Buy-Side Technology/Special
The drive to kill operational latency
Last month Omgeo hosted a roundtable in London where the role of the back office in increasing efficiencies across multiple markets and asset classes came under the spotlight. Participants agreed that even though back-office staff remain the unsung…
Anticipation grows for increased buy-side use of equity derivatives
Over-the-counter equity derivatives markets are growing at a slower rate than their credit derivative brethren, but the steady expansion of these instruments, combined with their risk characteristics and the changing requirements of pension funds and…
Credit: the long and short of it
Credit-based hedge funds were particularly hard hit by the US sub-prime fiasco and the ensuing liquidity crisis, most notably in the CDO market. But as Matthew Atwood discovered during Credit magazine's roundtable held last November, credit still has an…
Reliance on brokers for equity trading on the rise
Despite the proliferation of electronic and self-directed trading tools across the investment management universe, a new industry report shows that issues such as increasing market volatility, changing commission arrangements, and fragmented liquidity…
Quantifying value in a qualitative world Assessing the true value that asset management firms derive from their IT investments is usually a subjective - and hence contentious - exercise. But that doesn't mean it cannot be done, and done accurately and ob
Despite the proliferation of electronic and self-directed trading tools across the investment management universe, a new industry report shows that issues such as increasing market volatility, changing commission arrangements, and fragmented liquidity…
TCA products crowd the market in the wake of Mifid
When Mifid came into force at the beginning of last month, two of the largest service providers in the industry unveiled transaction cost analysis (TCA) products to assist firms in meeting the directive's requirements for best execution.
Buy-side alpha, leverage strategies in flux
According to a new Tabb Group survey, Alternative investments 2007: The quest for alpha , traditional buy-side firms and hedge fund managers are pursuing more active, globally oriented alpha-generation initiatives, while simultaneously shifting their…
Canadian buy side to expand use of trading technologies
Buy-side traders in Canada are expected to make significantly greater use of electronic trading, algorithmic and dark liquidity tools through next year (2008) as the country's equity markets move from dual to multiple structures.
Trade processing costs press the need for buy-side aggregation tools
Stewart Eisenhart analyses a recent Riskmetrics report suggesting the techniques and technologies that buy-side firms could deploy in order to potentially avert future valuation crises such as the current sub-prime mortgage melt down unfolding in the US.
No silver bullet for sub-prime valuation challenge
The dust is yet to settle in the wake of the US sub-prime mortgage fiasco and already the analysts are hard at work suggesting techniques and technologies designed to avert such a crisis in the future. But as RiskMetrics' Christopher Finger explains in a…
Derivatives altering buy-side portfolio system requirements
The market for buy-side portfolio systems is expected to total $2.67 billion by 2010 as Asian and European-based buy-side firms' operational and technology requirements increase, and as managers generally extend their use of over-the-counter derivative…
Fund administrators move to the middle office
The continued move by hedge funds into the OTC derivatives market has placed significant pressure on their back offices in terms of processing, scalability, and general automation. This has led to a number of funds outsourcing their fund administration,…
Brokers under pressure to provide more multi-asset tools
Demand for integrated, multi-asset trading front-ends is growing on the buy side as asset managers seek returns from an increasingly wide range of asset classes. The brokers who best address this need stand to gain a significant advantage over their…
Spanish alternative industry primed for boom
Stewart Eisenhart looks at the recently published Tabb Group report, Cross-asset trading systems: Controlling the trader’s desktop, and finds the broker community under increasing pressure to provide their buy-side clients with more integrated, multi…
Pyxis clients prefer mobile technology for business continuity
Asset management clients of mobile technology developer Pyxis Mobile have indicated their preference for hand-held devices rather than laptop computers in disaster recovery and business continuity scenarios in a recent survey conducted by the vendor.
European equity markets ripe for electronic advance
Stewart Eisenhart covers the recently published Tabb Group report, European institutional equity trading 2007: The buy-side perspective, concluding that the rise in electronic pan-European execution volumes in the post-Mifid era is set to impact buy-side…
Buy-side use of equity derivatives outpaces automation
Tabb Group’s Exchange-traded equity derivatives report charts the increase in the use of such instruments across the buy side and predicts substantial changes in the way buy-side firms currently trade as they move from phone- and faxed-based systems to…
Trends out of TradeTech
TradeTech, one of the best-attended annual technology gatherings of the year, set out to address a number of current buy-side issues – dark liquidity, best execution, algorithmic trading, transaction cost analysis, Mifid, and the underlying technologies…
Convergence and consolidation the keys for IT spending
In a recent report, CarbonBased Consulting predicts a continued growth in global spending on IT and services, with the buy side leading the way with a 21% increase this year. But as Victor Anderson reports, firms will be looking to increase allocations…
FX algorithms gather steam
Algorithmic trading has taken equities by storm and now an increasing number of institutions are looking to apply trading algorithms to manage their foreign exchange (FX) transactions. Several firms kicked off FX algorithm initiatives last year to…
Islamic asset management set for substantial growth
Islamic asset management set for substantial growth – we summarise a Celent Report on the Middle East buy-side industry set against the backdrop of sharia-compliant investments and primed for substantial growth.
Technology the key to e-trading of equity options
Equity options trade volumes among US-based buy-side firms are set to increase significantly in the coming years on the back of more sophisticated technology and associated services. By Victor Anderson
Buy-side EMS spending gradually on the rise
BST analyses a recent Aite Group report on Execution Management Systems (EMS), concluding that, although EMS adoption across the buy side is set to increase in the coming years, growth will not be a swift as anticipated.
Will the real market leader please stand up?
Special Report: A recent Celent report on the global wealth management industry shows that although there is intense competition among the vendors, a market leader is still yet to emerge