Cobalt attracts new launch partners to post-trade currency network

Citadel Securities and XTX signed up as launch partners to implement Cobalt’s FX post-trade processing network, with 22 already existing beta participants.

Set to launch later this year, there are currently 22 beta participants on Cobalt’s peer-to-peer network including Citi, which became a Cobalt investor in 2016, and Cobalt’s technology partners including SETL, First Derivatives and Tradepoint.

Offering a repository of unique and reconciled FX contracts, BlueSky manages life-cycle events, risk reduction and prepares trades for settlement finality. The firm claims that in enabling a single, shared view of a transaction the peer-to-peer network will free up back and middle office resources that currently have to reconcile across multiple systems, streamlining the post-trade process and significantly cutting costs.

With beta testing underway, Cobalt is also expanding its core team and opening an office in New York. Devika Darbari joins Cobalt as COO from JDX Consulting where she was a Board member and CEO Americas. She will also head up operations in the US.

Markit’s Jon Light has also signed up as head of product. Fixnetix alumni Steve Nelson has been installed as head of solution delivery and support.

These latest hires follow the appointment of Charlotte Crosswell, former Nasdaq NLX CEO, as strategic advisor for Cobalt in December 2016.