Stockholm, Sweden & London, UK – April 2, 2025

SEB, one of the leading Nordic corporate and investment banks, has partnered with Trading Apps, a specialist fintech firm focused on workflow and automation solutions for securities finance, to streamline securities finance communication with TA.Link integration.

This partnership marks a step forward in SEB’s commitment to technological innovation and efficiency in the securities finance space. By adopting TA.Link, SEB is now equipped to communicate seamlessly with counterparties via API, enabling automated, real-time message flows for both its borrowing and lending activity.

“We’re excited to be working with Trading Apps and to adopt TA.Link as part of our broader digitalization strategy,” said Dan Murphy, Head of Equity Finance at SEB. “The ability to interact with counterparties in a secure, scalable, and fully automated way is an enabler for our growth and operational efficiency across securities finance.”

TA.Link provides a standardized, yet flexible API-driven communication layer, allowing firms to send and receive key lifecycle messages—including availability, borrows, returns, recalls, and allocations.

“We’re thrilled to welcome SEB to the TA.Link network,” said Matthew Harrison, CEO at Trading Apps. “SEB’s decision to integrate both the messaging service and API capability demonstrates their forward-thinking approach to automation, and we’re proud to support their team as they streamline interaction with both borrowers and lenders.”

The TA.Link network continues to grow across the securities finance industry, connecting buy-side and sell-side firms with fast, reliable, and secure messaging infrastructure that enhances efficiency, reduces risk, and supports scale.

New York, US – March 28, 2025

With a strong emphasis on API functionality, TA.Link facilitates seamless scalability for its members. The platform’s upfront pricing model eliminates the constraints of transaction-based fees, empowering firms to operate without limits.

National Bank of Canada has integrated TA.Link into its proprietary technology ecosystem, leveraging API capabilities to enhance both borrowing and lending activities. This integration ensures a streamlined and efficient securities finance workflow, improving automation and operational flexibility.

“TA.Link is a secure, real-time messaging platform that connects global participants across the securities finance ecosystem,” said Matthew Harrison, CEO of Trading Apps. “It provides a foundation to streamline pre- and post-trade negotiated lifecycle events, including trade execution, rerates, recalls, and returns. With Common Domain Model (CDM) support, TA.Link is at the forefront of the evolution in securities finance, offering a powerful addition to the Trading Apps suite.”

James Bryce, Managing Director at National Bank of Canada, added: “National Bank is excited about the seamless onboarding experience with TA.Link. The platform’s scalability and automation capabilities align perfectly with our strategy to enhance efficiencies and support future growth in securities finance.”

About Trading Apps

Trading Apps is a pioneering fintech firm specializing in innovative software solutions for the securities finance industry. With over a decade of expertise, it provides cloud-based tools that automate securities lending and borrowing transactions, enabling clients to scale operations, increase trade volumes, and reduce costly errors. Its TA.Link platform facilitates pre- and post-trade lifecycle events, ensuring secure, reliable, and cost-effective communication for market participants.

In her new role, Lisbeth will spearhead the company’s global sales strategy, driving revenue growth and expanding Trading Apps’ market presence across key regions worldwide.

Lisbeth brings over two decades of experience in sales and leadership within the financial and technology sector. A proven track record of delivering results, combined with her deep understanding of the trading ecosystem, positions her as the ideal candidate to lead Trading Apps’ sales initiatives during this pivotal time of growth.

“We are thrilled to welcome Lisbeth Hadingham to our fast-growing US based Trading Apps team,” said Matthew Harrison, CEO of Trading Apps. “Lisbeth’s expertise in building high-performing sales teams and driving customer success will be instrumental in advancing our mission to deliver cutting-edge automation solutions to clients around the globe. Her leadership will play a critical role in scaling our business and capitalizing on new opportunities.”

Prior to joining Trading Apps, Lisbeth held the position of Executive Vice President, North America at DoxAI driving their business expansion in the region. Lisbeth’s prior career, includes sales and leadership positions both at financial firms such as J.P. Morgan and Citi Bank as well as technology providers, Transcend, CloudMargin and FIS.

“I am honoured to join Trading Apps at such an exciting time in the firm’s journey,” said Lisbeth. “Trading Apps commitment to innovation and automation for securities finance customers will offer transformation for the industry”.

You can connect with Lisbeth on LinkedIn here.

