Content posted in January 2007
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FSA and Institutional Investors Fly the Green Flag
In the wake of sentiment expressed at the World Economic Forum that financial services firms (and all companies) must go greener, the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority has issued a warning about the dangers of climate change as part of its 2007 Financial Risk Outlook, while a U.S.-based consortium of institutional
Swapstream to Expand Electronic Trading Into Short-Term Interest Rate Swaps
Swapstream, the London-based multilateral electronic trading platform for interest rate swaps (IRS), will expand its marketplace in mid-February with the launch of Eonia (Euro Overnight Index Average) swaps trading facility.
Aqua Hires Fishkind to Drive Global Sales for New ATS
Aqua - a new alternative trading system (ATS) owned byeSpeed Inc. and Cantor Fitzgerald focused on offering block liquidity to institutions, hedge funds and brokers - announced the hiring of Andrew Fishkind as global head of sales.
NYSE and TSE to Merge?
The New York Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange have announced an alliance that could lead to a combination of the two exchanges.
Cantor Launches Structured Products Group
Cantor Fitzgerald, a leader in the fixed-income market, has launched a structured products group with the hire of two senior executives. Gina Hubbell, formerly managing director and head of the Structured Credit Group at UBS, and Edward LaScala, formerly head of Debt Syndicate at HSBC, joined Cantor two weeks ago. Hubbell will lead the new group and report to Irvin Goldman, CEO and President of Cantor.
NASD Dings Bank of America for $3 Million
Banc of America Investment Services (BAI), a division of Bank of America, consented, without admitting or denying guilt, to $3 million in fines from NASD for failure to gather sufficient information about customers on certain high-risk accounts, an activity required by anti-money laundering regulation.
The failures, according to NASD,
Wall Street Journal Chronicles Amaranth's Demise
Today's Wall Street Journal provides a gruesomely fascinating account of Amaranth's final days ("Amid Amaranth's Crisis, Other Players Profited"). The mental image it conjures in the reader's mind is that of a pack of wolves, one of which has injured itself and lies dying of its wounds, the rest taking the biggest, juiciest hunks out of it they can while its heart still beats.
The Amaranth fiasco continues to affect the industr
Monitor 110 Is Rolling Out an Internet Search Service for Hedge Funds and Institutions
Monitor 110 offers Internet search service for institutional investors that ranks online content by relevance.
Regulating the Financial Services Industry Is a Balancing Act
Getting regulation right is like balancing on a knife's edge - tilt too far one way and the industry is hamstrung; tilt too far the other way and reduce the trust that is required for a functioning capital market.
There Are Changes Ahead for Asset Managers Including Increased Autonomy and a New Skill Requirements
The regulatory environment and the structure of the securities market are in a state of transition. The upside for asset managers is increased autonomy.
WSI Corporation Launches WSI MarketFirst Product To Give Energy Traders An Edge on Government Weather Forecast
Energy traders who wait for a key government weather forecast each day could get a jump on the news thanks to a new product from WSI Corp.
Thomson Integrates OMS, TradeWeb
To enhance the workflow of asset managers and buy-side traders active in fixed-income markets, Thomson Financial launched TradeCentral, an order management system (OMS) that comes pre-integrated with Thomson TradeWeb, the electronic fixed-income and derivatives marketplace.
FlexTrade Unveils FX Block Trading
Eyeing the success of crossing systems in the equities market, FlexTrade Systems has launched what it claims is the first block trading system for FX currency pairs.
What Is 'Best Execution'?
Though traders are required to strive for best execution, it has not been definitively defined. Fortunately, new tools can help firms identify good trades.
NYSE Asks for NMS Delay
Looks like REg NMS Could be postponed again. As Advanced Trading went to press, the New York Stock Exchange was preparing a letter to be sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission to ask for a one-month postponement of the new trading rule.
Transaction Cost Analysis Provides Important Details About Trade Executions
Trade confirmations often don't include details that the buy side needs to conduct true transaction cost analysis and identify best execution.
