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The Cyber Security Lost Cause
There are a number of partial defenses against cyber-attacks, including software and organizational training and preparation, and it is imperative that any business, especially financial services firms, adopt them to avoid becoming an easy target. But as…
Diving In: IBOR Initiatives Drive Culture of Responsibility at UK Buy-Side Firms
The debate surrounding the investment book of record has moved to a new stage, with the release of a working group’s standards, and initiatives by the vendor community toward targeted products. Meanwhile, at two of the UK’s largest investment managers,…
The Art and the Science of SSgA
SSgA weathered the financial crisis thanks in part to its passive investment strategies. With good times returning, though, it has had to evolve with the market and is now looking at advanced beta, while at the same time growing its active investment…
FX Tech Moves Forward Amid Scandals
Rocked by rate-rigging scandals and questions over manipulation of benchmarks, foreign exchange as an asset class has lost its luster for some. Partly as a result of these events, though, technology innovation is still growing for this unique market. By…
Texas-Sized Technology: Utimco CTO Uche Abalogu
Like many of its endowment brethren, $32.6 billion University of Texas Investment Management Company (Utimco), one of the more unique institutional investors in the US, has seen its data requirements and the need for seasoned in-house technical expertise…
June 2014: HFT: No Longer a Whale of a Time
Despite recent buzz, high-frequency trading does not present opportunities to just anyone, as Victor points out that the feeding frenzy has shut out all but the most highly advanced firms.
Michael Shashoua: Basel Didn’t Start the Fire
The Basel Committee’s BCBS 239 risk data aggregation principles, intended to spur a response from major financial firms by January 2016, are actually the final step in a long-running industry development, Michael writes.
Max Bowie: Same Cloud, Different Crowd
With still as many viewpoints on cloud computing as there are implementations, can cost benefits trump security concerns? Max asks whether recent cloud migrations by US regulators Finra and the Securities and Exchange Commission will help overcome these…
James Rundle: Ahead of the Curve
James sees recent pushes by the sell side toward embracing new technologies as a sign that a more intelligent approach is being taken, both by regulators and by banks.
Anthony Malakian: An Offer Technologists Can’t Refuse
Anthony says the business should drive new systems and software implementations. Technologists need to have an ear in the room and serve as advisors, but they shouldn’t be steering the decision-making process.
European Firms Grapple with Algo-Tagging Rules
Although the flagging and tagging of algorithms is only currently required in Germany, under the German HFT Act, it is slowly making its way into Pan-European law. Marina Daras looks at the German rule to see how the algo labeling requirement under Mifir…
SROs Deploy Advanced Tech to Keep Up with Members
Self-regulatory organizations can’t tap into company profits like banks, nor can they rely on taxpayer funding like government regulators. Still, using only membership dues, they must carry out their registration and surveillance functions of national…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Technology Provider of the Year — Markit
The technology provider of the year is traditionally the final category of both the Sell-Side Technology Awards and the Buy-Side Technology Awards, and is the second of only two awards announced at the dinner, decided by the Waters journalists. All of…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Overall Sell-Side Product of the Year — GoldenSource EDM Platform
There is only one company that has managed to trump the mighty Markit when it comes to the best data management product in either the Buy-Side Technology or Sell-Side Technology Awards. That company’s name is GoldenSource, and this is the year that it…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Trading Network — SunGard
Nobody has put their imprint on the two-year-old Sell-Side Technology Awards like SunGard. With so many types of technology on offer, SunGard has won more categories than anyone else—four—including the granddaddy prize of best sell-side technology…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Mobile Initiative — Pershing
For banks, the ability to untether their workforce from their desks has become a key area of focus, especially when it comes to investment advisement. Pershing, through its NetExchange Mobile service, has aggressively rolled out new mobile functionality…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Trading Communication System — IPC
Having produced over half the world’s trading turrets, IPC is synonymous with communication technology in the financial sector. Between Alliance MX and Unigy, its two primary offerings, it claims installation at 2,600 sites with 118,000 users. More than…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Infrastructure Provider to the Sell Side — BT Radianz
The word “infrastructure” can mean different things to different people. But while the specifics can be contested—hardware, software, or something in between—the basic principle of infrastructure is its ability to provide a backbone for any organization…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Credit Risk Product — Numerix
Following a pair of 2013 Sell-Side Technology Awards wins for its CrossAsset credit risk platform, including sell-side product of the year, Numerix is back in the same position one year later—perched on top. But unlike the firm’s continued success in…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Market Risk Product — OpenGamma
Great outcomes are sometimes born of the unexpected. That truism is arguably more pertinent to OpenGamma, and its Platform for Margining offering—this year’s market risk award recipient—than any other category winner in this year’s Sell-Side Technology…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Automated Trading Platform — smartTrade Technologies
As the foreign-exchange (FX) market becomes increasingly automated and sophisticated, smartTrade Technologies has been carving out a niche for itself, while also making inroads into the lucrative fixed-income market. These efforts have led to the vendor…
Credit's IT Crunch
Credit teams face tremendous operational stress on both sides of the Street, while new kinds of data governance schema and advanced analytics are popping up, helping them to cope. A quartet of buy-side and sell-side technologists give their take on where…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Smart Order Routing Product/Tool — SunGard
They say that patience is a virtue and that good things come to those who wait. SunGard has done its time waiting in the wings recently across Waters various awards programs, which makes this win in the best smart order routing (SOR) product category…
Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Sell-Side Analytics Product — AlphaSense
The job of a sell-side analyst can be broken down into two basic parts: first, gathering relevant data, and second, producing insights based on that data. The latter function is largely up to the intelligence and experience of the analyst. The first,…