Opinion
The Big Bang—a complex 40-year data journey yet to reach its destination
In this guest column, Finbourne’s Gus Sekhon reflects on the deregulation and privatization of the London Stock Exchange and what it meant for data.
How long will AI tokenomics matter?
The Waters Wrap: Banks and asset managers are rethinking the economics of AI. Wei-Shen examines how firms will manage token costs.
If everyone can be an expert in everything, is anyone an expert in anything?
The Waters Wrap: AI has promised to democratize knowledge and skillsets. Reb wonders whether that’s an entirely good thing.
Mind the stack: the foundation markets run on
Exchange data is an underappreciated component of the AI era, writes Jeff Kimsey.
Trading firms rethink infrastructure proximity as Asia’s FX markets grow
Firms that treat local infrastructure as core to how they serve clients in Asia stand to benefit from Singapore’s growing role as an FX hub, writes Judy Goh.
The impact of market data and alt data converging
The Waters Wrap: As firms combine traditional data sources with proprietary research and alt-data signals, Max has some questions about where the data market is headed.
Agents are invading. Will it stick?
The Waters Wrap: Agentic features are becoming commonplace in the workflow tools of capital markets. Nyela wonders if the trend is sustainable.
Waters Wavelength Ep. 358: Tradeweb’s Chris Bruner
This week, Tradeweb’s chief product officer joins the podcast to discuss fixed income, prediction markets, agentic AI, and overnight trading.
Can AI beat exceptions out of the back office?
The Waters Wrap: Agentic AI can help operations teams tackle exceptions. But first, they need to get their house in order, writes Wei-Shen.
Photonics: time for trading tech to see the light
The Waters Wrap: While the sector is dominated by Big Tech, photonic-based solutions could one day help trading firms take more control over their AI ambitions, Anthony says.
Banks should not count humans out in adoption of agentic AI
It will take time to strike a balance between humans and AI agents, and it may start in post-trade, Diederik Geeraerts writes.
Waters Wavelength Ep. 357: Off topic, on record
This week, Tony, Reb, and Shen talk about non-tech things.
The market’s most valuable asset?
DTCC’s Tim Lind writes that using data effectively can provide the intelligence needed to improve investment performance, reduce risk, and inform strategic decision‑making.
Navigating the MarketAxess ICE storm
The Waters Wrap: Most of the discussion surrounding ICE’s MarketAxess buy has focused more on benefits for the front office than the data possibilities.
Reasoning agents enter the onboarding process for banks
The next phase for banks in the KYC/AML space will be using agentic AI to replace sequential, siloed checks with orchestrator agents, IBM technologists say.
On vibe coding, no/low-code dev, and some potential misconceptions
The Waters Wrap: Is no-code/low-code even a thing anymore? Not really. But the companies that championed those terms just a few years ago tell Anthony they aren’t going anywhere.
Managing regulatory transformation through a Dual-Flow Operating Model
Darshan Shah presents an operating model that enables project teams to implement complex regulatory programs, preserve business continuity, reduce risk, and prepare enterprise platforms for regulatory change.
The complexity of using AI to tackle compliance
The Waters Wrap: Law firms are introducing new tools to help with regulatory compliance, potentially encroaching on regtech vendors’ territory, Wei-Shen writes.
Waters Wavelength Ep. 356: When software fails
This week, Tony and Shen discuss a recent trade surveillance software failure.
Is this tokenization’s golden opportunity?
The Waters Wrap: More initiatives around tokenizing assets are coming to fruition. Nyela asks: Is the market ready?
The danger of prediction markets is precisely how useful they are
The Waters Wrap: Prediction markets may seem like a gamer’s paradise or a honey pot for those looking to corrupt betting. But they have another use in forming institutional prices. At least, that’s what Max Bowie is putting his money on.