Waters
The UX Factor: Visual Design Meets Finance
Financial applications once eschewed Marshall McLuhan’s famous argument—that the “medium is the massage”—by prioritizing function and cost over the beauty of the interface. No longer, experts say. Tim Bourgaize Murray reports on a design revolution that…
Optimize: The Whens and the Whys
Collateral optimization systems are coming into vogue as a means of handling some of the obligations of Dodd–Frank and EMIR. In part one of a two-part feature, Jake Thomases examines exactly what about the current market is prompting the adoption, and…
Art and Science: Credit Valuation Challenge II
Although the technical requirements for calculating credit valuation adjustment can be significant, other factors also need to be considered in order for an efficient counterparty risk management operation to be established. The second part of this…
James Rundle: Hail to the King
The NYSE–ICE tie-up creates a derivatives leviathan in global markets, but raises questions about the future of the European landscape, James says.
Anthony Malakian: The Year in Quotes, 2012
Twelve months and 12 end-user techies profiled. Anthony looks back at some of the more interesting and entertaining quotes from last year.
Michael Shashoua: Halfway Down the LEI Road
The start of 2013 finds some of the preparation for legal entity identifier implementation complete, but much left to do. Michael says the necessary structures are in place, but now the real work begins
Max Bowie: Unlucky ’13: Expect the Unexpected
With cautious optimism—and uncertainty—about the outlook for global economies and the financial markets in particular, Max taps a range of opinions on the prospects for the market data industry this year, and some of the perhaps unexpected issues that…
Start Me Up: Startups Shake Up the Field
Nearly everyone in the financial technology arena knows someone who’s worked with an entrepreneur in the early stages of a business. Building something from the ground up into a profitable enterprise is a common dream. Jake Thomases takes a look at four…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: The Winners and Why They Won
The American Financial Technology Awards, now in their eighth year, seek to acknowledge the best IT projects, driven by buy-side and sell-side end-users themselves. Waters congratulates this year’s winners.
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best IT Team ─ BNY Mellon
The American Financial Technology Award for best IT team is one of the most coveted of all 14 awards, and was announced at the very end of the ceremony on Dec. 3 at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan’s Times Square.
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Sell-Side Technology Executive — Steve Ellis, Wells Fargo
In late 2008, Wells Fargo’s executive vice president, group head of wholesale services, was dragged, reluctantly, into managing the merger of the Wells Fargo and Wachovia technology stacks following the purchase of the failed Charlotte-headquartered bank…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Buy-Side Technology Executive — Richard Alexander, Cerberus Capital Management
Richard Alexander’s father, Ray, ran a small credit union whose members were technology company employees. It is not much of a surprise, then, that years later, Richard Alexander would find himself at the top of the financial IT food chain.
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Mobile-Strategy Initiative — Bank of America Merrill Lynch
This new category for the 2012 American Financial Technology Awards reflects the world’s increasing use of mobile devices like Apple iPads and iPhones, and BlackBerrys to perform financial functions previously reserved for the desktop computer. Bank of…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best IT Integration Initiative ─ Wells Fargo
Most corporate acquisitions are done for one of two reasons: The two companies are very similar and the bigger one wants to eliminate a competitor, or the two are very different and the bigger one wants to diversify. Wells Fargo’s overnight purchase of…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best OTC Trading Initiative — Citi
The debut of Citi’s transparency reporting portal couldn’t have been timed better, right down to the day. On June 11, 2012, the bank rolled out the Client Money Segregation portal, giving clients insight into where their segregated funds are being kept,…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Most Cutting-Edge IT Initiative ─ ITG
Given the complexity and scope of the data challenges currently facing capital markets firms, it seems appropriate that ITG walked away with the most cutting-edge IT initiative category in this year’s American Financial Technology Awards thanks to its…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Infrastructure Initiative — ConvergEx Group
There’s a change happening in the world of FIX connectivity—in recent years, FIX costs have exploded, while at the same time, broker-dealers have had to adjust to life in a tough market as well look to cut costs. As firms seek savings, FIX connectivity…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Cloud Initiative — CBRE Clarion Securities
In early 2011, real estate investment management firm CBRE, an affiliate of CB Richard Ellis Group, acquired ING Clarion Real Estate Securities, a unit of ING Group that manages globally listed real estate securities for separate accounts and mutual…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Data Management Initiative — MetLife
It goes without saying that data quality is a vital component in any data management overhaul that a firm employs. It is tough for any organization to maintain a strong and consistent data quality culture if there are sprawling databases and disparate…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Cross-Asset Trading Initiative — Bank of America Merrill Lynch
It is becoming less acceptable for trading platforms to lack multi-asset capability. Another kind of consolidation was already on Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s (BAML’s) mind in mid-2010, when it strove to provide a fully integrated client experience…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Reporting Initiative — Northern Trust
Often, the best IT implementations are paradoxically those that reduce users’ reliance on IT. When Northern Trust went looking to replace its legacy enterprise reporting system, this was exactly what the firm was trying to achieve. As Dan Houlihan, head…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Risk Analytics Initiative — LCH.Clearnet
Given risk management’s elevation in recent years to arguably the single most critical business process for buy-side and sell-side firms to monitor outside of specific alpha-seeking functions, it is hardly surprising to note the slew of risk management…
American Financial Technology Awards 2012: Best Global Deployment — ITG
Most technology implementations within financial services firms, regardless of how trivial they might appear at the outset, are not for the fainthearted—they have a knack for turning out to be far more complicated than anticipated, extending deadlines…
Empire Builder: Blackstone CTO William Murphy
Rising from an unlikely introduction to technology, Blackstone Group’s CTO Bill Murphy explains how the firm’s infrastructure, new products, and a fresh mindset are supporting its rapid diversification. By Tim Bourgaize Murray with photos by Amy Fletcher