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Launching FX shared middle and back office technology

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Cobalt Fintech PR - Andy Coyne

Cobalt is a multi-award winning fintech start-up focused on re-engineering the institutional FX market from the ground up.

Chatsworth has worked with Cobalt since its inception, shaping the company’s branding and messaging ahead of launch and providing ongoing strategic and tactical marketing and PR support.

Highlighting the inefficiencies, cost and risk inherent in current middle and back office systems, we have helped establish Cobalt as a viable replacement for the critical infrastructure underpinning the global FX industry.

The company has been profiled by major international media outlets such as the FT, Bloomberg and Reuters and won awards from industry publications such as FX Week and Waters Technology. It is also firmly established as a thought leader in the FX space, providing regular expert opinion and commentary.

Chatsworth was the first communications agency to focus on fintech. We’ve been building fintech reputations for 20 years, steering start-ups through launch, growth and onto corporate action, and protecting and enhancing established infrastructures.

Looking for intelligent, informed and connected fintech PR which delivers results and value?

Get in touch and let us help build your reputation and tell your story.

FX post-trade network Cobalt goes live

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Cobalt FX strengthens team as it moves ahead to re-engineer the market

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Cobalt, the foreign exchange (FX) infrastructure based on shared ledger and high performance technology, has hired five experienced professionals to lead its drive to re-engineer the FX market.

Post-trade FX is currently riddled with complex legacy systems and manual processes, creating unnecessary cost and risk across the market. The new hires bring a wealth of FX experience to the company and will play an important role in the rollout of Cobalt’s shared infrastructure which optimises risk management and slashes cost by up to 80%.

Bob Linton, based in New York, has become head of connectivity and onboarding at Cobalt. He will be responsible for replacing old, legacy technology incumbent in many institutions’ post-trade FX operations with Cobalt’s low latency, high performance shared ledger technology. He joins following a 13-year stint at market infrastructure technology provider, Traiana. 

Dan Evans was appointed product analytics lead and is focused on product innovation and reporting as well as highlighting the hidden opportunities for financial institutions. Dan is experienced in analysing FX trading data both as a director of FX trading at UBS, where he spent seven years, and as the director of his own consultancy.

John Fitzgerald joins as information security manager. John has over 15 years in risk and security management and prior to joining Cobalt, he was the lead for information security at Rathbone Brothers Plc.

Nitin Talway has been appointed head of support. He has over 13 years’ experience in the FX industry having previously worked for institutions including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, RBS/Natwest Markets and Credit Suisse.

Kameldeep Bhachu is now a senior business analyst at Cobalt. He previously worked at Murex and in the FX and treasury divisions at Morgan Stanley, UBS and Royal Bank of Canada. He brings extensive front to back knowledge of the FX cash and derivatives business.

Darren Coote, managing director of Cobalt, commented: “We are thrilled to welcome Bob, Dan, John, Nitin and Kameldeep to the rapidly expanding Cobalt team. They bring a breadth of FX experience across the interdealer and prime broker space and have an intimate knowledge of the competitive landscape as well as financial institutions’ systems. Each will play a key role in reengineering the FX market from the ground up, getting rid of legacy systems and replacing them with new technology which is more suitable for the low-latency FX market of today.”

Cobalt appoints new global head of sales & business development

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Cobalt, the foreign exchange (FX) post-trade processing network based on shared infrastructure and high performance technology, has appointed FX specialist Anoushka Rayner as global head of sales and business development.

Anoushka brings over 20 years of experience in the FX industry to Cobalt. She has held a number of high-profile roles, most recently as business manager and global FX sales specialist at Traiana. Prior to this she worked as sales director at smartTrade Technologies and as global head of FX option sales at FXCMPro, the institutional arm of Forex Capital Markets.

Anoushka will be responsible for managing Cobalt’s commercial relationships and will play a key role in scaling up the business as it gets ready for its launch later this year.

