Technology

Survey: Risk pros sound alarm on asset liability management readiness

Published

3 years ago

June 27, 2023

SAS-sponsored research by Celent reveals a financial industry shaken by recent bank failures and mobilizing to improve risk management practices and capabilities; June 28 virtual event offers more insights

CARY, N.C., June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The sudden fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March was a staccato siren shattering a period of relative calm in the financial services industry. Between 2015 and 2022, bank failures averaged less than four per year – with none at all in 2021 and 2022. SVB’s ripple effects have intensified attention on asset liability management (ALM), a long-overlooked facet of risk management. How financial firms are adapting is the subject of a new ALM research study by Celent, sponsored by analytics leader SAS.

“At the start of the year, few would have predicted that [ALM] would take center stage the way it has.” SAS.com/almstudy

The resulting report, Modernizing Asset Liability Management, is based on a global survey of 266 risk-focused finserv professionals in 22 countries. It provides timely insights into firms’ strategies for strengthening their balance sheets amidst rising interest rates and soaring liquidity risk, the one-two punch that triggered the bank runs that toppled SVB and, subsequently, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank. Among the study’s key findings:

ALM modernization is mission-critical. Most firms (80%) are considering significant improvements to their ALM functions, although planned investments vary by firms’ asset size. A majority of Tier 1 firms ($750 billion or more in assets) are focused on implementing next-gen ALM technology (e.g., cloud-native, API-driven systems and machine learning), whereas nearly half of Tier 3 and Tier 4 firms ($50 billion to $249 billion in assets) are contemplating new systems.
Foresight, alignment and automation are firms’ top three near-term ALM enhancement priorities. Nearly six in 10 firms (59%) aim to boost their forward-looking simulation capabilities. More than half seek better alignment of ALM with their risk, treasury and finance functions (53%) as well as increased automation in regulator-mandated areas of risk (52%).
Integrated balance sheet management is most firms’ end goal. Less than a third (29%) of banks have fully automated data sharing between ALM and other risk or business functions. But 40% of firms say they’ve already achieved integrated balance sheet management – and another 39% are striving for it.

Months in planning, the survey was fielded globally in March, giving the research collaborators a unique vantage point to snapshot the changing state of ALM.

“The survey could not have been better timed to capture how firms are responding to evolving disruption,” said Neil Katkov, Director of Risk at Celent. “The good news is that nearly all banks and capital markets firms are using technology systems for ALM, but about half are using dated, monolithic systems that have rather inflexible, prebuilt functions. Such systems simply cannot support the processing speeds and model granularity needed to support ALM best practices, including intraday analytic capabilities and process automation and orchestration.”

A special anniversary – join SAS virtually on June 28
The study’s release coincides with the one-year anniversary of SAS’ acquisition of Honolulu-based Kamakura Corporation, hailed by industry analysts last year as the “joining of matching puzzle pieces” in the risk management realm. The unification of two such esteemed risk technology players was widely recognized for its market-changing potential in ALM and integrated balance sheet management more broadly.

Commemorating the acquisition anniversary, SAS will host a LinkedIn Live virtual event, Navigating Risk in Volatile Markets, Wednesday, June 28, at 1 p.m. ET. No registration is required. Connect with experts from SAS and Kamakura live, or later on demand, to:

Explore the latest trends in credit risk and the future of ALM.Hear practical strategies for managing liquidity in uncertain markets.Get the latest integration updates and a peek at what’s ahead in tech developments and risk research.

“At the start of the year, few would have predicted that asset liability management would take center stage the way it has – but SAS did, and the truth is that we’ve been preparing for this moment for a long time,” said Troy Haines, Senior Vice President of Risk Research and Quantitative Solutions at SAS. “SAS’ acquisition of Kamakura was orchestrated as part of a long-term strategy to bolster our deep expertise and industry-leading IP to help our customers navigate the most treacherous risk climate the world has seen in more than a decade.

“Even before the recent bank failures, SAS’ strategic investment was delivering on its vision. The retooling of SAS®Asset and Liability Management on SAS® Viya® is already helping financial firms better predict and mitigate the interest rate, liquidity and balance sheet risks that sparked the industry’s current upheaval.”

ALM insights by region and more, available on demand
In complement to the ALM research report and LinkedIn Live event, the GARP ALM webcast Fresh Insights for Financial Services: Analytics Modernization and Next-Gen ALM delves deeper into the study’s findings. Join risk experts from SAS, Celent, GARP and American AgCredit on demand to probe:

Essential analytic capabilities and must-have functionalities.Regional priorities for supporting ALM advances.Preparations for the IBOR transition.

