Feature
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines
Now that the E.U.'s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) launch date is upon us, the race into the 21st century financial markets appears as if it will begin with a cautious start rather than a frantic land rush. Most firms seem to be…
STP Through the Front Door?
This spring, at an industry event, I learned of a new C-level title-the chief optimization officer. I didn't get to meet the person, but one of his colleagues told me that his role is to make sure that every trading system within the investment bank…
Turning Back the Clock
Now that we are in the midst of autumn, it is just a matter of a few short weeks before we in the U.S. turn back the clocks by an hour as we leave Daylight Saving Time and get that extra hour of sleep.
Nasdaq's New Toy
Ever since the Nasdaq Stock Market announced the purchases it made at the Boston Stock Exchange's (BSE's) estate sale the last week, one thing that puzzles many in the industry is what Nasdaq will do with its new clearing license.
Standardizing Asia
Asia faces complex reference data challenges, with diversity leading to a lack of market harmonization. Carla Mangado reports on the nature of these barriers and how the market is striving to achieve greater standardization in a period of globalization
The Holiday program
It may seem elementary to manage holidays, but with major complexities in sourcing dates in certain countries, the situation can rapidly get out of hand. Tine Thoresen looks into the perplexing world of holiday planning
Gaining Momentum
It's remarkable how quickly Swift has responded to the gauntlet thrown down by JPMorgan's Heidi Miller during her keynote speech in Atlanta in 2004. The industry cooperative's entire strategy for 2010 appears to be a response to questions posed during…
Multiple choices – Not all prime brokers are created equal: Joel Clark investigates the criteria employed by hedge funds to differentiate one prime broker from another, and concludes that the multi-broker model is the most feasible and flexible approach f
The relationship between hedge funds and prime brokers has always been complex, but as alpha remains the objective for fund managers and as markets remain volatile, that relationship is changing. Joel Clark investigates the criteria funds employ to…
Laws of attraction – Institutional capital flowing into the hedge fund industry comes at a price – investors expect operational transparency and industry accepted best practices when it comes to risk management. Victor Anderson outlines how funds in the F
Risk management disciplines across the buy side have traditionally ranged from relatively sophisticated - relative that is compared with sell-side organisations - to downright rudimentary. But that is set to change, especially in the Far East where funds…
Life, the Universe and STAC
Selecting which new technology to adopt is often more of an art than a science for most investment banks. The lack of objective benchmarks has left departments making choices based more on personal relationships with salespeople than on the technology…
Making Hay While the Sun Shines
Speaking with financial technologists lately, most aren't too concerned about the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. "As long as you're making the bank money, it will take care of you," has been a common refrain.
So Passes the Old Order
A part of history ended last week as the Boston Stock Exchange, the third oldest exchange in the U.S. behind the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), closed its doors for equities trading after being in business for…
Microsoft to Do Turrets?
When Microsoft clears its throat, other vendors get nervous. With its recent acquisition of persistent group-chat vendor Parlano last week, Microsoft has added another key component for its unified messaging offering, Office Communications Server 2007…
Fusion From Confusion
Data Usage