Waters
James Rundle: Mergers and Inquisitions
After last year’s string of disastrous merger attempts among stock exchanges, it seems that the trading venue giants once more have the bit between their teeth. While there have been some successes, James says there probably won’t be a winding back of…
Anthony Malakian: There’s No ‘Simple’ in Integration
Even in the face of constrained budgets, buy-side firms are still pushing forward on projects to combine their OMSs and EMSs. But, says Anthony, you can’t get the goods without the green.
Michael Shashoua: Basel III’s Fault Lines
The likelihood that the Basel III capital adequacy rules will not take effect in January as planned is not surprising. Michael asks if the delay will allow for extra time to make the rules more effective or is it just a necessary evil to get…
Max Bowie: Forget Lower Latency, Focus on Lower Costs
As it becomes prohibitively expensive to be among the fastest players, Max says firms are realizing that trading isn’t a 100-meter sprint, but more of a “tough mudder,” where speed alone isn’t a sustainable differentiator unless accompanied by strategy.
Open Platform: How to Tackle Digital Investigations
Internal investigations, underpinned by a unified investigations solution, can help financial services firms meet the demands of multiple regulations and frameworks. By Frank Coggrave
Nordic Markets' Robot Wars
While the rest of Europe continues to suffer from the ongoing financial crisis, the Nordic markets have been a relative safe haven, benefiting from technological savvy to enjoy steady growth. By Steve Dew-Jones
Building Blocks The Evolving State of Datacenters
While datacenters are an accepted part of the technology landscape, they’re remarkably inflexible and expensive by nature. But new technologies such as modular datacenters and financial extranets are beginning to uproot the traditional buy-and-build…
Cerberus CIO Richard Alexander's A-Team
After four-plus years at Cerberus Capital Management, Richard Alexander has spearheaded projects to tap into the cloud, create a data warehouse, and build a new datacenter. And that’s just the beginning. By Anthony Malakian with photos by Amy Fletcher
Securities Finance's Eastern Promise
Facing lopsided markets in North America and Europe, providers of securities finance tools—whether lending or repurchase agreements—are looking to Asia. The process is not for the impatient, but if firms can get the technology right, moves being made now…
Swaps Overhaul: Ready or Not, Here It comes
A major set of deadlines for the swaps industry passed on October 12. More will be coming soon. However, none seems to have given market participants the jolt they need to have the right platforms in place. By Jake Thomases
High-Frequency Trading: Handle with Care
Steve Dew-Jones unearths disquiet among market participants, following the European Parliament’s unanimous vote in favor of European Commission proposals to restrict the practice of high-frequency trading.
Year of the Dragon: China Opens Up
As Europe wanes, China is on the rise. Through joint ventures with big-name banks, regulatory relaxation and the expansion of technology, the sleeping giant of the East is awake and opening up to foreign and domestic trade finance, but its technology…
Buy-Side Performance and Attribution: How Soon Is Now?
At one point during the recent roundtable discussion in New York, Waters editor Victor Anderson asked panelists what the biggest obstacles are facing asset managers in terms of their ability to produce detailed and frequent performance reports. Based on…
60 Seconds with ...
Tom Warren, president, UAT, Inc.
November 2012: I Love the Smell of Irony in the Morning
Victor doesn't like change, but acknowledges it is a constant, so as the capital markets evolve, so, too, must technology.
High-Frequency Trading Webcast
Waters gathered leading industry experts for a webcast on October 11, 2012 to discuss what technological and operational initiatives firms are employing in their high-frequency trading strategies
Jake Thomases: Dodd–Frank Under Romney: Weakened But Not Dead
Jake looks at what might happen to the Dodd–Frank Act if Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is successful. For all his threats against it, the financial services industry should be aware that, like Mark Twain, reports of its death have been greatly…
Infrastructure Change Is Good
Upgrading legacy systems is a necessity for buy-side and sell-side firms if they are to maximize revenues and keep up with regulations.
Anthony Malakian: A Postscript on Form PF
Complying with the new Form PF requirement is a burdensome, time-consuming task. But Anthony says that it doesn’t have to be a nightmare, as long as the proper amount of preparation is done.
Michael Shashoua: Channeling the Data Deluge
Considering internet innovation in the context of financial industry data management reveals the scope of reference data’s future. Michael identifies the data explosion and a Swift format change as examples to watch.
Max Bowie: Give a Little and You Get a Little
Despite the potential for manipulation of benchmarks like Libor, Max reports that new data sources designed to provide greater transparency and better pricing are basing their services on contributed data from market participants to give traders an edge…
Open Platform: The Evolution of the Smart Broker
The past couple of years have seen broad structural changes to the world’s financial markets, which have resulted in a permanent and profound shift in the role and operating environment of sell-side firms. James Blackburn discusses how success can no…
Case-Based Reasoning: Drilling Deeper
After a summer of monumental systems errors, the din of voices begging for imaginative reform in IT risk is steadily growing. Tim Bourgaize Murray searches the frontier of artificial intelligence and infrastructure-dependent industries like energy for…
Janus Capital's George Batejan: The Mechanical Engineer
How many IT executives can say they’ve been behind the wheel of a car at 178 mph? Janus Capital’s head of technology and operations can. And yet, his feats behind the wheel and his strength in the boardroom might have more in common than you think. By…