breakthrough

5. HKIAS Workshop: Bridging AI and Fintech Frontiers

What happened:
The Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) at City University of Hong Kong hosted a “Mini Workshop on AI and Fintech” featuring Professors David D. Yao, Houmin Yan, and Guangwu Liu. Key presentations covered emission-trading risk hedging, AI-driven credit-risk management for Amazon seller financing, and automated market-making research.

Why it matters:
Academic–industry collaboration is vital for next-generation fintech innovation. By tackling real-world challenges—carbon cost integration, dynamic hedging, AI credit scoring, and automated trading—researchers and practitioners can co-develop solutions that scale globally.

Analysis & Commentary:
I contend that Hong Kong is positioning itself as a “Fintech Alpha Node” for Asia, leveraging top-tier academics to incubate disruptive ideas. The workshop’s focus on tokenized clean-energy assets and AI for credit decisions signals where investment dollars will flow: sustainable-finance fintech and machine-learning risk engines. As regulatory sandboxes in Hong Kong and beyond open, such cross-pollination workshops will be the crucible for breakthrough products.

Source: Newswise

Conclusion: Charting the Course Ahead

Today’s headlines—from Revolut’s meteoric profit to Stenn’s cautionary collapse, and from Coinbase’s talent migration to Omnea’s automation triumph, capped by HKIAS’s academic symposium—paint a vivid picture of an industry in flux. Key themes emerge:

Super-App Evolution: Fintechs are racing to embed a full suite of services—lending, trading, payments—blurring lines with incumbent banks.
Risk Control Reboot: Collapses like Stenn’s will drive banks to reinforce due diligence and embrace transparent, blockchain-backed workflows.
Talent Democratization: The coastal tech epicenters are ceding ground; remote and regional hubs are powering the next wave of fintech innovation.
Invisible Finance & Automation: Real-time, AI-driven tools are automating procurement and credit decisions, embedding controls directly into workflows.
Academic–Industry Fusion: Workshops bridging theory and practice are critical to solving complex challenges—from ESG-linked assets to automated trading.

As we digest these developments, one thing is clear: fintech’s pulse is strong, but its beat demands constant vigilance, adaptability, and a thirst for innovation. Join me tomorrow for another briefing—because in fintech, today’s news is tomorrow’s roadmap.

The post Fintech Pulse: Your Daily Industry Brief – April 24, 2025 (Revolut, Citigroup, BNP Paribas, Coinbase, Omnea, HKIAS) appeared first on News, Events, Advertising Options.

Fintech PR

Beyond Alpha Ventures: The Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund to Watch in 2025

Published

7 hours ago

April 24, 2025

CISION (PR Newswire)

beyond-alpha-ventures:-the-multi-strategy-hedge-fund-to-watch-in-2025

NEW YORK, April 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — As the global investment landscape shifts in response to AI breakthroughs, geopolitical flux, and a generational wealth transfer, one firm is emerging as a powerful force redefining what it means to lead with conviction: Beyond Alpha Ventures (BAV). Under the visionary leadership of Jacob Kobe Frankel, BAV has established itself as a multi-strategy family office and hedge fund with an eye on the future—and the world is taking notice.

Launched with a long-term thesis and institutional discipline, BAV has quietly built a portfolio that reads like a blueprint of the next decade’s technological infrastructure. The firm holds stakes in industry-defining companies such as SpaceX, Palantir, and X.AI, placing it at the core of frontier innovation—from space commercialization and AI governance to national security technology and large language model development.

“We don’t just invest in companies—we invest in the architecture of tomorrow’s society,” says Frankel. “At BAV, capital is not just fuel. It’s strategy, insight, and commitment to long-term impact.”

A Visionary at the Helm

At just 32, Jacob Kobe Frankel has emerged as one of the most compelling young voices in venture capital and asset management. Frankel combines technical fluency with macroeconomic insight, bringing a rare dual-lens perspective to capital allocation. His strategic thinking has led to early and bold moves into sectors now considered essential.

What sets Frankel apart is not just his eye for high-growth assets—but his deep belief that venture capital has a responsibility beyond returns. Under his leadership, BAV has championed an investment model that actively integrates ethical foresight, systems thinking, and technical diligence. The result: a firm with both impressive returns and a growing reputation for shaping purposeful innovation.

