IBS Journal September 2015
Who’s bought what? WHO? A2X WHAT? Trading technology from Aquis Exchange
A2X, a new exchange planned for launch next year in South Africa, is poised to chal- lenge the dominance of the incumbent, Jo- hannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). UK-based Aquis Exchange will supply its technology to support the start-up operations. Aquis is a newcomer itself, having been
launched in London two years ago. It is a brainchild of the team from Chi-X Europe that was let go when Bats Global Markets acquired it in 2011 (all of the Chi-X technol- ogy was retired as well). From the outset, Aquis has been keen to supply its technolo- gy – developed in-house – to other players worldwide. The deal with A2X is the first one for Aquis. Aquis’ spokesperson says: ‘The market
in South Africa offers a really interesting opportunity and Aquis worked closely with A2X over a number of months to create a viable market model.’ A2X was looking for a ‘modular, scal- able and efficient’ solution, she adds. She points out that Aquis’ technology offers ‘one of the lowest latency exchange sys- tems globally’. It uses a Linux environment, with soft-
ware written in C++. There is a choice of trading protocols, FIX 4.2, FIX 5 or Aquis’
‘Aquis Exchange is well-placed in that Johannesburg, South Africa
proprietary protocol, Aquis Trading Protocol (binary format). Aquis will provide A2X with all the
exchange components, the exchange platform (matching engine), clearing and surveillance systems. The systems will be deployed in South Africa. The implementation will begin later
this year with target completion in the first half of 2016 when it is anticipated the new exchange will launch. ‘The principal challenges are to estab-
lish a system which can conform with the current market practices in South Africa and deliver technical advances which will under- pin the successful launch of A2X,’ states the spokesperson.
it is both an exchange owner and oper- ator and also a provider of commercial exchange technology,’ she says. ‘All of its technology has been designed and built in-house, is very competitively priced and offers great flexibility to be tailored to the customer’s requirements. Variables that the system can be customised for include asset class, market structure, order types and trading protocols, among others.’ A2X applied for a stock exchange licence
in May this year and is set to compete head- on with JSE. At its helm are Gary Clarke, who is ex-JSE (he was the company secretary there for over a decade); Kevin Brady, a former head of securities at Investec; and Neal Lawrence, a seasoned IT professional with senior manage- ment experience at Absa Capital and UBS. Meanwhile, JSE has been working on its
technology modernisation as well. Last spring, it kicked off the implementation of a new clearing platform, Tradexpress, from Swedish vendor Cinnober. It has also gone through a complete overhaul of its trading software, ousting Accenture’s Tradelect in favour of a platform supplied by MillenniumIT (an IT sub- sidiary of London Stock Exchange). Tanya Andreasyan
Bank of Bhutan, the country’s oldest and largest bank, is revamping its core banking software with TCS Financial Solutions’ flagship offering, Bancs. It is set to replace the Flexcube system supplied by rival vendor, Oracle FSS. The bank selected Flexcube in
WHO? Bank of Bhutan WHAT? TCS’s Bancs core banking system Thimphu, Bhutan
Narada platform from India-based vendor Yalamanchili and is also involved in the bilateral domestic electronic cheque clearing services and national electronic fund trans- fers (NEFT).
Bank of Bhutan will get the latest
2008 for a universal implementation and went live a year later with version 7.3. However, in early 2015 it went to market in search of a new core bank- ing system as part of ‘a major technology upgrade aimed at placing the bank on a high growth trajectory’.
32 In recent years, the bank has also
modernised its systems for internet and mobile banking, as well as introduced an integrated 24x7 call centre. It supports a network of 62 ATMs, underpinned by the
© IBS Intelligence 2015
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version of Bancs, 15.0, which will be installed on the Oracle database. The new system will be rolled out across
the bank’s network of 45 offices. For TCS, this will be the first core bank-
ing software installation in the country. Tanya Andreasyan
recent orders
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