Darren Coote, Managing Director of Cobalt, commented: “We are very pleased to welcome Anoushka to our ranks as we work towards reengineering the largest and most liquid financial market in the world. She brings a wealth of experience and contacts to Cobalt and is a key part of our plans as we prepare to launch later this year.”

Anoushka Rayner said: “Current post-trade FX service providers and infrastructure are shackled by legacy technology and inefficient processes which are unfit for purpose. This increases costs for market participants and poses significant operational and systemic risk to the FX market.

“I’m excited to be working for Cobalt as I believe it poses the single biggest innovation to post-trade FX in the last 15 years and look forward to playing my part in creating a shared infrastructure which will benefit the entire market.”

Cobalt secures investment from Singapore Exchange

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Cobalt, the FX post-trade processing network based on shared infrastructure and high performance technology, has secured a strategic investment from Singapore Exchange (SGX), which operates Asia’s largest, most diverse and fastest growing FX exchange.

SGX’s investment will support the continued expansion of Cobalt’s footprint into the FX space, further accelerating technology development and build out of the team.

Cobalt’s unique solution leverages highly optimised technology alongside an in-house immutability service based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) to deliver a shared back and middle office infrastructure that is scalable, secure and fast.

By creating a shared view of trade data, Cobalt frees up back and middle office resources from multiple layers of reconciliation; creating a ‘golden’ portfolio of FX transactions from which to provide multiple services.

The platform takes a fresh approach to financial infrastructure and has been developed to replace the dated middle and back office systems of today, which can be disorderly, inefficient, risk-laden and costly.

Adrian Patten, Co-Founder and Chairman of Cobalt, comments: “SGX’s investment is testament to our innovative application of technology in the FX space. Our platform addresses pain points faced by almost every institution that trades FX: the unnecessary cost and risk associated with post-trade processing. Singapore is an important global hub for FX and we are delighted to welcome SGX on board as we continue to expand our footprint in the region.”

Michael Syn, Head of Derivatives at SGX, comments: “We are pleased to be supporting this important FX market infrastructure, which is complementary to our growing FX futures business and a natural fit for SGX given our own commitment to product and platform innovation. We look forward to seeing Cobalt continue to gain traction in the global post-trade FX market as they pioneer FX technology development, delivering cost and risk mitigation benefits to market participants across the world.”

Henry Ritchotte, Strategic Advisor to Cobalt, comments: “Exchanges around the world continue to invest in the critical infrastructure underpinning financial markets. This collaboration between a major Asian exchange and an innovative firm that has developed a unique high performance, DLT solution is a major step forward in upgrading the systems our industry relies on to operate efficiently, safely and cost-effectively.”

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Cobalt closes investment from former Deutsche Bank COO Henry Ritchotte

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Cobalt, the FX post-trade processing network based on shared ledger technology, has closed an investment from Henry Ritchotte, the former Deutsche Bank COO who will also become a member of Cobalt’s strategic advisory board.

Henry Ritchotte spent over two decades at Deutsche Bank where he was a member of the Management Board and Group Executive Committee acting as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Digital Officer. Since leaving the bank at the end of 2016 Henry established RitMir Ventures, a principal investment firm focused on investing in products and services transforming finance through disruptive regulatory and technology driven business models.

Cobalt delivers a private peer-to-peer network that significantly reduces post-trade costs and risk for institutions operating in today’s FX markets. The platform is designed to create a single, shared view of a transaction on shared infrastructure and allows clients to reduce reconciliation and operational costs by up to 80%. With its production beta now live, Cobalt is ramping up to launch its live platform later this year.

Adrian Patten, Co-Founder of Cobalt, comments: “Henry’s investment reflects the increased interest our platform is receiving from the wider financial industry. With our innovative technology and his experience and knowledge, we are strongly positioned to redesign post-trade.”

Henry Ritchotte, Founder of RitMir Ventures, comments: “There has been comparatively little investment in post-trade over the past few decades. Cobalt’s network is an elegant solution that provides significant benefits for users and will reshape the industry as we know it. I look forward to working with the leadership team on their fresh approach to the post-trade challenges shared by all FX participants.”