About Trading Apps

Trading Apps is an innovative global fintech specializing in software solutions for the securities finance industry. Established over a decade ago, it has developed a suite of cloud-based software solutions (‘Apps’) to automate transactional securities lending and borrowing, enabling users to scale their businesses, multiply trade volumes, and mitigate costly errors.

It continuously evolves its product offering to meet the needs of both supply and demand-side clients. Trading Apps has diversified and recently launched TA.Link, a SaaS-based messaging platform for market participants to trade safely, reliably, and affordably.

Ross brings over two decades of financial and technology expertise and will support Trading Apps’ continued efforts to innovate within the securities finance industry. He will focus on developing new products that address the growing demands of our customer base and tackle some of the industry’s biggest challenges.

“Joining Trading Apps is an exciting opportunity to drive forward transformative solutions in the securities finance industry,” explained Ross. “I will oversee Trading Apps’ efforts to enhance technology, focusing on improving efficiency and flexibility to meet the evolving needs of our clients.”

His career includes high-level positions in the financial industry. Most recently, he was the Global Head of Securities Lending Product at Wematch.live, where he drove the firm’s rapid expansion in U.S. and international markets..

Prior to Wematch, Ross led a transformational programme for a large Japanese bank’s Prime Brokerage division, assisted a healthcare organisation with digital transformation, and advised on a fintech startup’s tokenisation platform. At Tiger Securities / TradeUP Securities, he managed the implementation of U.S. self-clearing capabilities and spearheaded all securities lending initiatives.

From 2017 to 2021, Ross was Managing Director at Cowen, where he oversaw a middle office system processing over a billion trades annually and managed the implementation of securities finance services. He also led a multi-year back-office conversion initiative and established a PMO group.

Ross’s career also includes roles as Business & Product Development Director at Pleeco, optimising balance sheets for banks and broker-dealers, and at Itau BBA, where he launched a new Prime Services business. At Royal Bank of Scotland, he held multiple positions, including Head of Product Development for the Prime Services division, leading the efforts to create a global Prime custody model.

Commenting on Ross joining, Matthew Harrison, CEO, said, “Ross joining our fast-growing team in the US marks a significant step in broadening our reach and continuing to deliver best-in-class technology solutions to our customers. His deep expertise in Securities Finance will accelerate our new product development plans, and we’re excited for the next chapter in our growth.”

You can connect with Ross on LinkedIn here.

About Trading Apps

Trading Apps is an innovative global fintech specialising in software solutions for the securities finance industry. Established over a decade ago, it has developed a suite of cloud-based software solutions (‘Apps’) to automate transactional securities lending and borrowing, enabling users to scale their businesses, multiply trade volumes, and mitigate costly errors. It continuously evolves its product offering to meet the needs of both supply and demand-side clients.

In addition, Trading Apps has diversified and recently launched TA.Link, a SaaS-based messaging platform for the securities finance industry, enabling the communication of borrower requests, distribution of securities availability, trade negotiation, and post-trade lifecycle events such as re-rates. Uniquely, the platform will support both TA.Link native and Common Domain Model (CDM) message formats.

Could you tell us about TA.Link?
At Trading Apps, we are always working on new and innovative ideas to deliver to market. We feel we have some of the smartest brains in the industry and TA.Link is the latest we are bringing to market. TA.Link is an alternative way to communicate trading activity between securities finance participants.

In what ways does TA.Link deliver significant savings compared to existing messaging services for instructing trades?
TA.Link has a single monthly cost payable when the service is available to use, so there is no initial minimum set-up cost and no per trade or volume costs. TA are not party to how existing services charge, but it has been indicated to us that we would be approximately 10 per cent of the current average cost.

Can you elaborate on the cost structure of TA.Link? Specifically, how is the low fixed monthly cost per participant determined and are there any additional costs that participants may incur?
It is a fixed monthly cost which is the same for all participants.

TA.Link provides an alternative connection to mitigate the risk of relying on a single messaging service. Could you elaborate on how TA.Link addresses this risk and ensures a more secure communication environment?
We mitigate the risk to a participant of relying on a single messaging service by offering an alternative. TA.Link messages are fully end-to-end encrypted using industry-leading technology and, as such, are far more secure than email. Using AWS cloud-based services, TA.Link runs on multiple servers located around the world with instant failover in a disaster recovery situation.

