Waters/Feature
The Critical Asset: Buy Side Embraces Data Governance, but Challenges Remain
While the concept of data governance has been around for several years, regulation is providing a fresh impetus to convert theory into practice. However, changing the perception of data and established cultures in buy-side organizations is harder than it…
Fits and Start(up)s: Chasing New Fintech Innovation Models
Incubators, accelerators, and mentoring programs have gained favor in recent years as start-up financial technology providers look to partner with clients—and potential strategic investors—earlier in the launch process, and global financial centers seek…
Israel: Land of Startups
Israel is currently one of the hottest places for high-tech companies to establish themselves, with the country featuring one of the highest numbers of start-ups per capita in the world. With such a fertile ground for developing cutting-edge technologies…
The Acquisition: Japan Exchange Group CIO Yoshinori Suzuki
Yoshinori Suzuki, CIO of Japan Exchange Group, has overseen a massive technology overhaul during his tenure at the organization—but it’s an overhaul that he never expected to be in charge of just a few years ago. By Anthony Malakian, with photos by James…
In Spain, Technology Charts 'Bad Bank' Path
The European ‘bad bank’ model has become one of global finance’s more ubiquitous contrivances, addressing a scourge of toxic assets that more and more markets find themselves coping with. Tim Bourgaize Murray examines the Spanish real estate market—and…
A Collateral Opportunity?
Since the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the spotlight has settled on buy-side and sell-side firms’ collateral management disciplines. Risk mitigation, protection of assets, measuring counterparty exposure, and secured funding are some of…
The Cyber Security Lost Cause
There are a number of partial defenses against cyber-attacks, including software and organizational training and preparation, and it is imperative that any business, especially financial services firms, adopt them to avoid becoming an easy target. But as…
Diving In: IBOR Initiatives Drive Culture of Responsibility at UK Buy-Side Firms
The debate surrounding the investment book of record has moved to a new stage, with the release of a working group’s standards, and initiatives by the vendor community toward targeted products. Meanwhile, at two of the UK’s largest investment managers,…
The Art and the Science of SSgA
SSgA weathered the financial crisis thanks in part to its passive investment strategies. With good times returning, though, it has had to evolve with the market and is now looking at advanced beta, while at the same time growing its active investment…
FX Tech Moves Forward Amid Scandals
Rocked by rate-rigging scandals and questions over manipulation of benchmarks, foreign exchange as an asset class has lost its luster for some. Partly as a result of these events, though, technology innovation is still growing for this unique market. By…
Texas-Sized Technology: Utimco CTO Uche Abalogu
Like many of its endowment brethren, $32.6 billion University of Texas Investment Management Company (Utimco), one of the more unique institutional investors in the US, has seen its data requirements and the need for seasoned in-house technical expertise…
European Firms Grapple with Algo-Tagging Rules
Although the flagging and tagging of algorithms is only currently required in Germany, under the German HFT Act, it is slowly making its way into Pan-European law. Marina Daras looks at the German rule to see how the algo labeling requirement under Mifir…
SROs Deploy Advanced Tech to Keep Up with Members
Self-regulatory organizations can’t tap into company profits like banks, nor can they rely on taxpayer funding like government regulators. Still, using only membership dues, they must carry out their registration and surveillance functions of national…
Credit's IT Crunch
Credit teams face tremendous operational stress on both sides of the Street, while new kinds of data governance schema and advanced analytics are popping up, helping them to cope. A quartet of buy-side and sell-side technologists give their take on where…
FBR CIO Tim Wood Cuts Costs, Tech to Grow Profits
Arlington, Va.-based investment bank FBR found itself in freefall during and after the mortgage crisis. CIO Tim Wood’s job description changed dramatically, from builder to cost-cutter. By putting his business skills to the test, he made dramatic but…
Investment Banking Platforms Set to Become More Social
As regulations continue to reshape the global financial marketplace, single-dealer platforms are being forced to rethink how they operate. Influenced by ever-increasing consumer use of technology and social media, and determined to put their clients in…
European Derivatives Reporting Continues to Cause Headaches
Since February 12, parties to derivative trades in Europe have been obliged to report transactions to designated repositories. But with an unsteady launch, complaints about tough regulatory deadlines, and varying quality in the data reported, buy-side…
Simulation Tools Key as Managed Futures Funds, CTAs Optimize Execution
A potent mixture of in-house, futures commission merchant, and boutique brokerage-provided algorithms now play a part in commodity trading advisors’ and managed futures funds’ trading activities. Tim Bourgaize Murray examines why a new cadre of…
Challenge Accepté: AXA Investment Managers CIO Hervé Morel-Derocle
During one of his frequent trips to London, AXA Investment Managers CIO Hervé Morel-Derocle spoke to Marina Daras about the bold moves he made when faced with the looming obsolescence of the firm’s desktops.
The Rise and Rise of HTML5
Thanks to enhanced browser functionality and an explosion of open-source tools, HTML5 is supplanting Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash as the go-to language for trading application development and mobile functionality. While roadblocks still exist,…
Herd Instinct: Financial Firms Combat Information Overload with Social Networking Tech
As financial firms deal with ever-increasing levels of information, some are starting to look at a fusion of different technologies to harness true value from the noise. As innovative uses of concepts that have traditionally been associated with social…
BMO Launches an IBOR
A merger of three investment managers had just been announced when BMO Global Asset Management made the decision to revamp its portfolio accounting procedures. What followed was a near three-year project that made the company the proud owner of an IBOR,…
Emerging Technologies: The Risks and the Rewards
In the final part of this five-part feature on emerging technologies in the capital markets, we look at the risks and the rewards associated with adopting and implementing such technologies, and how to go about striking that delicate balance between…
Emerging Technologies and Avoiding Analysis Paralysis
In part four of this five-part series on emerging technologies in the capital markets, based on a recent virtual roundtable, we look at the challenges facing CIOs when it comes to evaluating emerging technologies, and typically how they go about making…