A Distinct Investment Strategy

BAV’s edge lies in its multi-strategy approach, balancing late-stage private equity, secondary market opportunities, and algorithmic public market strategies. The firm operates with the agility of a startup and the rigor of an institutional fund, using proprietary AI-assisted research tools to enhance due diligence, monitor portfolio performance, and uncover high-potential market inefficiencies before they become mainstream.

Frankel’s belief in precision capital is evident in the firm’s track record. By backing technologies with proven traction and transformative potential, BAV has aligned itself with ventures that are not only scalable, but foundational—positioning itself as a core player in the next wave of technological consolidation.

A Global Perspective with Long-Term Discipline

Beyond Alpha Ventures has been featured in discussions at the Nasdaq Innovation Series, the Mastercard AI Summit, and global finance panels where Frankel has been praised for his pragmatic vision of AI’s role in society. Unlike many firms chasing hype cycles, BAV invests with a generational lens—focusing on technologies that can enhance resilience, transparency, and societal scalability.

“AI is no longer a vertical—it’s the operating system of modern civilization,” Frankel stated at a recent investor conference. “At BAV, our role is to back the builders of that system—with capital, conviction, and long-term partnership.”

Poised for a Breakout Year

As 2025 unfolds, industry insiders and LPs alike are calling Beyond Alpha Ventures one of the most promising hybrid investment vehicles on the market. With a robust pipeline, a world-class portfolio, and a CEO whose clarity and courage continue to define the firm’s trajectory, BAV is not just a hedge fund to watch—it’s a blueprint for the next era of capital innovation.

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Contact: Abigail Lincoln, +44 7856 126 983

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/beyond-alpha-ventures-the-multi-strategy-hedge-fund-to-watch-in-2025-302437684.html

Fintech PR

CapyFast and Bidwise forms strategic partnership involving over $40 million in payment volumes within performance marketing industry

Published

8 hours ago

April 24, 2025

CISION (PR Newswire)

MIAMI, April 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — At PI Live US, CapyFast, the embedded payments provider for digital commerce, and Bidwise, a performance marketing platform, have announced a new strategic partnership. This collaboration aims to transform payments flow across the performance marketing — making it faster, cheaper, and more intelligent.

The agreement signed today, formalized in a Memorandum of Understanding, is expected to bring over $40 million in payment volumes to CapyFast and millions in available working capital for Bidwise. The cooperation will cover integrating real-time cross-border payment solutions along with smart liquidity services into newly developed infrastructure for Bidwise.

“The performance marketing industry is powered by results, but too often held back by legacy payment cycles,” said Oleg Chanchikov, CEO of CapyFast. “This is why CapyFast wants to remove this block. We’ve already built the infrastructure to support real-time liquidity and embedded funding. Our partnership with Bidwise will help more businesses profit from it.”

CapyFast has grown to be an important financial infrastructure provider to performance-based platforms and networks. By embedding real-time payments and revenue-based funding directly into digital platforms, CapyFast transforms how value is distributed across the industry.

“At Bidwise, we invest millions of dollars every year into media buying to fuel growth and customer acquisition for our partners,” said Simon Vielma, CEO of Bidwise. “Through this cooperation, we’ll have access to flexible financing that will help us scale faster and operate more efficiently.”

What changes with this cooperation?

Bidwise and its partners receive real-time and cross-border payouts with dramatically reduced costs;
Bidwise improves liquidity by accessing flexible working capital;
Enhanced risk management with CapyFast’s proprietary scoring and payment intelligence;
A roadmap with plan for infrastructure scale, with rollout starting in Q3 2025 and full deployment by Q1 2026.

This deal reflects a growing trend of fintech-meets-adtech, where modern financial infrastructure becomes essential to platform scalability and user trust.

Media Contacts

CapyFast PR
Email: press@capyfast.com
Web: www.capyfast.com

Bidwise Media
Milli Frigara
Email: milli@bidwise.com
Web: www.bidwise.com

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/capyfast-and-bidwise-forms-strategic-partnership-involving-over-40-million-in-payment-volumes-within-performance-marketing-industry-302437615.html