About SAS
SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2023 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial Contacts:
Danielle Bates
danielle.bates@sas.com
+1 919-531-1959
sas.com/news

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SOURCE SAS

Technology

Bloomberg Introduces Spread-to-Benchmark Quoting for EUR and GBP Portfolio Trading Baskets

Published

16 hours ago

June 2, 2026

LONDON, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bloomberg today announced the launch of Spread-to-Benchmark quoting and trading for Euro (EUR) and Sterling (GBP) denominated portfolio trades through its Portfolio Trading Basket Builder (PTBB). The new functionality expands the range of quoting protocols available for European credit portfolio trading and reflects growing client demand for spread-based execution workflows, alongside increased dealer support for the convention across EUR and GBP markets.

Spread-to-Benchmark quoting is a well-established protocol for USD credit portfolio trades and is used by market participants to evaluate and execute portfolio trades. By extending this workflow to EUR and GBP portfolio trades, Bloomberg enables clients and dealers to transact using a familiar spread-based methodology across additional credit markets.

The introduction of Spread-to-Benchmark quoting for EUR and GBP baskets reflects increased client interest in evaluating portfolio trades through a spread-based lens and the growing adoption of spread-based execution workflows in European credit markets. The workflow provides market participants with an additional framework for assessing the relationship between credit spread risk and underlying government bond yields when pricing and executing portfolio trades.

Additional Workflow Flexibility 
The workflow complements Bloomberg’s existing portfolio trading capabilities, which support the full range of market-standard quoting conventions, including Price, Yield, Spread-to-Benchmark and Spread based workflows that reference Bloomberg’s evaluated pricing service (BVAL). This gives clients flexibility to compare and execute portfolio trades using the quoting methodology that best aligns with their investment objectives, execution preferences and internal risk management processes.

“European credit clients continue to look for execution workflows that reflect how they evaluate risk and monitor portfolio trading outcomes,” said Harry Street, Global Head of Credit and Equities Trading Product at Bloomberg. “By expanding dealer support for Spread-to-Benchmark quoting for EUR and GBP baskets, Bloomberg is broadening the range of workflow options available to clients trading European credit portfolios.”

“Portfolio trading workflows in fixed income continue to become more sophisticated as institutional investors look for ways to evaluate execution quality in changing market conditions,” said Kevin McPartland, Head of Market Structure & Technology Research at Crisil Coalition Greenwich. “Spread-based quoting helps market participants more clearly distinguish between the impacts of credit spread and underlying rates movements when determining how best to execute a portfolio trade.”

Bloomberg’s Electronic Markets solutions are used by leading financial institutions to trade efficiently in over 175 markets around the world. More than 9,000 client firms use Bloomberg Electronic Markets to access industry-leading depth and breadth of liquidity across asset classes from over 800 dealers globally. Bloomberg Electronic Markets provides market participants with comprehensive solutions across the trading lifecycle, including robust price transparency, analytics, automation and execution, powered by Bloomberg’s high-quality, multi-asset class data and tools.

About Bloomberg
Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.

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SOURCE Bloomberg L.P.

Technology

Dr. Sunho Kang, a senior battery-technology executive with leadership experience at major global battery and EV manufacturers, joins TeraWatt Technology as Head of Product and Technology

Published

16 hours ago

June 2, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — TeraWatt Technology Inc. (Headquartered in California, USA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Sunho Kang has joined the company as Head of Product and Technology.

Dr. Kang is a globally recognized battery-technology executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning the United States, Asia, and Europe, and a distinguished track record of advancing innovations from laboratory research through gigafactory-scale production. He has held senior executive positions at world-leading organizations including Samsung SDI, Apple, and Volkswagen Group of America, and brings deep expertise in lithium-ion battery materials, cell engineering, and product industrialization across a broad range of applications, including electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

At TeraWatt, Dr. Kang will lead global product development and the commercialization of TeraWatt’s battery technology platform, aiming to accelerate the delivery of TeraWatt’s competitive products as well as the technology and commercialization roadmap including manufacturing scale-up.

Dr. Kang commented:

“I am thrilled to join TeraWatt Technology as Head of Product and Technology. TeraWatt’s innovative battery platform presents a tremendous opportunity to push the boundaries of lithium-ion technology, and I look forward to working with the team to accelerate product development and commercialization to deliver meaningful impact.”

