Portugal’s CGD Securities embraces cloud connection to Brazil
Portugal’s CDG Securities will use a hosted solution to connect to Brazil’s BM&F Bovespa in Sao Paulo
Portugal’s Caixa Geral de Depositos bank is planning to grow its trading business in Brazil using a hosted service provided by SunGard.
The bank’s securities arm will use SunGard’s Valdi market access service to better connect with Brazil’s BM&F Bovespa exchange, which recently completed a major upgrade project that involved replacing the trading engine on its equity and derivatives markets with the newer, faster Puma trading engine.
The advantage of Valdi is that it is a cloud-based service – so the firm is effectively outsourcing to SunGard, which will then provide market access as a managed service.
The approach will provide CDG “with a fully hosted solution, allowing us to focus on growing our business while leaving the day-to-day operation management to SunGard’s market specialists,” said Alexis Machado, IT superintendent at CGD Securities.
The BM&F Bovespa exchange is by far the largest exchange in Latin America, soaking up an estimated 80% of Latin American flows, according to Thomson Reuters. Indeed, it is second only to the CME Group in the whole of the Americas, North and South included.
“While looking ‘beyond Brazil’ remains a motto for many firms trading in Latin America, the strength and size of the Brazilian market continues to attract interest from financial institutions globally, with local players upgrading their technology and looking at regional expansion,” said Philippe Carré, global head of connectivity at SunGard’s capital markets business.
Founded in 1876, the state-owned Portuguese bank has a presence in 23 countries, and claims to be the largest in Portugal. Its CGD Securities subsidiary is the firm’s brokerage arm in Brazil, a country where the bank has been active since at least 1924 when it acquired Banco Financial Porgugues. The bank is also active in Spain, where it runs Banco Simeon.
CGD Securities focuses on sales trading for equities and derivatives in Brazil, as well as research.
SunGard has also been active in Brazil for many years. According to the Long Finance Global Financial Centres Index compiled in March, Sao Paulo is now the highest rated financial centre in Latin America, ranking number 44 globally.
