Articles by Max Bowie
Cloud: Capital markets’ Swiss Army knife
The best uses of the cloud so far have been as an enabler of performance and innovation. The best uses yet to come could reshape AI. So, Max warns, if you think cloud is about cutting costs, you’re thinking about it all wrong.
Google-Greenwich: Financial firms agree on cloud's ubiquity, but vary widely on use cases
New research highlights predicted growth areas for cloud computing—and the tools it enables, such as AI and machine learning—in the capital markets. Spoiler alert: Google says cloud is becoming as ubiquitous as the search giant itself.
Alt data’s second inning: Brace for a long M&A game
The alternative data sector is still relatively nascent, and as such buy-side firms have struggled with how best to incorporate these non-traditional sources of information. While sources say that there will be continued M&A in the market, how those…
Miax preps ‘Virtual Trading Floor’ of data tools to grow investors, market-makers
The options exchange operator hopes to make it easier for participants to translate data into context and insight, and to broaden participation from new market sectors.
The market data vending machine: The pros and cons of self-service procurement
Brokers and exchanges have begun rolling out “self-service” portals that allow clients to choose data and services on an a la carte basis. Opinions vary on whether they are the Holy Grail or a poisoned chalice.
People Moves: Exegy, SEC, Clearwater Analytics, KopenTech, Lightspeed, Databricks
A look at some of the key people moves from this week, including Craig Schachter (pictured), who joins Exegy as chief revenue officer
This Week: Symphony, Nasdaq, Interactive Brokers, Finos, MSCI, and more
A summary of some of the past week’s financial technology news.
Burden of Proof: Meet the IEX breakaways looking to shake up broker algos
Founded with the principles of “transparency and academic rigor,” some say Proof’s model and technical approach is a test case for a new generation of cloud-native broker startups.
McKenna’s Gold: The woman who raised the standard for standards
This year’s inductee into the Inside Market Data Hall of Fame is Karla McKenna, a 35-year Citi veteran and standards advocate who is now Americas managing director of LEI standards body Gleif.
Symphony taps Google for cloud, AI, data-sharing tools
By leveraging Google’s AI and data-sharing capabilities, Symphony is strengthening its ties with the tech giant, which is also an investor in the platform.
Symphony’s Seven-Year Itch
After seven years and half a billion dollars in funding, Symphony has made strides but arguably has not delivered the “big win” of living up to its early hype as a Bloomberg-killer. Max asks how long its investors will continue to back the venture,…
Obituary: Telerate founder Neil Hirsch dies at age 74
Former employees praise the kind and caring CEO who made millions from data but still knew staff by name.
Ex-Gain Capital CEO pays $1M for bankrupt Money.Net assets
Stevens may plan to give Money.Net a new lease of life targeting wealth management clients.
Putting the ‘green’ in green data: Rise of impact investing drives ESG M&A
Socially responsible investors are putting their money where their mouth is—in ever-increasing amounts. With insatiable demand for new datasets and analytics to support these strategies, it’s not surprising that every data vendor wants a slice of the ESG…
Oats retirement imminent as Cat maintains data quality, Finra says
Oats reporting could be fully migrated to the Consolidated Audit Trail and the Oats system retired as early as June 30.
Exegy, Vela merge; say scale will fuel further acquisitions
The deal will create growth synergies between the vendors' trading systems, and provide an execution capability based on Exegy's trading signals.
Despite client concerns, LSE’s new Sedol fees take hold
Under the new fee policy, some of the largest users of the LSE’s identifier codes could see their Sedol spend more than double, though the exchange says the “vast majority” of clients will see no increase.
Finra taps AWS for next-gen regulatory search tools
A long-time AWS client, Finra is using a combination of AWS tools and its own knowledge graph to generate better search results.
Avelacom buys Brazilian infrastructure specialist to accelerate LatAm expansion
Network provider says the deal arms it to operate in uniquely nuanced regional markets.
Money.Net files Chapter 7 bankruptcy amid lawsuit
Despite a series of ambitious content expansion projects and senior hires, the low-cost vendor failed to win over institutional clients.
People Moves: Symphony, BMLL, HKEX, CloudMargin, Tora, Baton, and more
A look at some of the key people moves from this week, including Brad Levy (pictured), who will take the reins at communications platform Symphony in June, after joining the vendor in July last year.
This Week: TP Icap, Confluence, Bloomberg, Iress-Cosaic, Tradeweb, SmartStream, and more
A summary of some of the past week’s financial technology news
What the inevitable ‘publicizing’ of private markets means for investors and exchanges
As markets for trading stock in privately-held companies become more prevalent and exchange-like, and potentially attract more investors, Max questions what impact this will have on fully-fledged exchanges and their offerings.
Citi, other banks set to ink ‘Octopus’ deal for new multi-bank CLO platform
Sources say initiative is designed to fend off higher fees and disintermediation in case established multi-dealer platforms start trading CLOs.