Breaking Down the Doors

Much chatter abounds regarding China Connect, if my inbox is any indication. The program, which will link the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges, is part of a long-awaited process of liberalization when it comes to Chinese capital markets, allowing foreign investors to trade mainland stocks, and mainland investors to trade in Hong Kong.

This has been open to the largest of the large sell-side banks for a while, of course, those with the resources and wherewithal to acquire QFII licenses and form joint ventures with Chinese brokerage houses. But this represents a far wider opening of the market, with appropriate technological ramifications.

Fidessa announced that it has signed up five brokers for its China Connect-related services this week, and others have been working away at getting connectivity and systems tested in the meantime. It's not a full opening of the cage door, of course, but it's certainly a step towards it, and the implications of other exchanges joining in the future are interesting.

BST Awards
It's that time of the year again when I mix a little buy side with sell side in my editor's letter, and flag up the opening of the eighth annual Buy-Side Technology Awards. These awards are designed to recognize excellence in the third-party vendor sector, for those firms supplying buy-side organizations with technology. You can find out more information here, and the call-for-entry period is now open.

Also of interest is a move by MillenniumIT, the technology provision arm of the London Stock Exchange Group, in preparing its algorithmic alert library. Based on its experiences with implementing Millennium Surveillance at exchanges and regulators, the group has defined a universe of around 50 alerts for suspicious trading activity at the moment, and it will grow in the future. It's free of charge to Millennium clients, and this idea of pooling knowledge is a decent one. Read our story on it here for more information.