AFTAs 2018: All the Winners and Why they Won

This year’s AFTAs featured a record number of category winners with a total of 31 awards on offer – 14 end-user categories and 17 vendor categories – and were dominated by Charles Schwab Investment Management, JP Morgan Asset Management and IPC Systems. As expected, the technologies that fall under the artificial intelligence moniker were prominent across a large swath of this year’s entries, while analytics, security, interoperability and time to market (in terms of development and deployment of new applications and functionality) were also in evidence.     

This year’s three individual categories – best third-party technology vendor CEO or CIO, best technology executive (buy side) and best technology executive (sell side) – were won by Alap Shah (Sentieo), James Ferrarelli (Charles Schwab Investment Management) and Beatriz Martín (UBS Investment Bank), respectively. Charles Schwab also won the best IT team category, underlining the outstanding work the firm is currently doing on the technology front.  

This year’s vendor category winners:
Best Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology Initiative – MarketAxess
Best Back-Office Initiative – Cobalt
Best Collaboration Initiative – AxiomSL. Click on this link for an interview with Craig Jose. 
Best Communication Infrastructure Provider – IPC Systems
Best Front-Office Initiative – SS&C Advent
Best Middle-Office Initiative – Indus Valley Partners
Best New Technology Introduced over the Last 12 months (Data and Operations) – UnaVista, London Stock Exchange Group
Best New Technology Introduced over the Last 12 months (Infrastructure) – Axioma
Best New Technology Introduced over the Last 12 months (Trading and Risk) – SS&C Eze
Best Partnership or Alliance – IPC Systems & GreenKey Technologies
Best Third-Party Technology Vendor IT Team – SS&C Advent
Best Trading Infrastructure Provider – IPC Systems
Best Use of the Agile Methodology – Fitch Solutions
Most Innovative Third-Party Technology Vendor (Data and Operations) – Sentieo
Most Innovative Third-Party Technology Vendor (Infrastructure) – Kx
Most Innovative Third-Party Technology Vendor (Trading, Risk and Research) – Visible Alpha

This year’s end-user category winners:
End-user section Best Analytics Initiative – Credit Suisse
Best Cloud Initiative – Bank of America
Best Compliance Initiative – Morgan Stanley
Best Data Management Initiative – JPMorgan Asset Management
Best Global Deployment – JPMorgan Asset Management
Best Infrastructure Initiative – Northern Trust
Best IT Integration Initiative – Schroders
Best IT Team – Charles Schwab Investment Management
Best Mobile Strategy Initiative – Bank of America
Best Reporting Initiative – State Street Corp.
Best Risk Management Initiative – Barclays Investment Bank
Most Cutting-Edge IT Initiative – TIAA
Best Third-Party Technology Vendor CEO or CIO – Sentieo (Alap Shah)
Best Technology Executive, Buy Side – James Ferrarelli (Charles Schwab Investment Management) 
Best Technology Executive, Sell Side – Beatriz Martin (UBS Investment Bank)