Trading Apps has executed the first transaction on its latest trading option TA.Link.

South Street Securities, in collaboration with a retail clearing partner, aided with the transaction.

TA.Link is an alternative way to communicate trading activity between securities finance participants. The firm says the option enables users to trade safely, reliably and affordably.

The new trading option is also designed to provide an alternative connection to mitigate the risk of relying on a single messaging service. TA.Link messages are fully end-to-end encrypted.

Commenting on the milestone, our CEO Matthew Harrison says:

“With much respect and appreciation we would like to recognise South Street Securities, in collaboration with a retail clearing partner, for their insight and cooperation through this breakthrough development as Trading Apps looks forward to providing an alternative facility to engage the securities finance market.”

The entire Trading Apps team is filled with pride as we celebrate our Consultant Director, Carol Kemm, who was recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Securities Finance Times Industry Excellence Awards 2023. The honour, which acknowledges the impact of individuals who have made significant and enduring contributions to the securities finance industry, is a fitting testament to Carol’s extraordinary career.

From her initial entry into the field, Carol has played a transformative role in the evolution of the securities finance industry. Her commitment to innovation and her exceptional ability to foresee industry trends have been nothing short of revolutionary.

A formidable technologist, Carol co-founded K-Tek in 1985 and led the development of Global One, a software system that fundamentally changed the securities finance landscape. This system was so forward-thinking that, despite technological advances over the years, it still forms the backbone of many leading global securities finance institutions.

When Carol began her journey in the 70s, the financial industry was largely manual and paper-based. Carol, with her foresight and vision, recognised the potential of technology to drive efficiency and accuracy, and her pioneering work with Global One proved her right. The software system, equipped with advanced features such as availability and locates, a full reporting suite, multi-entity trade automation, and more, offered a level of accuracy and speed previously unseen.

Her tenacity and resilience saw her through the changing corporate ownerships of Global One, and her dedication led her to us here at Trading Apps in 2020. We have been very fortunate to have someone of Carol’s expertise and brilliance in our team. Her deep industry knowledge continues to guide us as we extend our reach into the post-trade technology sphere.

Carol is known among colleagues as a spirited, perpetually positive force. Beneath her cheerful demeanour lies an unwavering dedication to the industry that has been her life’s passion.

In recognising Carol’s monumental contributions, the award is truly deserved. We are immensely proud of Carol and believe that her legacy will continue to inspire not just us, but generations of technologists in the securities finance industry.

The world of securities finance is much richer for having Carol Kemm.

Trading Apps takes an important step to reduce our environmental impact.

Trading Apps has always strived to reduce our impact on the environment. We continuously review our operations, decreasing scope 1-2 emissions and waste produced, as well as analysing our supply chain, decreasing scope 3 emissions.

For many businesses, scope 3 emissions have the biggest impact on the environment. This is especially true for digitally-driven companies, like Trading Apps, which use extensive software and hosting packages, all within a complex supply chain. Essentially, most of our emissions come from the scope 1-2 emissions of our suppliers. That’s why it’s so important for us to review them.

Transition To Amazon Web Services

During a recent review, we made the decision to migrate all our on-premises servers to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Ireland. This exercise should be completed in 2023 and is part of our continued cloud-first strategy. We consider cloud-based services first before increasing our on-premises hardware.

AWS has an extensive sustainability action plan, meaning our scope 3 emissions will be vastly reduced. The domino effect of this will impact our customers’ emissions and reduce their infrastructure costs.

“As the leading cloud provider, AWS is 3.6 times more energy efficient than the median of surveyed enterprise data centers in the U.S. and up to five times more energy efficient than typical EU enterprise infrastructure. And Amazon is on path to powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025.”

– AWS Energy Transition

Expanding further on the efficiency of AWS, it’s worth noting our microservices architecture can run on AWS Graviton instances, which consume up to 60% less energy than traditional processors.

The Future

Finally, we’re confident that the positive impact will continue to multiply. AWS has always focused on energy efficiency and continuous innovation in their data centers. Reducing energy usage and increasing operational efficiency. The scale of the operation allows higher resource utilisation and energy efficiency than the typical on-premises data center.

This means a variety of Trading Apps’ customers will continue to benefit in the future. SaaS/hosted customers, new customers, or customers who have engaged us to migrate from on-premise to the cloud will all experience further emission reductions.