Industry news

Temenos extends digital banking relationship with AWS

18 May | Strategy

Software firm Temenos has extended its global relationship with AWS to run Temenos onboarding and origination solutions on AWS.

The relationship aims to allow all retail and commercial banks – incumbents and challengers- to provide digital onboarding. In addition, the solutions will have higher performance scalability, and security. It will give banks greater agility while reducing time to market, as well as improving cost efficiency.

Furthermore, the two companies will go-to-market with solutions for retail, business, corporate, private banking and wealth.

Temenos and AWS started working together in 2019 to integrate Temenos’ open platform onto AWS and have worked with joint banking customers since then.

20 May | Distribution

Robo-adviser Quantifeed raises fresh funds to spur growth trajectory

Hong Kong-based B2B robo-advisory firm Quantifeed has raised an undisclosed amount, in a new funding round led by HSBC Asset Management (HSBC AM), to accelerate its growth trajectory.


The Series C funding round was joined by Daiwa PI Partners and existing shareholders, including Franklin Templeton and LUN Partners Group.


Quantifeed said that the fresh capital infusion will go towards strengthening its solutions for advisors, portfolio managers and end-customers.


The firm also plans to bolster its capabilities in portfolio design, advice and trading engines, and enable wealth management across a set of asset classes including structured products, private equity and digital assets.


In addition, the funds will also help will Quantifeed accelerate talent acquisition across the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Japan and Southeast Asia.

20 May | Regulation

Advisor Group to bolster multi-channel capabilities with Infinex deal

Advisor Group has agreed to acquire Infinex Financial Holdings, the holding company of a privately-held broker-dealer.


The transaction, whose financial terms were not revealed, is subject to FINRA and other regulatory approvals.


Connecticut-headquartered Infinex was founded in 1993.


The firm provides technology via a proprietary platform, in-field relationship management support, wealth and life insurance services, and practice management solutions to banks, credit unions and financial institution-based financial advisors and their clients,


Infinex has more than 750 financial professionals supporting over 230 community-based bank and credit union programmes with clients in all 50 states and managing approximately $30bn in client assets.


Following the close of the deal, the firm will operate as a member firm of the Advisor Group network. It will maintain its existing brand, executive leadership team and operating model.

20 May | Products

ECB urges UK-based investment banks to relocate staff, trading to EU

European Central Bank (ECB) has asked UK-based investment banks to shift senior staff and trading activity to the ‘empty shell structures’ they have set up in Eurozone post Brexit.


The move is part of the ECB’s efforts to prevent the disruption of banking services and ensure broader financial stability in the bloc as several international banks continue to serve euro zone clients out of London.

19 May | Strategy

Ally Invest introduces wealth management advisory service

Ally Invest, the online brokerage and wealth management arm of Ally Financial, has launched a wealth management advisory service.

The move marks the firm’s entry into personalised advice and portfolio strategies.

Ally Invest Wealth Management offers continued and personalised guidance for a minimum of $100,000 in investable assets.

It will enable customers to conduct banking and investing in one place while receiving holistic advice on their complete financial picture, including assets held outside of Ally.

The user will receive the advice they need for their individual financial wellness from a dedicated fiduciary advisor who is “well-versed in behavioural finance,” according to the company.

19 May | Strategy

Julius Baer cuts Moscow ties; outlines Russia exposure

Julius Baer has started the wind-down of its advisory subsidiary in Moscow in response to Russia’s continuing military aggression in Ukraine.

The Swiss bank said that approximately 1.6% of its $460bn (CHF457bn) assets under management (AuM) were linked to Russian individuals who are neither residents of Switzerland nor the European Economic Area.

Julius Baer’s market risk exposure to Russia is “not significant and tightly managed”, the bank said while outlining its results for the first four months of 2022.

Julius Baer, which has been complying with relevant national and international sanctions on Russia, stopped accepting new Russian clients following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

19 May | Deals

Mirabaud joins forces with Temenos to accelerate digital push

Swiss private bank Mirabaud has forged an alliance with cloud banking platform Temenos to digitally transform its wealth management services.

The partnership will see the Swiss lender replacing its existing traditional on-premise system with a digital wealth management platform on Temenos Banking Cloud.

The move is expected to enable Mirabaud to adapt to the evolving investment opportunities and client expectations amid new regulations and growth in asset classes such as private equity and digital assets.

18 May | Strategy

Allianz to sell US asset management business to Voya

Allianz has announced plans to sell AGI US, the US business of its asset management arm Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), to Voya Financial.

The proposed deal covers AGI US’ equity and fixed income investment teams, select client service and sales professionals along with nearly $120bn of assets under management (AUM).

The AUM is comprised of income and growth, fundamental equity, and private placement assets.

The announcement comes after AGI US agreed to plead guilty to fraud over the collapse of its Structured Alpha fund.

The German insurer has agreed to pay around $6bn to resolve the US government investigation of the collapsed fund.

Allianz said it has already made provisions for such expenses in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.

17 May | Deals

India’s BP Wealth launches subscription-based retail brokerage app

Indian wealth management firm BP Wealth has launched a subscription-based retail brokerage app called Stoxbox.

The move marks BP Wealth’s entry into the business-to-commerce (B2C) retail digital broking industry.

Leveraging the firm research expertise, Stoxbox intends to simplify investing for retail investors.

The app will eliminate the need for investors to pay additional brokerage on trading in equity delivery, F&O, currency, commodity, mutual funds, ready-made portfolios, and trading calls among other services.

17 May | Strategy

Singaporean robo-adviser Syfe expands into Hong Kong

Singapore-headquartered digital investment platform Syfe has expanded its footprint to Hong Kong as part of its wider Asia expansion strategy.

The firm secured a licence from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong that permits dealing in securities, advising on securities, and asset management.

Launched in 2019, Syfe provides personalised and custom portfolios based on a passive, long-term investment strategy that reduces costs.

The firm is backed by venture capital firms including Peter Thiel-backed Valar Ventures, Unbound and partners from DST Global.

Syfe closed its Series B round last July, bringing its total funding to date to $52.4m.