Asia
2026 will be the year agent armies awaken
Waters Wrap: Several AI experts have recently said that the next 12 months will see significant progress for agentic AI. Are capital markets firms ready for this shift from generative AI to agents?
AI & data enablement: A looming reality or pipe dream?
Waters Wrap: The promise of AI and agents is massive, and real-world success stories are trickling out. But Anthony notes that firms still need to be hyper-focused on getting the data foundation correct before adding layers.
Data managers worry lack of funding, staffing will hinder AI ambitions
Nearly two-thirds of respondents to WatersTechnology’s data benchmark survey rated the pressure they’re receiving from senior executives and the board as very high. But is the money flowing for talent and data management?
Tokenized assets draw interest, but regulation lags behind
Regulators around the globe are showing increased interest in tokenization, but concretely identifying and implementing guardrails and ground rules for tokenized products has remained slow.
Tokenization & Private Markets: Where mixed data finds a needed partner?
Waters Wrap: Reading the tea leaves, Anthony predicts BlackRock’s Preqin deal, Securitize’s IPO, and numerous public comments from industry leaders are just the tip of the iceberg.
People Moves: Fitch, UBS, Cboe, S&P Dow Jones, ING, Standard Chartered, and more
A look at the past month’s people moves in the capital markets tech and data space.
As outages spread, it’s time to rethink how we view infrastructure technology
Waters Wrap: First AWS and then Azure. And these are only the most recent of significant outages. Anthony says a change is needed when it comes to calculating server migrations.
Asia Awards 2025 winner’s interview: Bloomberg
Bloomberg's win for Best new product or service introduced over the past 12 months in 2025’s WatersTechnology Asia Awards.
Bank of America’s GenAI plan wants to avoid ‘sins of the past’
Waters Wrap: Anthony spoke with BofA’s head of platform and head of technology to discuss how the bank is exploring new forms of AI while reducing tech debt and growing interoperability.
The TNS–Radianz deal hints at underlying issues in trader voice
Waters Wrap: As part of its cost-cutting program, BT shipped its Radianz unit to TNS, but the deal didn’t include its Trading & Command trader voice property. Anthony finds that interesting.
FactSet adds MarketAxess CP+ data, LSEG files dismissal, BNY’s new AI lab, and more
The Waters Cooler: Synthetic data for LLM training, Dora confusion, GenAI’s ‘blind spots,’ and our 9/11 remembrance in this week’s news roundup.
Asia Awards 2025 winner’s interview—S&P Global Market Intelligence
S&P Global Market Intelligence's Jatan Pathak discusses the firm’s recent success in the WatersTechnology Asia Awards 2025.
Citi gears up for EU T+1 climb
The bank has a dedicated team examining what it needs to do to ensure a successful transition to T+1 in Europe.
Texting trials, or ‘The case of the costly Cubans’
The IMD Wrap: This week, featuring my colleagues as guest stars, I put myself in the shoes of a communications compliance officer at an asset manager, and look at what happens when messages go awry.
The industry is not ready for what’s around the corner
Waters Wrap: As cloud usage and AI capabilities continue to evolve (and costs go up), Anthony believes the fintech industry may face a similar predicament to the one facing journalism today.
The Model Context Protocol brings agents to life—along with risk
Waters Wrap: From chat to infrastructure modernization, Anthropic’s MCP offers a ‘bridge’ to agentic AI, but its early days may prove disillusioning.
NZX outlines plans to bolster fast-growing dark pool
Since launching one year ago, NZX’s dark book has 5.5% of the exchange’s total turnover, and price improvement per trade on average is 11 basis points, but the exchange has more in store.
Asic probe piles pressure on ASX to deliver Chess replacement
But market insiders think late intervention by regulators could even slow down implementation.
Numerix strikes Hundsun deal as China pushes domestic tech
The homegrown tech initiative—‘Xinchuang’—is a new challenge for foreign vendors.
Deutsche Bank casts a cautious eye towards agentic AI
“An AI worker is something that is really buildable,” says innovation and AI head
LLMs are making alternative datasets ‘fuzzy’
Waters Wrap: While large language models and generative/agentic AI offer an endless amount of opportunity, they are also exposing unforeseen risks and challenges.