(In this second installment of a two-part series about the FIX electronic trading and messaging protocol, FTF News focuses on the FIX Protocol Ltd. (FPL) and its expansion of FIX into the realm of post-trade processing. In a Q&A with FTF News, Brian Lees, an assistant vice president, and software development manager for The Capital… Read More >>
Market Data Vendor Management 101
Regulatory reform, competitive pressures and the need to optimize data across the enterprise are pushing custodians, service providers, consultants and securities firms to constantly refine their reference data management strategies. As their strategies evolve, all players in the operations matrix will have to hone their relationships with their market data vendors, which should be collaborative… Read More >>
Tech Spotlight: The Linux Movement
The Linux operating system has uprooted many IT providers and competing proprietary systems as the open source software changed the landscape for trading firms over the past decade. The buy side has been tenuous in its embrace of Linux but the Great Recession caused firms to value the bottom-line benefits of a movement that shows… Read More >>
Your Financial IT Spend in 2012
Taken together, two key surveys provide a snapshot of how you and your fellow market participants are allocating your financial technology dollars in 2012. Not surprisingly, the regulatory overhaul of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trading is the single biggest budget driver. It’s also no shock that the buy side is still dragging its feet on the… Read More >>
A Thousand Points of Light on the OTC Front
To paraphrase a former president, there are “a thousand points of light” when it comes to activity on the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives execution, clearing and valuation fronts. Variety abounds as State Street touts a platform that will compete against sell-side offerings and major sell-side players such as BNP Paribas gear up to ready offerings for… Read More >>
Taking the Mobile Challenge
As mobile technologies gain ground, they will challenge incumbent systems and practices. A case in point is a new app for the iPad created via a version of a portfolio management system that has mobile reporting capabilities. The easier and more timely access to middle and back office data will test the conventions about front,… Read More >>
Time to Disrupt Your AML System?
Anti-money laundering (AML) for financial services firms is evolving as they broaden their usage of the behavior detection at the heart of AML and begin to consolidate AML and anti-fraud platforms. Firms may also see their governments refine AML and related policies as a result of the latest recommendations of a standards body urging countries… Read More >>
CBR 101: A Guide for Survival
Simply because we cannot get enough of taxes and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), I’d like to take a moment and focus on how cost basis reporting (CBR) might actually work to your benefit. Let’s start with recent history. The Great Recession compelled the federal government to get a better view into securities transactions with… Read More >>
The Cyber-Attacks Are Getting Worse
As I predicted in previous postings, the cyber-attacks have gotten worse. Earlier this week, “hacktivists” slammed the websites of Nasdaq OMX, Bats Trading, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and Bursa Malaysia, causing outages although trading systems were spared. These latest attacks make clear that financial centers can no longer ignore these threats and that they… Read More >>
Welcome to Clawback Season
In theory, we are in bonus season. But it’s looking more like clawback season as banks give bonuses more in line with performance. A case in point is UBS, which for the first time in its history is taking back part of the bonuses slated for its investment bankers, according to a report in the… Read More >>
