Emerging Technologies
Waters Wrap: S&P-IHS Markit and the Land of Giants (Also, More on AML Tech)
Anthony provides some of his initial questions and thoughts following the S&P-IHS Markit deal. He also takes a second look at AML technology after getting some sage feedback.
‘Massive Land Grab’: S&P’s IHS Markit Buy Creates Data Juggernaut, But Users Fear Price Hikes
The deal reflects the broader trend of market participants pursuing scale to create true front-to-back trading and data environments, which may signal a trading platform acquisition in the future—though the IHS Markit acquisition may face regulatory…
Wavelength Podcast Ep. 221: Tech Execs Discuss Innovation in 2020
JP Morgan Chase's head of AI technology and Deutsche Bank's head of innovation for the Americas at Deutsche Bank join to talk about AI, cloud, and more.
Natural Language Generation: Great Promise, Significant Barriers
Sell-side firms and data providers are increasingly experimenting with natural-language generation to create new forms of automatically curated reports, emails and alerts, but the technique comes with significant challenges.
Self-Service Data & Managed Services: Why Asset Control is Now ‘Alveo’
CEO Mark Hepsworth explains the branding change and what drove the vendor's decision.
Bloomberg Enlists NLG to Write News Summaries
The data provider is using natural language generation to summarize news articles and write automated stories.
Qontigo Releases New 'Linked' Risk Model Covering Global Equities
The new offering blends existing Axioma risk models into a single, nuanced risk assessment.
Facteus Makes Consumer-Spend Data Available in Real Time via Bloomberg Terminal
Facteus officials say Bloomberg's clients will benefit from being able to assess the impact of consumer-spending data on macroeconomic indicators.
UBS AM’s Quant & Data Science Unit Looks to Blend Human & Machine in 2021
The QED team within the asset manager is aligning its focus next year to deliver a holistic AI platform to its investment professionals—including a recommendation engine.
People Moves: MackeyRMS, BCS Global Markets, SIPs
A look at some of the key people moves from this week, including Sheryl Hawk (pictured), who has been appointed vice president of customer success at MackeyRMS.
IBM Bets on Cloud & Containerization to Win Over Investment Banks
After its acquisitions of Red Hat and Promontory, IBM is looking to expand its footprint in the capital markets through containerization, as well as reg reporting in the cloud.
Waters Wrap: Machine-Learning Models Suffer from Covid (And Exchanges in the Cloud, Pt. 2)
Anthony says that while machine-learning models have been hit-and-miss during the pandemic, NLP is taking on greater importance. He also looks at how exchanges are looking to move their core matching engines to the cloud.
Wavelength Podcast Ep. 220: ESG in the News
Some holiday banter about ESG and how it's portrayed in the news.
Model Misfires Raise Questions Over Training Data
Quants wrestle with how far into the past their machine learning models should peer.
EU’s Cloud Vision Still Pie in the Sky
The supporters of a plan for a federated cloud architecture in Europe held a conference to discuss development plans, but it’s still unclear how the concept will work in practice.
People Moves: Liquidnet, Quandl, State Street, CloudMargin, Greenwich Associates, Mediant, GLMX
A look at some of the key people moves from this week, including Steven Nichols (pictured) who has been appointed head of NLP and unstructured data at Liquidnet.
Fitch Solutions Revamps FitchConnect Using Micro-Frontend Technology
The use of agile development techniques and adoption of micro-frontend technology has yielded significant improvements in development productivity, officials say.
Waters Wrap: Is AML Tech Worth the Cost? (And Cloud Moves & More Blockchain)
Anthony wonders if AML platforms are being scrutinized enough by banks and regulators, then looks at Wells Fargo's tapping of HPR for its quant division and Northern Trust’s blockchain plans.
Fidelity Quietly Shutters ActionsXchange; Low Margins of Corporate Actions Biz Blamed
Officials remain silent on the closure, which has been in the works since last year, sources say.
AML Platforms ‘Are Just Not Working’—Is Human Error or Tech the Culprit?
Technologies meant to detect and stop financial crime may add more headaches than they relieve. Others say that the best tech can't overcome how bankers use these tools. The AML dilemma likely falls somewhere in the middle.
Northern Trust Turns to DLT for the Future
Distributed-ledger technology will help ensure asset safety and allow custodians to provide more value to clients using AI and analytics.
FX Markets Ripe to Exploit Sentiment Data, Experts Say
Already well established as an alpha-enhancing input to equities trading, sentiment data is now being applied to other asset classes, starting with foreign exchange.
Wells Fargo’s Head of Quant Strategy Explains HPR Deployment
Wells Fargo’s Quantitative Prime Services division has tapped HPR’s Unimus platform, starting with its market access gateway and risk management tool.
Waters Wrap: Blockchain is Still Overhyped (And Ion/Broadway Thoughts & the Consulting Boom)
In 2016, Anthony wrote that the blockchain revolution was overhyped—unsurprisingly, his opinions have not changed. He also delves into the Ion-Broadway deal, and looks at new consulting/advisory firms that have recently come to market.