Innovation
Reflections on a decade of post trade
After years of neglect, back-office processes are finally getting attention. Wei-Shen wonders how much innovation can truly take place in the back office and how processes will actually improve.
New study shows mainframes still popular despite the rise of cloud—though times are changing…fast
A whitepaper from the DTCC and Celent finds that 67% of buy- and sell-side firms hope to be “cloud first” by 2024, but mainframes still part of the equation.
Advancements in NLP bring focus to document insight
Vendors are looking to provide AI models to help financial professionals get more value out of unstructured data sources.
Waters Wrap: Fintech funding—follow the money
As funding for startups and young companies dries up due to inflation and rising interest rates, Anthony looks at some of the vendors that have received monetary infusions this year to see if there are any patterns to be gleaned.
Amid macro storm clouds, a silver linings playbook for fintech
Banks and VCs believe inflation and rising interest rates will result in winners as well as losers
Banks may spend ‘billions’ to stop quantum hacking threat
Quantum-proof algo standards are nearing completion, but enhanced cryptography won’t come cheap.
How Liontrust AM reimagined tech vendor partnerships to retain IP post-Majedie acquisition
Buying off the shelf can be cheaper and faster than building in-house, but giving up IP rights to critical platforms is a trade-off some firms aren’t willing to make.
People Moves: Tradeweb, Ion, Burton-Taylor, HKEx, and more
A look at some of the key people moves from this week, including Thomas Pluta (pictured), who joins Tradeweb as president-elect.
Banks prepare to unleash FX swap bots
BNP Paribas, JP Morgan build execution algos to plug into platforms—but swaps liquidity needs to catch up first
SocGen to move datacenter footprint in Americas to AWS, Azure
SG Americas plans to significantly reduce and even close datacenters in the US as a result of moving to the cloud and defining controls around cloud and data governance.
Project Octopus becomes Octaura, killing BofA’s Instinct platform and Citi Velocity trading protocol
Backed by the banks in the Project Octopus consortium, the new, independent company will launch this year with a focus on new trading protocols and integrated data analytics. At the same time, Bank of America will sunset its single-dealer loan trading…
If it ain’t broke, break it: Back-office tech reform may benefit front-office returns
Better data visibility across multiple systems could provide a driver for technological change in the world of post-trade.
Sell side ramps up outsourced trading desk services for still-skeptical buy side
A raft of new entrants are offering outsourced trading services to buy-side firms, anticipating a wave of takeup among larger asset managers, driven by cost and coverage needs. But are they aiming too high?
Broadridge’s Gokey eyes interop to connect back-office data for front-office needs
The vendor is leveraging its back office capabilities and platforms to integrate Itiviti, and bolster its LTX bond trading platform.
Development bank aims for better settlement with blockchain prototype
R3 is among the companies working with the regional bank on a proof-of-concept to bring efficiencies to cross-border securities transactions.
Court thwarts exchanges’ petition to head off market data threat
The DC appeals court has denied a petition to void a rule that seeks to bring competition to the US consolidated tapes.
Is an EMS an exchange? Vendors alarmed by scope of Reg ATS amendments
Some industry participants are worried that proposed amendments to Regulation ATS could see the trading perimeter expanded to include a wide array of messaging systems.
Natixis: Interop is a buy-side “necessity”
The asset manager is building front-office interoperability based on a canonical data model.
Spot the difference: Why crypto data can’t be treated like traditional market data
As institutional participation in cryptocurrency markets increases, traditional data vendors and new specialist crypto data providers are taking different approaches to supplying necessary data to financial firms.
Waters Wrap: The next evolution of FDC3
Anthony examines how an open-sourced implementation of the FDC3 standard might change the interoperability landscape.
Waters Wrap: Snowflake’s cloud plans and what they mean for the interop movement
Upstart Snowflake hopes to be the global data network that brings true interoperability between data and trading platforms across the capital markets. Anthony says it’s an audacious plan, but one worth watching.
Collaborating to innovate: Franklin Templeton builds out internal/external fintech programs
The asset management giant is strengthening its investment management and data science initiative to streamline innovation within the firm.
Waters Wrap: Blockchain & Boca—A sad story
Anthony takes issue with how blockchain is still being covered in the media and at industry conferences. What else is new?
UBS turns to containerization for its cloud dev ops, security strategies
As the bank has moved 33% of workloads to both public and private clouds, UBS spent the past 12 months building out its enterprise security controls as part of its containerization efforts.