Waters
November 2013: Another Rod for Our Own backs
Almost seven years ago to the day, when I was still editor of Buy-Side Technology (BST), I wrote in one of my editor's letters that by launching the BST Awards, we had inadvertently made a rod for our own backs ─ while the awards represented a move in…
60 Seconds with Eric Clarke, Orion Advisor Services
Eric Clarke, president and CEO, Orion Advisor Services
Change Management: CIFC's Enrique Smith on IT and Finding God
From the day he walked through the door at CIFC, Enrique Smith was tasked with rebuilding the asset manager’s technology stack. Making big changes isn’t an issue for him, if his personal life is any indication. By Jake Thomases with photos by Amy Fletcher
Analytics Poised to Lead Future Financial Services Change
While analytics tools are pervasive in retail financial services, their growth in capital markets is being driven by a number of factors. With a range technologies now at the disposal of both buy-side and sell-side firms, how will their use evolve? This…
Buy-Side Data Governance Requires a Cultural Change
At a recent Rimes Technologies roundtable, hosted by Waters, senior representatives from the buy side debated the issue of data governance within asset management firms. The problem with implementing effective governance, they said, may be cultural…
Letters from Geneva: EFG International's COO Mark Bagnall
Contemporary private banks are more engaged with capital markets and regulatory authorities than ever before, which some say spells their demise—and yet the need for their services grows, fueled by emerging affluence in new parts of the world. It is a…
Filling the Void: Buy Side Steps into Shadow Banking
As banks back out of the direct lending sector due to capital constraints, buy-side firms are filling the void. While that has provoked growing concerns from regulators, the returns have been solid for hedge funds in particular, but it has also required…
Michael Shashoua: Central Potential
The ongoing and increasing efforts to centralize key reference data elements in single locations could be coupled with other data management innovations now being explored or already underway. Michael identifies these elements and innovations, and…
Anthony Malakian: BST North America: Of Data and People
This year’s Buy-Side North American Summit served up valuable insight into the areas of data management, risk management and the ongoing importance of getting the business on board with IT initiatives.
James Rundle: Patterns of Behavior
While technology has allowed for ever more intelligent market manipulation over recent years, James argues that the intelligent application of emerging methodologies also provides the sell side with the means to effectively and comprehensively beat the…
Tablets on the Trading Floor
We are witnessing a true revolution in how financial services firms do their work. More than two decades after the arrival of PCs, the internet, and electronic trading tools, financial services professionals are looking to be truly mobile.
Max Bowie: Fifty Shades of Grey Areas on Exchange Data Contracts
Exchanges have long bonded clients to strict contracts to monitor usage of their market data. But with few standards around these contracts, Max says these bonds are increasingly becoming devices of torture that not even the Marquis de Sade would enjoy.
Pulling Weeds: Sell Side Confronts Technology Stack Upgrades
Despite the current era in the capital markets as one of tight budgets, firms across the sell side are waking up to the fact that radical changes are needed to their technology stacks. From banks, to brokers and exchanges, questions remain around how…
Constrained by Capital Requirements, Wealth Management IT Struggles to Comply
Wealth managers and private banks, the heirs of aging technologies and manual processes, need to change. Prodded by regulators to deploy more efficient and flexible operating infrastructures, most of them have been left with big gaps to fill and…
Risk Management special report
October 2013 - sponsored by: Eagle Investment Systems, S&P Capital IQ
Edwin Marcial: No More Mr. ICE Guy
Edwin Marcial has been in the technology driver’s seat since before ICE’s meteoric rise. In the early 2000s, he wore the ‘upstart’ label like a badge of honor. But with the purchase of the NYSE, he doesn’t seem so comfortable with it anymore. By Jake…
Is the Low-Latency Race a Zero Sum Game?
Financial services firms will always strive to be faster and more efficient. But increasingly, the cost and risk of this evolutionary drive are proving too great for some. As a result, the ability to measure and monitor latencies across the enterprise…
Max Bowie: New Data Types Need a Big KISS
As market data becomes more voluminous and more complex, Max says providers of new content and the technologies for making sense of it are not only expected to provide clarity from the data, but also guidance on how to get the most out of it so potential…
Michael Shashoua: Focusing on Fatca’s Readiness
The US Fatca foreign tax compliance regulation has received significant recent attention, although not because firms falling under its purview are ready to comply with its requirements. Michael says it’s time to turn that attention into action and…
Anthony Malakian: Getting the Jitters
While poorly defined, jitter is an unavoidable byproduct of low-latency trading. But as Anthony explains, that doesn’t mean that firms need to submit to it.
James Rundle: The Gray Debate Around T2S
The Target2–Securities debate has shifted from asking whether it will happen, to when it will happen. The deadlines seem to be set in stone, but many question whether they’re as solid as they seem. This is a dangerous game, James says, considering the…
October 2013: Proving the Worth of Marginal Gains
Just as cyclists focus on incremental improvements to enhance their performances, Victor points out that marginal gains in the high-frequency trading realm can still reap substantial rewards.
In the Public Interest: Tech Critical as Public Investors Seek More Active Approach
A small but influential set of private equity’s limited partners, many of them quasi-public entities like pension plans and sovereign wealth funds, are considering co-investment strategies with their general partners, or even arranging deals directly…
Tech Questions Loom After Major Exchanges Tie the Knot
A period where no meaningful exchange M&A made it to the finish line has been followed by two announced megadeals that appear likely to be approved. Jake Thomases looks at what IT advantage is gained by such massive mergers, and whether these latest…