Analysis
Millimeter Wave vs Microwave for Wireless Communication
Microwave is only now making waves in the capital markets, but already other forms of wireless are being investigated.
Southport Jumps on DealVector's Business Model
Holders of collateralized loan obligations, mortgage backed securities, and other structured credit have been forced into archaic means of locating each other. DealVector wants to bring that communication into the modern age.
Bitcoin's Regulatory Parade: Justified or Fiasco?
Regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) are examining the virtual currency that has fascinated popular imagination by—as much as they can—treating it as real. Will new…
Armanta CEO: The Risk Paradigm is Broken
Technology is overrated as a means of performing risk analytics, argues Peter Chirlian, CEO of New Jersey-based analytics platform provider Armanta. It’s the people that do the work; technology is little more than a tool.
As SEC Grows Analytics, Form PF Data Quality Should Sharpen
An update from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), published in late July, gives a sense of funds' first pass at the reporting requirement, but more importantly, lays out just what authorities will do with that information. And their plans…
HFT Limited at Aequitas Exchange, but Not Banned Outright
Reports about Aequitas Exchange's aversion to high-frequency trading (HFT) have been overblown, believes CEO Jos Schmitt.
Managing Data For Efficiency and Cost
Fidelity ActionsXchange’s Deborah Culhane describes the benefits of a data-centric approach to regulatory compliance, and advises on how to evaluate the sustainability of outsourcing for data services
First, React: Systems Performance Should Be Visually Evident, Not Contractual
Data tells the tale of what markets are doing, what's aberrant, and why rarely, if sometimes spectacularly, things go wrong. Systems performance tools provide those signals, just as exchange venues provide tick data. Firms are beginning to figure out how…
Three Technologists Talk About Justifying ROI
When making a case for the return on investment (ROI) of an IT project, BMO Capital Markets’ head of operations and project delivery doesn’t get too deep. Quantifying ROI is very difficult, argues Naveen Balakrishnan, because the measurables evolve too…
Meeting Transaction Tax 'What-Ifs' Demands Platform Flexibility
Financial transaction taxes (FTTs) may jive with political anxiety over the markets, but legislating them isn't so straightforward. Likewise, add-on solutions required to cope with the new levies must go well beyond a conventional fee calculator.
AIFMD's Slow Burn
As one AIFMD-related deadline hits, the industry is still likely a year away from tackling compliance and reporting for this regulatory overhaul. But that doesn't mean firms shouldn't start preparing today.
Mackay Shields CTO: Routinely Check Vendor Data Security
A vendor tried to expand its business relationship with New York asset manager Mackay Shields, and in one conference call, almost lost the customer entirely.
Exchanges Recognize Cyber Threats but Have Defensive Measures in Place
More than half of all worldwide exchanges have suffered a cyber attack in the last year, according to a survey by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco). Iosco released the results as part of a joint working paper with the World…
Social Media Relies Too Much on Emotion for Investment Use
Tick data specialist OneMarketData recently conducted a survey about the use of social media in the investment community. The company’s director of solutions, Louis Lovas, revealed some of its findings this week to an audience at the Toronto Financial…
Guilty Bankers Should Be Counting Rocks on a Prison Beach, Says Consultant
Alex Jurshevski wasn't even supposed to appear on the over-the-counter (OTC) and central clearing panel at the Toronto Financial Information Summit. It was only because of flooding in the city that the founder of Recovery Partners, a consultancy, was…
Don't Equate Canadian OTC Derivatives Reform With US Reform
Much of what regulator Aaron Unterman had to say at the Toronto Financial Information Summit about Canadian over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives reform would have sounded familiar to any American in the audience. Canada’s approach to reform largely mirrors…
Toronto FIS: HFT Proponents Prompt Re-evaluation
Canadian bankers and regulators fought off attacks against high-frequency trading practices at the Toronto Financial Information Summit. A pending study of its effects may validate their position or cause a reconsideration.
Mixed Start for SEF Registrations
Although the US Commodity Trading Futures Commission (CFTC) has finalized its rules regarding the operation of swap execution facilities (SEFs) and registration has been open for weeks, not all institutions have filed applications with the regulator as…
Counterparty Credit Models Herald New Workflows
Initial cost and hardware limitations are often tallied as potential problems for sell-side firms complying with new capital-charge requirements by optimizing netting strategies and collateral usage. Now those firms face a different challenge: where to…
Twitter Fund Founder Returns with Cayman Atlantic
Paul Hawtin, founder of the Derwent Absolute Return Fund, which traded based on social media sentiment analysis, has returned to investment management with the launch of Cayman Atlantic.
A Good Technologist is Hard to Find, Says JPM AM Exec
What began as a conversation about consolidating systems for accounting and trade─itself a deviation from advertised topic of supporting broad bespoke product ranges─took a sharp turn when JPMorgan Asset Management's chief business technologist for fixed…
For Big Data, the Mindset Outweighs the Concept
Panelists at the Asia-Pacific Trading Architecture Summit, held last week in Singapore, discussed the effect of big data on financial services firms, but remained skeptical that the widely debated phenomenon was anything more than a natural evolution…
CIMB Exec Advocates Tech Restraint in APTAS Keynote
Andrew Freyre-Sanders, managing director and head of execution services at CIMB Securities, warned against being swept up in technology arms races and stressed the need for intelligent systems design, while delivering the keynote address for the 2013…
Knight Capital and Getco Complete Transformation to KCG
With the completion of the merger between high-frequency trading (HFT) specialist Getco and broker-dealer Knight Capital, KCG was launched as a single entity on July 2, 2013, creating a securities firm of considerable size and scale in the US and global…