Opening Cross: Asia Shows More Eastern Promise for 2011
It looks like the Inside Market Data and Inside Reference Data teams are going to be seeing more of Asia than ever before this year. In the Chinese zodiac, 2011 is the year of the rabbit, and our events in the region seem to have been breeding like bunnies.
In April, we tour Asia-Pacific, holding joint local market events with industry association FISD in Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore, and staging our own Tokyo Financial Information Summit on April 13. We return to the region with FISD in November, when we hold our annual Asia-Pacific Financial Information Conference in Hong Kong. And in the meantime, our colleagues at WatersTechnology are planning a new event for July, the Asia-Pacific Trading Architecture Summit.
The reason is that—despite the New Zealand Exchange’s decision to close its Australian AXE ECN last week—Asia is still on a hot streak. In the last week alone, SmartTrade Technologies announced that Daiwa Capital Markets is using its liquidity management and market data integration tools to support Asian equities trading, while China’s Guosen Securities is embedding Kx Systems’ kdb+ tick database into its algorithmic trading system, and Thomson Reuters launched a low-latency consolidated feed of data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, SBI Japannext, Chi-X Japan, Kabu.com, and the Osaka Securities Exchange, via its Elektron infrastructure.
In addition to these fragmented markets, one of the challenges to greater integration of markets across Asia-Pacific is the absence of a common currency or regulatory regime, such as those that exist in the US and Europe. However—aside from pan-Asian mergers such as the tie-up between the Singapore Exchange and Australian Securities Exchange—there are now calls for broader integration between markets. In its December Asia Economic Monitor, the Hong Kong-based Asian Development Bank called for more cooperation between East Asian governments and monetary authorities around exchange rates to promote trade within the region and inward investment, to convert Asia’s robust emergence from the global downturn into sustained growth.
But the lack of regional cooperation so far isn’t hindering other growth in Asia. For example, Chinese data vendor Shanghai Great Wisdom Company last week issued an IPO prospectus in preparation for a public listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The vendor will use the money raised from the IPO to upgrade its existing data products, develop new products and drive further growth in its home market of Greater China. In addition, the funds could be used to deliver non-organic growth at SGWC, which sources say—having already acquired Hong Kong-based AA Stocks last year—is rumored to be eyeing other deals.
After a few lean years in the private equity markets, companies elsewhere are also now finding it easier to raise new funds—if, in some cases, by unorthodox means. Austin, TX-based systems monitoring and timekeeping technology vendor FSMLabs has raised additional finances to fund an expansion of its engineering team by selling the intellectual property contained in four of the vendor’s patents. The vendor won’t reveal the buyer or the amount raised, but the deal allows FSMLabs to continue using the patented technology in its own processes without royalties.
FSMLabs is focusing on its monitoring tools because these are likely to increasingly be in demand as it becomes ever-harder for firms to gain latency advantages, and accurate time monitoring becomes even more critical. So between latency and Asia’s continuing rise, perhaps these are appropriate themes for the year of the hare.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Emerging Technologies
The IMD Wrap: Quality drivers—the sticks and carrots accelerating the data quality race
Like a Formula One Grand Prix, data management is a race that can be won or lost. And just as each race is part of a larger F1 championship that pays large sums of TV money to the winning team, winning or losing one race can contribute to winning or losing an endgame with much more at stake.
This Week: Clear Street, Hudson River Trading/Google Cloud, Alveo and more
A summary of the latest financial technology news.
Start-up uses ‘Magic’ to democratize access to AI for hedge funds
Spun out of Brevan Howard five years ago, SigTech hopes its new no-code generative AI offering can help smaller buy-siders even the odds with AI models.
JP Morgan touts DLT, tokens for collateral management
Distributed-ledger technology could make moving non-cash collateral more efficient, said managing director Toks Oyebode during an Isda conference on Thursday.
Waters Wrap: The changing definition and perception of blockchain
Anthony says that questions of definition and perception are killing DLT projects in the capital markets—oh, and a lack of proven implementations.
This Week: IPC extends Google Cloud partnership, BlackRock/AIA, DTCC and more
A summary of the latest financial technology news.
Waters Wavelength Podcast: Deutsche Bank’s Boon-Hiong Chan
Boon-Hiong Chan from Deutsche Bank joins the podcast to talk about blockchain interoperability.
SocGen pushes data, analytics use cases for SG Markets
The bank is letting a handful of clients experiment with its proprietary data and models to inform their research.