Welcome to 2015

You may have noticed, over the Christmas period, that Waters has been publishing its 2014 summary articles, picking out the best content of the year. Those can be found under the analysis section of the website, for interested parties.

But that was the year that was. With 2015 now in full swing, there are a number of areas for financial-market professionals to keep their eyes on.

If 2013 was the year of regulation, 2014 will surely be known for perhaps two areas ─ reformation and consolidation. This applies to the shrinking traditional vendor landscape, which picked up a furious pace in December and continued right to the end with Orc bringing Tbricks into the fold, as well as the broad, sweeping changes that have taken place in derivatives trading over the year.

But what does 2015 hold in store? Judging by the comments at our sell-side conference at the tail end of last year, and from the general interest from all sectors, it looks like 2015 will be the year of fintech.

Granted, the start-up scene is something of a created phenomenon, with the UK government in particular keen to jump on board, while sections of the media are firmly gripping it with both hands, attempting to carve out their coverage as dominant.

However, there's no denying that a real fintech evolution is underway, particularly in London. Accelerators and incubators are popping up all over the world, and the levels of investment are accelerating at tremendous rates.

There are too many fintech events to list them all in the small space accorded to this column, but needless to say, fintech is the hot topic of the moment, and anyone looking to dip their toes in the water won't find themselves short of places to go.

There are, of course, other areas of interest, such as further consolidation in the vendor space, the building-out of European regulation and continued tussling over substituted compliance between regions, but for now, it's nice to highlight the good-news story in a sector so often known for the reverse.