Feature
The State of Play in M&A
Kirsten Hyde looks at what's hot and what's not in the world of private equity investment and M&A activity.
Alternative Data’s Hard Labor
Faye Kilburn investigates quantitative funds' attempts to sift gold from the torrent of alternative datasets.
Slowdown Showdown: Exchanges Eye 'Flash Boys' Speed Bumps
Exchanges that objected to IEX becoming an exchange are now planning to introduce their own IEX-style "speed bumps."
Scrambled ESGs: Growth Prompts Calls for ESG Standards
Joanne Faulkner investigates changing attitudes towards ESG investments, and the resulting growth in demand for ESG data.
Systematic Internalizers: An Ambitious Regulation Caught in the Crossfire
The SI regime has proven to be the most fragile piece of regulation, as its legal loopholes have triggered a series of political events and has been established as the market’s most notorious law.
Buy-Side Firms Seek Order-Routing Transparency to Measure Broker Performance
Pressure on brokers is growing as asset managers demand more transparency and analytics around order routing data.
Slowdown Showdown: Exchanges Eye Speed Bumps
Three exchanges have filed with the SEC regarding implementing either a delay mechanism or order types similar to what IEX operates, following its approval as a national exchange less than a year ago.
Waters Cover Profile: Born to Be a Banker — Jodi Richard, chief operational risk officer, US Bank
Emilia David profiles US Bank's chief operational risk officer Jodi Richard and looks at how the bank tackles op risk and the extent to which its risk disciplines are integrated into the business.
From the Ground Up: Infrastructure Investment Faces Data Challenges
With calls for massive investment in infrastructure ringing across North America and Europe, private investment in these projects should be flourishing. Yet, many institutional investors still view these opportunities with a balance of interest and…
Wind of Change Disperses Cloud Data Doubts
Banks are warming to the benefits of cloud computing for market and enterprise data storage and resource-intensive calculation and testing requirements. But, as Joanne Faulkner discovers, there are still challenges that must be overcome before cloud can…
Commodity Firms Tighten Up on Spoofing
With increased high-frequency trading in commodities markets likely to increase instances of “spoofing,” the CFTC has said it will be monitoring markets more avidly for instances of spoofing and other forms of market manipulation. Selwyn Parker reports…
Banks Scramble to Protect Against GDPR Data Breach Fines
Concurrent with—yet seemingly in conflict with—KYC initiatives is the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which will upend how banks treat customer data, and will levy steep fines against those who fail to comply or suffer data breaches. Alina…
An Engineer of Change: State Street CDO James Hardy
Transforming a firm’s data management and governance is a lengthy process that requires patience, resilience and passion. State Street chief data officer James Hardy has found an engineer’s approach to problem solving and a consultant’s interpersonal…
War of the Clouds: An Inside Look at how Google, Microsoft, IBM & Oracle Are Chipping Away at AWS
The next great battle in the financial services space might not be in the blockchain or AI spaces—although they will play a role. No, the next monumental shift in the technology space is likely to be the public cloud sector. Anthony Malakian looks at how…
Robo-Advisors Permeate Asian Markets
Robo-advisors are gradually becoming more popular in Asia, especially among retail investors. While it will take some time, these advancements—and the technologies that underpin these platforms—are likely to seep into the institutional space in years to…
Breaking the Code: Maintaining Legacy Infrastructure with Code Modernization
Code modernization is seen as a way to seize on advances in computing power to handle larger amounts of data on legacy systems.
Embracing Change: Ian Thompson, Fidelity International
Ian Thompson discusses creating synergies between technology and operations on the buy side.
Out of the Shadows: The Benefits and Burden of Shadow IT
On the surface, the concept of shadow IT seems simple: A project is started without proper authorization because those involved want to avoid having to jump through the various hoops required to get the green light to build the technology. In actuality,…
Bracing for a RegTech Boom
With an unenviable raft of new regulation imminently coming into force, market participants anticipate a flurry of adoption of compliance-related technology, which is expected to prove lucrative for RegTech providers. Joanna Wright and Max Bowie talk to…
Not Your Granddad’s Surveillance
For years, sophisticated data monitoring and analytics have been a key component of developing trading strategies. Now, as Joanne Faulkner discovers, firms are taking approaches first developed for use by traders and turning the tables, and are using…
A Culture of Trust: DTCC's Ron Jordan
In 2010, Ron Jordan left NYSE, swapping market data for reference data and the opportunity to build a proprietary data business at clearing and settlement utility the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., where Max Bowie caught up with him. Photos by Amy…
Brexit Undermines MiFID Data Foundations
Even after Britain leaves the European Union, financial firms wanting to do business within the EU will need to comply with MIFID II. But removing the UK from EU markets could still derail new European trading and transparency rules. Samuel Wilkes…
Buy Side Struggles to Integrate Analytics
Linking performance attribution and risk has clear benefits, but fragmented approaches are making it hard for firms to unify processes and underlying data. Clive Davidson outlines the key challenges, and how firms are addressing them.
CRM Practices Under Scrutiny: Examining How GDPR Will Affect Asset Managers
The GDPR will mainly affect less organized asset managers, as well as vendors that might need to provide modifications to their CRM systems.