Articles by Max Bowie
How ‘Bond gadgets’ make tackling data easier for regulators and traders
The IMD Wrap: Everyone loves the hype around AI, especially financial firms. And now, even regulators are getting in on the act. But first... “The name’s Bond; J-AI-mes Bond”
Startup takes aim at data notifications burden
The rising tide of daily notification messages from exchanges is threatening to overwhelm data professionals. A new entrant is looking to help.
Cooling crisis: Datacenters feel the heat from GenAI compute requirements
The IMD Wrap: A new report highlights the power and environmental challenges being created by increased GenAI adoption. In the datacenter world, being hot isn’t cool, while being cool is hot.
The Waters Cooler: Drink wine and avoid talking to morons
UBS’ narrative alpha ML tool; SS&C fighting a ‘Frankenstein’ perception; why Citadel (and others) aren’t IPO’ing; and even more tape providers emerging. Lots to get to.
Bloomberg ups focus on quants, intraday strategies
The vendor hopes its OHLC Bar data product will woo new audiences among quant traders and analysts, who have previously had to painstakingly build solutions in-house.
Moral models: The ethics of data management
The IMD Wrap: You may be managing data efficiently, but are you managing it ethically? And is that something you should be concerned about? Yes, says Max, you should.
TRG Screen cuts 20 jobs following review and restructure
The review follows an eight-year period of acquisitions and buy-in from a new private equity owner last year.
Why don’t you write a book? Several notable data professionals are doing just that
The IMD Wrap: Max talks to some data architects-turned-authors who are literally sharing volumes of knowledge.
JSE rolls out exchange data to cloud Marketplace, built with DataBP
The move—part of a broader cloud migration at the exchange—allows financial firms to connect and subscribe to JSE news, market data, and analytics via the cloud.
Bloomberg launches alt data-driven consumer spend index
The combination of alternative data and traditional macroeconomic data will provide insights into a key component of the US economy, as demonstrated by the data’s use by Chicago’s Federal Reserve Bank.
Industry seeks to avoid future clashes over data costs
The IMD Wrap: Max wonders when and why buying data became a blood sport.
Where have all the exchange platform providers gone?
The IMD Wrap: Running an exchange is a profitable business. The margins on market data sales alone can be staggering. And since every exchange needs a reliable and efficient exchange technology stack, Max asks why more vendors aren’t diving into this…
The costly sanctions risks hiding in your supply chain
In an age of geopolitical instability and rising fines, financial firms need to dig deep into the securities they invest in and the issuing company’s network of suppliers and associates.
The IMD Wrap: With Bloomberg’s headset app, you’ll never look at data the same way again
Max recently wrote about new developments being added to Bloomberg Pro for Vision. Today he gives a more personal perspective on the new technology.
Kimsey debuts ‘Who bought what’ dataset to help vendors target sales
Kimsey Consulting’s latest report breaks down reported industry spend by client type, product type, and geography to help suppliers and investors pinpoint future sources of demand.
Bloomberg adds AI earnings summaries to Apple Vision Pro app
The vendor continues to add content and functionality to its Bloomberg Pro for Vision app, which sits at the convergence of spatial and mobile computing.
The IMD Wrap: Quality drivers—the sticks and carrots accelerating the data quality race
Like a Formula One Grand Prix, data management is a race that can be won or lost. And just as each race is part of a larger F1 championship that pays large sums of TV money to the winning team, winning or losing one race can contribute to winning or…
BlackRock-Preqin: It’s the data, Cupid!
As BlackRock buys Preqin, and LSEG strikes a data deal with Dow Jones, Max notes that in data, strange bedfellows breed valuable offspring.
IEX Cloud closure forces fintech clients to seek data alternatives
IEX says it is ditching its unprofitable data arm to focus on its core exchange business, but other vendors believe they can turn a profit from its former client base of fintechs, retail investors and some institutions.
The IMD Wrap: Déjà vu as exchange data industry weighs its options
Max highlights some of WatersTechnology’s recent reporting on data costs and capacity issues facing the options industry, and asks, haven’t we seen this before somewhere?
The IMD Wrap: Will banks spend more on AI than on market data?
As spend on generative AI tools exceeds previous expectations, Max showcases one new tool harnessing AI to help risk and portfolio managers better understand data about their investments—while leaving them always in control of any resulting decisions.
Heavy lifting: Why using AI for data extraction is still no easy task
Using AI to extract data from documents and filings should be a no-brainer. But it takes a lot of brains and money to get those processes set up and running reliably and accurately.
The IMD Wrap: The risks of becoming AI-rich and memory-poor
Like Alice in Wonderland, Max disappears down the rabbit hole of AI to discover a world that is sometimes fantasy—and sometimes a nightmare.
Firms worry that lack of ‘explainability’ will be regulatory roadblock for AI
Industry experts share their concerns about advanced AI’s ‘black-box’ nature and how that may attract fragmented regulatory scrutiny.