Month: June 2023

By Mel Campbell 

The sun is out. Flowers are blooming. School is winding down.

Many a weary worker or parent or ordinary citizen casts their eyes to the sky and begins to think of … vacation.

You’ve saved all winter for that trip. You want to make sure that you make the most of your down time.

So, Doing More Today asked the experts at Regions Next Step for some ideas for saving money when it’s time to unplug and, maybe, stick your toes in the sand or visit that city you’ve wanted to see.

6 Tips for Saving on Your Next Vacation:

Consider mass transit. Many of the largest cities have affordable, safe and reliable mass transit that goes to places that vacationers want. Cities like Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston, New York and others. Also, many cities have hop-on/hop-off shuttle services that let you see things at your own pace.Hit the local grocery stores. Sampling local cuisine is part of the travel experience. But hitting local grocery stores also gives you local flavor, helps trim your food cost and gives you the opportunity to ask locals about the best places to visit.Take advantage of the free breakfast. If you choose a hotel or lodging that offers a breakfast, this can be an easy to way to not only take care a meal, but also offer a simple snack – like fruit or a yogurt bar – that can tide you over until mealtime.Map out explorations plans. Do a little digging before you leave. Most cities and destinations have things to do that are free, or have free or discounted days/times. These can include museums, parks, local gardens and walking tours.Be in the know of discounts. Discounts are not just for the off season. Rates vary by day of the week. If you have flexibility in your timing, traveling mid-week is often less expensive. Also, many restaurant and destinations feature daily deals. Do research ahead of your adventure.Build or bring your own drink. While the convenience is certainly there, buying your cocktail or beverage of choice from a cute tourist spot or bar is a lesson in markup. No fooling, you could buy your own blender, mix and spirits for the price of a round or two. So where and when you can, BYOB.

Staycation: Another Great Savings Option

One of the best ways to save on a trip? A staycation!

Regions Next Step has some great ideas that can help you plan a great staycation and keep that money closer to home, and maybe more of it in your wallet.

Visit Regions Next Step online at www.regions.com/nextstepvacationbudget for more advice and guidance on vacations, saving for trips and more. It’s free and available to Regions associates and customers.

Originally published on bloomberg.com

Bloomberg today announced that it has introduced a solution for US Treasuries that enables diverse broker-dealers to provide their clients liquidity using Bloomberg’s technology. The offering adds new minority-owned broker-dealers for US Treasuries, including CastleOak Securities, Mischler Financial Group and Tigress Financial, with additional firms soon to be on-boarded and integrated.

The Treasury offering builds on Bloomberg’s existing D&I Dealer program, which was introduced in 2017 with CastleOak Securities, a leading boutique investment bank. Bloomberg supported the launch of DirectPool, CastleOak’s platform for US corporate bond (both investment grade and high yield) electronic trading, providing all-to-all services for clients.

The offering, which was recently expanded to include US Treasuries, is used by many of the nation’s largest investment managers and bond dealers and provides a reliable pool of liquidity. Through the offering, diverse broker-dealers will be on-boarded to Bloomberg’s electronic trading solution to serve as liquidity providers for US Treasuries. The diverse broker-dealers can then engage traditional liquidity providers to make markets for incoming client RFQs. As a result, a client can easily include a diverse broker-dealer in an RFQ, which is routed to one or more traditional liquidity providers, and delivers pricing back to the client that initiated the RFQ. The offering delivers a seamless process that expands the liquidity pool while supporting minority-owned broker-dealers.

“We approached Bloomberg in 2016 about an innovative idea using Bloomberg BOLT that would not only help us provide liquidity to our clients, but also level the playing field. The combination of Bloomberg’s technology prowess with our trading capabilities has resulted in a lower cost alternative for clients while still fulfilling best execution requirements,” said David R. Jones, CEO of CastleOak Securities.

“Our partnership with Bloomberg has helped us build our fixed income trading business , which in turn has meant measurable revenue growth for CastleOak. DirectPool’s trading volumes continue to grow year over year; the marketplace has realized that this is not only an efficient way to trade, but also a transparent way for clients to achieve their D&I goals. We recently expanded our relationship to include US Treasury electronic trading capabilities and continue to work with Bloomberg to develop new solutions for our clients.”

“The US Treasury white label solution enables us to provide liquidity to buy-side firms to help them with their best execution requirements, while concurrently helping them expand their ESG impact by working with diverse broker-dealers,” said Michael Lindley, Head of Fixed Income Trading at Tigress Financial Partners. “The launch of this solution was made possible by Bloomberg’s commitment to the project, and the resources it provided to get it done. The white label offering enables us to provide clients a service that meaningfully adds value to their business and is part of a seamless workflow. The Bloomberg team have prioritized the democratization of their offerings and have been great partners throughout this process. We look forward to continuing to grow our relationship in the future.”

