Waters/Feature
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…
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…
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
No Small Gamble: DR and BCP Post-Sandy
Heightened awareness of catastrophe showed itself as technology providers of all ilk endured the landfall and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Tim Bourgaize Murray asks the industry for a primer in disaster recovery and business continuity, discovering a…
Credit Valuation Challenge
Following the financial crisis and the subsequent influx of new regulation into the capital markets, credit valuation adjustment has seen a significant uptick in interest among financial services firms. For large-scale banks and other entities with…
Fragmentation Down Under
Chi-X Australia’s launch in October 2011 posed the first challenge to the monopoly enjoyed by the Australian Securities Exchange since its inception in 1987. Steve Dew-Jones investigates whether the change in the trading landscape has been positive for…
Investors Demand Cleaner Data, Faster
Investment managers are being asked for more accurate data, in greater detail and with increased regularity. By Steve Dew-Jones
Checks and Balances: Real-Time Reconciliation's IT Challenges
Although most firms tend to perform reconciliations on a same-day basis, these processes are dominated by manual input and prone to errors. Automated, real-time reconciliation has benefits not only for risk management, but also compliance and in…
Private Ties: Technology Rises in Private Equity
Much of private equity rests on old relationships and privity of information, but with limited partnership investments becoming more common for a wider array of investors, and a secondaries market gaining steam, technology is blossoming in unlikely…
Citadel's Sentinel: CIO Tom Miglis Aims to Do the Impossible
Commitment to investors is the thesis at Ken Griffin’s Citadel, but how the firm achieves returns—through technology—is unique for a hedge fund. Steering strategy and growing the firm’s vaunted development capacity, CIO Tom Miglis is trusted with leading…
Algos: Human After All?
Specialist firms are customizing algorithms to the needs of buy-side firms, making them better at reacting to market conditions and, ultimately, more like humans. By Steve Dew-Jones
Nordic Markets' Robot Wars
While the rest of Europe continues to suffer from the ongoing financial crisis, the Nordic markets have been a relative safe haven, benefiting from technological savvy to enjoy steady growth. By Steve Dew-Jones
Building Blocks The Evolving State of Datacenters
While datacenters are an accepted part of the technology landscape, they’re remarkably inflexible and expensive by nature. But new technologies such as modular datacenters and financial extranets are beginning to uproot the traditional buy-and-build…
Cerberus CIO Richard Alexander's A-Team
After four-plus years at Cerberus Capital Management, Richard Alexander has spearheaded projects to tap into the cloud, create a data warehouse, and build a new datacenter. And that’s just the beginning. By Anthony Malakian with photos by Amy Fletcher
Securities Finance's Eastern Promise
Facing lopsided markets in North America and Europe, providers of securities finance tools—whether lending or repurchase agreements—are looking to Asia. The process is not for the impatient, but if firms can get the technology right, moves being made now…
Swaps Overhaul: Ready or Not, Here It comes
A major set of deadlines for the swaps industry passed on October 12. More will be coming soon. However, none seems to have given market participants the jolt they need to have the right platforms in place. By Jake Thomases
High-Frequency Trading: Handle with Care
Steve Dew-Jones unearths disquiet among market participants, following the European Parliament’s unanimous vote in favor of European Commission proposals to restrict the practice of high-frequency trading.
Year of the Dragon: China Opens Up
As Europe wanes, China is on the rise. Through joint ventures with big-name banks, regulatory relaxation and the expansion of technology, the sleeping giant of the East is awake and opening up to foreign and domestic trade finance, but its technology…
Buy-Side Performance and Attribution: How Soon Is Now?
At one point during the recent roundtable discussion in New York, Waters editor Victor Anderson asked panelists what the biggest obstacles are facing asset managers in terms of their ability to produce detailed and frequent performance reports. Based on…
Infrastructure Change Is Good
Upgrading legacy systems is a necessity for buy-side and sell-side firms if they are to maximize revenues and keep up with regulations.
Case-Based Reasoning: Drilling Deeper
After a summer of monumental systems errors, the din of voices begging for imaginative reform in IT risk is steadily growing. Tim Bourgaize Murray searches the frontier of artificial intelligence and infrastructure-dependent industries like energy for…
Janus Capital's George Batejan: The Mechanical Engineer
How many IT executives can say they’ve been behind the wheel of a car at 178 mph? Janus Capital’s head of technology and operations can. And yet, his feats behind the wheel and his strength in the boardroom might have more in common than you think. By…