The Singapore Sling, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Conferences

I often tell people to ignore the part of my job title that says "sell side." Not that I don't cover the sell side because, you know, I do. Most of my contacts on the end-user spectrum are on that side of the Street, and given my primary beat of regulation and market structure, that's understandable. But I often find myself pulled away to the buy side, particularly this month with my dual case-study feature and the upcoming inaugural Buy-Side Technology Asian Summit being held this week in Singapore.

As this is the sell-side column, though, I wanted to focus on the event the buy-side one is paired with, which is our second Asia-Pacific Trading Architecture Summit, being held on Wednesday here in Singapore, also.

Often, when it comes to this region, I find that people are almost a little lackadaisical when it comes to technology developments. That's not to say that the region is disinterested or somehow backward ─ it isn't, of course ─ just that APAC institutions tend to have a more wait-and-see inclination than their counterparts in Europe and North America. Possibly that's because the region hasn't had to deal with the same level of macro-regulatory reform as the Western markets have with the various Dodd-Franks, Markets in Financial Instruments Directives and what have you, but that is slowly changing.

Moreover, the common concern is always cost, and the issues that dealing with legacy technology and architectures presents. The second one is certainly the trickier ─ anyone can upgrade a piece of software, but if the lattice supporting it is riddled with short-term fixes, it becomes a house of cards. One that will shatter if disturbed.

Other than that, APAC has also had its own issues with cloud and mobile enablement, after specific and (surprisingly rapid) rulings from some home authorities on the matter.

Either way, sell-side technology in the region is a fascinating area of discussion. If you're in town, stop by. If you're interested in the buy-side perspective, come for the second day. Perhaps inevitably, we'll be discussing the Investment Book of Record, and I'm actually quite interested to see what kind of response that gets over here.

More information on APTAS and BST Asia can be found by following the links. I'll be chairing both events and moderating several panels, so if you see me on the day, say hello. Or better yet, see me for the cocktail hour (or three) after.