Front-Office Tech
In the world of financial data, context—not content—is the new king
For years, the mantra of the market data world has been ‘content is king.’ But with trading strategies now more dependent on being able to see the big picture, the value of context could quickly overtake the data itself.
Waters Wrap: The next evolution of FDC3
Anthony examines how an open-sourced implementation of the FDC3 standard might change the interoperability landscape.
Reg ATS: SEC 'bowing to public pressure' in reopening proposal
The US markets regulator has extended the comment deadline on a proposal to regulate Treasuries venues after it faced a storm of complaints from the public and financial industry.
Bloomberg’s Aim-Port integration highlights broader industry interop push
The data giant is creating tighter back-end interoperability between its buy-side platforms and using APIs to connect with other third-party providers.
How Russia’s war on Ukraine impacts the global IT industry
Businesses with staff based in Ukraine reckon with an unprecedented juggling act.
Trumid, SGX Asia bonds JV faces uncertain future
Costly delays to launch of exchange sees backers slash headcount
Cboe completes integrations of triple acquisition, turns focus on risk and analytics
In 2020, Cboe Global Markets acquired three businesses in rapid succession. Two years later, the tech stack integrations are complete, and the now-combined entities make up the majority of the exchange’s rebranded Risk and Market Analytics Group.
Finos project seeks fully open-source FDC3 implementations
New initiative aims to provide a free, open-source Electron-based reference implementation of the FDC3 standard.
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.
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.
Waters Wrap: As M&A heats up, integration concerns mount
In the order and execution management space, and in the mid-tier market data platform provider space, there’s been a fair amount of M&A activity in recent years. Anthony looks at why some market observers are worried about this consolidation.
What makes a good PM? New algos separate the skillful from the lucky
$15 billion investment manager Xponance’s web-based platform, Aapryl, helps asset allocators distinguish skillful investment managers from those who are simply lucky.
Shaking things up in the dark: Vendors build new tools for dark-pool trading in Asia-Pacific
New conditional order venues could bring more liquidity and sophistication to dark pool trading in the region.
EU trading venue definition could crush innovation, say bank execs
Firms worry that regulating a broader net of firms could unravel progress in fixed income electronification and raise costs for market participants
Dutch sandbox aims to broker EU consolidated tape
As data quality issues are a main impediment to a viable consolidated tape in Europe, Dutch regulator AFM has helped develop pilots in its Innovation Hub sandbox.
All about the integration: Melding tech is key to getting full value from vendor M&A
Recent tech and data M&A deals aren’t just about acquiring clients or 'bolt-on' solutions, but will yield longer-term gains through granular integration of the vendors’ product lines and technologies.
Where have all the blockchain startups gone?
Building a startup is hard. Building a blockchain startup is harder. More than 10 current and former financial blockchain builders and users detail their experiences of trying to cut their teeth on a once-darling tech, and the lessons they’re still…
Limiting fat-finger errors: Using AI, the ESA and Mosaic aim to make traders more efficient
The European Space Agency is looking to apply space technology and AI to help financial firms better manage risk and find alpha-generating signals. Mosaic Smart Data is now four years into a partnership with the organization and is taking aim at…
LSEG-Tora: A tale of crypto, Asia expansion and (more) integration burdens
When LSEG acquired Refinitiv, it added Eikon, FXall, and AlphaDesk to its portfolio of execution platforms. In February, the exchange also bought Tora, which has a stronghold in Asia, as well as a presence in crypto. While sources say there are clearly…
Waters Wrap: Google’s cap markets play portends a shift in trade tech philosophies
According to Google’s Phil Moyer, the capital markets are shifting from a world where location determined liquidity, to one where accessibility will be the main differentiator for exchanges. Anthony explores what this could mean for trading firms going…
Eliminating the human touch: Examining RBC’s tech infrastructure evolution
The Canadian bank’s tech infrastructure unit is using Kubernetes as it looks to become a “truly end-to-end digital enterprise.”
SEC sets its sights on fixed-income platforms with Reg ATS revamp
US regulator’s mammoth January proposal has something in it for most US trading systems, but Jo suspects it will be the definitions of exchanges that hit the hardest.
Tech vendors rethink risk in era of surging options volume
As options volumes soar, technology vendors are thinking about new risks posed when legacy infrastructure meets increasingly complex markets.
One view to rule them all: Buy side firms seek to unify their data
Asset management firms still struggle to consolidate their data so that it speaks the same language across different business lines. Some new SaaS-based investment management vendors are aiming to solve this.