TeraWatt Technology founder CEO Ken Ogata, Ph.D. commented:

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Kang as our Head of Product and Technology. His deep expertise in battery materials, cell engineering, and productization will be instrumental in accelerating TeraWatt’s product roadmap and technology leadership. Together with Dr. Kang, we will continue to drive our mission forward.”

About TeraWatt Technology Inc.
TeraWatt Technology Inc. is a California-based company that produces lightweight, high-power, and safe next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

Company Overview
Name: TeraWatt Technology Inc.
Representative: Co-founder and CEO Ken Ogata
Headquarters: 28 Geary St, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94108, United States
Founded: January 2020
Established: December 2019
URL: https://www.terawatt-technology.com/

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SOURCE TeraWatt Technology Inc.

Technology

Tencent Cloud and Soniox Announce Strategic Partnership: Combining Advanced Speech-to-Text (STT) Technology with Global Real-Time Infrastructure

Published

16 hours ago

June 2, 2026

HONG KONG, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, today announced a strategic partnership with Soniox, a San Francisco-based speech AI company that specializes in developing high-accuracy, low-latency speech AI solutions. The collaboration integrates Soniox’s speech-to-text (STT) technology with Tencent Cloud’s Real-Time Communication (TRTC) enterprise-grade global infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build and deploy multilingual voice AI applications across 200+ countries and regions.

Elevating Enterprise Voice AI at a Global Scale

In enterprise voice AI deployments, latency directly affects user experience and application reliability. The integration of Soniox’s high-accuracy, low-latency STT with TRTC’s global transmission infrastructure reduces latency across the entire pipeline, creating a comprehensive end-to-end solution for enterprises deploying conversational AI applications worldwide.

Soniox is the voice platform for every language. Unlike legacy speech AI, which was built primarily for English-speakers, Soniox delivers native-speaker accuracy across 60+ languages. Its technology can handle mid-sentence language switching — a user can switch between English and Chinese in a single utterance, and Soniox will capture every word with complete accuracy. All of this works through a single API that works for both speech-to-text and text-to-speech.

By integrating TRTC, the partnership leverages an enterprise-grade real-time communication backbone featuring more than 3,200 global nodes, sub-300 ms worldwide latency, and advanced capabilities such as AI noise suppression and weak-network resilience. These capabilities enable conversational AI applications to operate reliably across diverse network environments, including regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa.

With the roll out of this partnership, developers can integrate the Soniox STT API directly within the Tencent Cloud console. Whether targeting English-speaking markets or supporting languages such as Arabic, Hindi, and Malay, enterprises can build global voice applications — including intelligent customer service, voice assistants, real-time translation, and meeting transcription — to address the demands of expansion into emerging markets and multilingual scenarios.

Wison Xie, Head of Product at Tencent RTC, stated: “Tencent RTC has always been committed to providing reliable real-time communication infrastructure for global enterprises. Our partnership with Soniox brings together our strengths in enterprise-grade audio transmission and Soniox’s advanced speech recognition technology. Together, we are making it easier for businesses to deploy accurate, low-latency voice AI applications across any language and any market.”

Klemen Simonic, CEO at Soniox Inc., stated “At Soniox, our mission is to help businesses understand every word, in any language, with native speaker accuracy and exceptional speed. Partnering with Tencent Cloud combines our speech AI with world-class real-time infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build voice AI experiences that scale globally with low latency and reliability.”

About Tencent Cloud:

Tencent Cloud, one of the world’s leading cloud companies, is committed to creating innovative solutions to resolve real-world issues and enabling digital transformation for smart industries. Through our extensive global infrastructure, Tencent Cloud provides businesses across the globe with stable and secure industry-leading cloud products and services, leveraging technological advancements such as cloud computing, Big Data analytics, AI, IoT, and network security. It is our constant mission to meet the needs of industries across the board, including the fields of gaming, media and entertainment, finance, healthcare, property, retail, travel, and transportation.

About Tencent RTC:

Tencent RTC provides real-time communication solutions, including audio/video calling, live streaming, and in-game voice. With enterprise-grade security, AI-powered enhancements, and a global network of over 3,200 nodes, Tencent RTC powers mission-critical communication for customers worldwide.

About Soniox:

Soniox is a next-generation voice AI company bringing about the end of English-first speech AI. Most people on the planet did not grow up speaking English and often mix languages mid-sentence; and yet legacy speech AI was built for just English. Soniox is different: native-speaker accuracy across 60+ languages, true mid-sentence language switching, and flawless alphanumeric recognition that legacy providers still can’t match. For developers building global apps, Soniox is the only option. Try it for yourself at soniox.com.

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SOURCE Tencent Cloud