The Top 10 Features of 2015: A Year in Headlines, Part Two

Read part one of the series here.

5: Mifid II : The Quest for Clarity

While there were numerous regulatory concerns for the capital markets throughout 2015, MiFID II was without doubt the greatest of them all. Originally due to land in January 2016, the legislation has now been all but confirmed for the following year, giving many firms that had originally struggled to prepare the breathing space required. Marina Daras took a deeper look into what MiFID II means for the industry as regulators push for greater levels of transparency.

4: Rise of the CISO

Cyber security has one of the hottest topics of the year in 2015, so much so that Waters dedicated the entire May issue to the subject. While C-level support for new technologies can vary across industry participants, no-one is taking cyber security lightly, as evidenced by the growing prominence of the chief information security officer. Dan DeFrancesco spoke to a number of CISOs and found that despite the growing threat of cyber-attacks, not all firms think the role is a necessary one.

3: The Future of FX: Too Many Cooks?

The foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, with daily volumes of $5 trillion, and electronic trading now accounts for over half of the figure, driving the development of the market in terms of new entrants, tighter spreads, and drawing the attention of regulators, particularly toward OTC trading. While FX may be following in the footsteps of the equities market in some respects, the proliferation of trading venues is only set to increase as the search for liquidity continues.

2: Miscommunication: Bloomberg, Symphony and the Messaging Fight

The most recent challenger to Bloomberg's messaging throne, Symphony Communication Services, fully launched in September with the backing of a number of Wall Street heavyweights. Anthony Malakian examines how the messaging space has evolved and whether Symphony ─ or Bloomberg ─ have cause for concern, especially as regulators take an increasing interest in the space.

1: Off the Chain: The Blockchain Battle

If there was one inescapable word in the capital markets' technology circles this year, it was Blockchain. Tim Bourgaize Murray has covered disruptive ledger technology extensively throughout 2015 and found that despite all the hype, understanding and application of Blockchain varies wildly across the industry from numerous startups and bank-backed initiatives to a continued, albeit somewhat misplaced, distrust in an as-yet-unproven technology that cannot shake off its initial associations with Bitcoin. Several practical challenges still persist before adoption of Blockchain can be considered viable, but incremental progress is the way forward for what some consider to be one of the most disruptive technologies to hit the industry for years.