“Being a part of this Bloomberg initiative is exciting for Mischler Financial Group. It allows us to better support our trading partners by delivering a best in class offering to clients who rely on us to help meet their best execution needs in addition to their diversity goals and mandates,” said Glen Capelo, Head of Rates at Mischler Financial Group. “We’ve already seen firms over 10 trillion in AUM collectively signed up through the US Treasury white label initiative and look forward to what’s ahead. We are extremely excited to be at the forefront of the e-trading revolution in the diversity broker-dealer space, and this offering gives us the ability to be more competitive. It’s crucial to have active robust partners like Bloomberg, who share our ambition to excel and our vision of creating a comprehensive solution for the everyday transaction requirements of our clients.”

“We’re excited and proud to work with such an impressive group of firms as we continue to build our D&I initiative,” said Derek Kleinbauer, Global Head, Fixed Income & Equity E-Trading at Bloomberg. “We remain committed to continually supporting diverse broker-dealers, and the US Treasury solution is a perfect example of innovation and partnership coming together to deliver an efficient and effective offering.”

Bloomberg Electronic Trading Solutions (ETS) are used by leading financial institutions to trade efficiently in over 175 markets around the world. More than 9000 client firms use Bloomberg ETS to access industry-leading depth and breadth of liquidity across asset classes from over 1,500 dealers globally. Bloomberg ETS 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.

Bloomberg Press Contacts:
Europe – Anna Schoeffler, aschoeffler1@bloomberg.net, +33 6 75 54 70 92
US – Gauri Andriks, gandriks@bloomberg.net, +1 (212) 617-6361

As a company grounded in science, Henkel is proud to support education and connect with the next generation of scientists. When members of our Adhesive Technologies team were asked to speak to chemistry students during the spring semester at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, the invitation held special meaning.

Back in 1953, Trinity College became the birthplace of Henkel’s iconic LOCTITE® brand. The game-changing adhesive was created when retired chemistry professor Vernon Krieble developed anaerobic threadlocking adhesives in a basement laboratory at the college. His revolutionary invention offered a more reliable, non-mechanical solution to bond, seal and lock metal parts.

In preparation for the campus visit, members of the Henkel Adhesive team helped restore Trinity College’s 50-year-old permanent display highlighting Krieble’s work. Previously, Henkel donated to the college a scrapbook documenting the origins of LOCTITE through memoranda, news articles and photos dating back to the 1950s and ’60s.

After extensive planning and preparations, the event kicked off with one-on-one meetings with professors to ensure the college’s chemistry curriculum aligns with the needs of industrial employers.

Later, students and faculty from Trinity College’s chemistry and engineering departments gathered to hear Henkel experts talk about the making of LOCTITE, the evolution of anaerobic chemistry, and the different roles that chemists play in adhesives — from product development to application engineering. Throughout the day, Henkel Human Resources representatives were on hand to talk to students about internship and career opportunities at Henkel.

Our students really enjoyed the presentations and meeting the Henkel representatives afterwards. They don’t often get to hear about the industrial side of things, so it was a great learning experience for them.

Professor Maria Parr, Trinity College

“We received fantastic feedback about the event, and the students were engaged and curious. For many, it was eye-opening to see the opportunities available in the industrial adhesives sector,” says John Borden, Director, Global Sales and Channel Activation. “It was a great opportunity to introduce students to Henkel and what makes LOCTITE so great.”

As a special treat, students learned how alumnus Tomoyo Wakamatsu, an Analytical Research Chemist, leveraged what she learned at Trinity College into a 30-year career at Henkel.

The Henkel team also introduced students to LOCTITE®XPLORE, a free e-learning platform for Henkel’s adhesive solutions.

“At the university level, traditional mechanical solutions are taught and have been for decades. Students don’t typically learn about non-mechanical solutions,” says Borden. “LOCTITE®XPLORE is a tool to educate college students about adhesive solutions before they go out into the workforce.”

During the event, Henkel executives met with university leadership and a very special guest. Retired chemistry professor Henry DePhillips, who worked alongside Vernon Krieble, provided unique insight into the early days of LOCTITE.

“We were excited to partner with Trinity College on this special event and support the next generation of chemists,” says Borden. “In terms of our origin story, it felt right to reconnect with the birthplace of LOCTITE. Henkel would not be the adhesives leader it is today without the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of Vernon Krieble.”

Vernon Krieble & LOCTITE® Seal Their Place in History

In the early 1950s, at the urging of his son Robert, retired chemistry professor Vernon Krieble quietly set out to create “anaerobic” threadlocking adhesives — adhesives which would cure quickly in the absence of air — in his basement laboratory at Trinity College.

In 1953, Vernon’s persistence and passion for chemistry paid off. His revolutionary adhesive, branded LOCTITE®, offered a more reliable (non-mechanical) solution to prevent machine parts from loosening or leaking.

Professor Krieble’s invention helped to usher in a new era of mechanical reliability and safety. LOCTITE’s impact on the safety of products — ranging from cars to medical devices to roller coasters — is impossible to measure.

Henkel fully acquired the LOCTITE Corporation in 1997. Today, LOCTITE is Henkel’s largest and most iconic brand, marketed in 130 countries around the world. Learn more at: The LOCTITE story: A close-up of Henkel’s biggest brand and 25 years of LOCTITE at Henkel (YouTube).