North America
Putting the ‘green’ in green data: Rise of impact investing drives ESG M&A
Socially responsible investors are putting their money where their mouth is—in ever-increasing amounts. With insatiable demand for new datasets and analytics to support these strategies, it’s not surprising that every data vendor wants a slice of the ESG…
One step closer: How exchanges are seeking tighter relationships with clients
Increasingly, exchanges are trying to get closer to their customers, in a bid to better understand how they use market data. This move may come at the expense of data vendors that are being gradually squeezed out of the exchange-client relationship.
Waters Wrap: ‘Exponential technologies’ & the changing face of trading (And interop)
Evolutions in the realms of cloud, AI, and surveillance/encryption are making the possibility of a decentralized trading ecosystem more real. Anthony looks at how progress in these areas—as well as the interoperability push—will forever change the…
Technical difficulties: OpenFin says it’s committed to FDC3, while others have their doubts
After quietly pulling its Finos membership this year, OpenFin’s involvement—at least in the public forum that governs it—with the interop standard it has championed for years, continues to dip. Though the vendor has re-affirmed its commitment to FDC3…
Waters Wrap: When will Big Tech providers turn sights on the market data space? (And deep learning)
In recent years, the major cloud providers have expanded their service offerings specific to capital markets firms. Some industry observers believe it’s just a matter of time until they get involved in market data M&A activity.
Oats retirement imminent as Cat maintains data quality, Finra says
Oats reporting could be fully migrated to the Consolidated Audit Trail and the Oats system retired as early as June 30.
Inside RBC’s Aiden project: 5 years of deep learning
Aiden, a trading platform launched last year, is the product of five years of experimentation with deep learning by RBC Capital Markets on top of an additional five years of hypothesizing about what best execution would one day require.
Video surveillance data: Useful or not?
While some technology vendors say video communication surveillance can help monitor serious compliance breaches, others see such data as a source of additional contextual information.
Waters Wrap: Market data & consolidation—a never-ending timeline (And rise of the fees)
While last week it was announced that Exegy and Vela are merging, Anthony says that the deal is only a sign of what’s to come in the market data space. He also poses some questions about the LSE raising its Sedol fees.
Exegy, Vela merge; say scale will fuel further acquisitions
The deal will create growth synergies between the vendors' trading systems, and provide an execution capability based on Exegy's trading signals.
Finra taps AWS for next-gen regulatory search tools
A long-time AWS client, Finra is using a combination of AWS tools and its own knowledge graph to generate better search results.
Vendors add surveillance support for WhatsApp alternatives
Concerns about data leakage have driven some users to rival privacy-focused messaging apps like Telegram and Signal, as WhatsApp policy changes come into force on May 15.
Waters Wrap: Buzzwords and the hype machine (And editorial judgment)
Anthony previews some of the major trend topics that WatersTechnology will look to cover over the next eight months.
People Moves: HSBC AM, Trumid, SIX, and more
A look at some of the key "people moves" from this week, including Paul Griffiths (pictured) who has been appointed global head of institutional business at HSBC Asset Management.
Waters Wrap: The looming data storage wars (And Bloomberg killers)
Anthony first looks at the data storage space, explaining that fees are likely to increase for buy- and sell-side firms in the near-term. He also wonders if there’s a market in the terminal/workstation space for innovative startups to gain traction. As…
Symphony suspends Sparc pending registration talks with CFTC
The comms provider may have to register its RFQ workflow and messaging tool as a Sef, or perhaps permanently shut down the business line.
People Moves: Symphony, BMLL, HKEX, CloudMargin, Tora, Baton, and more
A look at some of the key people moves from this week, including Brad Levy (pictured), who will take the reins at communications platform Symphony in June, after joining the vendor in July last year.
Waters Wrap: Would DLT really have prevented Archegos? (And thoughts on Itiviti)
While Christopher Giancarlo says distributed ledger technology could’ve helped prime brokers better monitor their risk exposures to Archegos Capital Management, Anthony (and others) are not so sure about that. He also looks at the Broadridge-Itiviti deal.
This Week: TP Icap, Confluence, Bloomberg, Iress-Cosaic, Tradeweb, SmartStream, and more
A summary of some of the past week’s financial technology news
Bridging the gap: Broadridge looks front-to-back with acquisition of Itiviti
The deal signals a transformative move for Broadridge into the front-office space to help clients simplify their front-to-back technology stack. But some industry observers are skeptical about how it will achieve this.
Waters Wrap: Big Tech takes control of cutting-edge encryption (And consortium flat circles)
In addition to growing their cloud presence in the capital markets, Big Tech companies are, unsurprisingly, taking the lead on encryption and security in the cloud. Anthony sees positives and negatives. He also looks at bank-led consortiums.
Citi, other banks set to ink ‘Octopus’ deal for new multi-bank CLO platform
Sources say initiative is designed to fend off higher fees and disintermediation in case established multi-dealer platforms start trading CLOs.
Waters Wrap: The nature of data and information (And Ion-List thoughts)
Anthony takes a look at the alternative data industry post-GameStop, and wonders about Ion Group’s strategy going forward after recent acquisitions.
This Week: Google Cloud/Commerzbank, SmartStream, Anna DSB, and more
A summary of some of the past week’s financial technology news.