Finding the Best During a Busy Week

I'll be honest, this week is one of the busiest of the entire year for us at WatersTechnology as we prepare for the North American Trading Architecture Summit and the Sell-Side Technology Awards.

As if running two events on the same day wasn't challenging enough, we also have to make sure the May issue of Waters ships on time. To say everyone in the office feels a little bit under the gun would be a bit of an understatement.

But listen, I don't expect your pity. No one has it easy. Please put down the tiny violin you're softly playing for me.

With all that being said, we still managed to put together some great content for Sell-Side Technology this week.

Best of the Best

I had the chance to speak to Phil Gilligan at Deutsche Bank about the blockchain movement, and the German bank's goals in the space. Conversations with high-level bank executives around blockchain are always tough, as they're timid about revealing too much. Still, I feel Gilligan did a good job of giving a bit of insight into where the firm is looking.

Spanish stock exchange Bolsas y Mercados Espanoles (BME) connected to BSO Networks Solution platform. Our newest European staff writer, Aggelos Andreou, chatted with Jose Parga, CEO of Visual Trader, a subsidiary of BME, about the deal. While news like this might seem small, it's partnerships like these that add up to make or break an exchange.

Finally, Calypso Technology was acquired by private equity firms Bridgepoint and Summit Partners. I got the chance to talk to Calypso president Pascal Xatart and Bridgepoint partner Xavier Robert about the deal. Xatart, in particular, was adamant the new ownership won't mean significant change for the company, except an increased focus on technology, which should be interesting.

That's it for now. I'll be at the North American Trading Architecture Summit and Sell-Side Technology Awards on Thursday, so be sure to come up and say hello. 

This week on the Waters Wavelength podcast ─ Episode 13: TruMid, Innovation Labs

If you haven't already, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here. Also, check out our SoundCloud account here.

Food for Thought

• I'm heading down to Miami for SIFMA Ops 2016. If you'll be there, feel free to reach out to me about possibly setting up a meeting. You can drop me an email at dan.defrancesco@incisiviemedia.com.

• Waters Rankings 2016 are open. We are accepting entries for our only awards that are voted on exclusively by the readers. The deadline for entries is April 29. For more information, click here. 

• In case you missed it, give a read to my latest feature on open-source software. You can read it here.