Hidden Orders and Dark pools Are Taking Order Secrecy on Wall Street to a New Level
The continued growth of electronic trading may mean a decrease in the hidden costs of actively traded funds.
Day 5 at Davos: Recapping the World Economic Forum 2007
The top priority for many senior business and financial leaders at the World Economic Forum was, surprisingly, climate change, followed by global banking security standards.
My first visit to the World Economic Forum is now over and, after an exhausting week, I used the downtime on my flight home to contemplate some of the bigger issues that were raised during the past week.
Can and Should Asset managers Integrate Hedge Fund Technology With the Buy Side's Existing Systems?
It's easy to start a hedge fund these days. All one needs is a spreadsheet, a telephone, an execution management system (EMS) and a prime broker to finance the positions.
The Financial Services Industry Increases Its Demand for Transparency
Buy-side traders increasingly are demanding transparency into - and control over - broker algorithms. But the sell side may be hesitant to share its secrets.
The NYSE Is Releasing NYSE Bonds
The New York Stock Exchange kicks off the new year by reentering the bond market with an equity-trading model.
Can Asset Managers and Hedge Funds Converge?
Traditional asset managers are venturing into the alternative investment arena. But can long-only funds merge their trading desks with hedge funds without raising red flags?
Day 4 at Davos -- Banking the Unbanked
The unbanked, or underbanked, represents a huge -- but risky -- opportunity for financial institutions. And one needs not travel to Asia or South America to find a large underbanked market: There are 50 million unbanked people right here in the world's most developed economy.
Three New Business Intelligence-Style Tools for Investment Managers
The business intelligence movement rolls on and one of its targets/benefactors is Wall Street. It's a good fit -- after all, what buy-side or sell-side executive wouldn't want the most insightful views of the right pieces of data? In my first full week at Wall Street & Technology, I was briefed on three new or recently updated data analysis tools: one for analyzing the blogosphere for stock and company tips and rumors, one for analyzing SEC Edgar data, and one for portfolio backtesting. Here's w
NEW DATES FOR REG NMS COMPLIANCE
The SEC has once again postponed the Trading Phase date of Regulation NMS, as well as two other deadlines for the Order Protection and Access Rule.
Instinet and FlexTrade Launch Portfolio Trading Optimizers
Instinet, Wizard PRO, Michael Plunkett, Thorsten Schmidt, Vijay Kedia, FlexTrade Systems, FlexTrade PTS, Northfield Information Services
Day 3: A good climate for global regulation?
Delegates are calling for global regulation that directly addresses climate change at the World Economic Forum in Davos. But can business, government and scientists agree on a solution that could actually have some impact on a global scale?
Microsoft Takes Aim at MiFID
Microsoft is positioning itself as a MiFID solutions provider, with an announcement today of an eight-solution technology grab bag intended to meet the requirements of the European uber-regulation. The software giant is parading out its partners as "mix and match" MiFID solutions that all focus on the MS ar
Bank of America Adds Clout to Thomson's Triparty Repo Market; "Bright Pool" Becoming An Ocean
When Bank of America announced yesterday that it's joining Thomson TradeWeb's online Triparty Repo marketplace, which already includes Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS and sees average daily trading volumes of $60 billion, it may have provoked a shiver of fear and dread among independent repo dealers. TradeWeb Repo is an electronic trading platform for the tr
Asset Managers Evaluate the Role of the Risk Manager
Asset managers evaluate the role of risk management and which technologies — including internally or externally modeled risk metrics and risk analytics — are required to support the risk function.
Day 2 at Davos: Setting the Security Standard
Not surpisingly, information and data security is one of the hotter topics in Davos among the attendees at the World Economic Forum. Logically, if there are regulators for the Internet, telecommunications and accounting, why don't we have a standards in place for information and data security?
BOX Files to Cut Fees in Penny Pilot; AFA Adds Options Trading
Ivy Schmerken, Wall Street & Technology
The Boston Options Exchange said it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reduce fees in preparation for the Penny Pilot Program in which options will trade in one-penny increments.
The proposed change will reduce the trading from the standard $0.20 to $0.15 per contract.
Surging Electronic Trading Volumes and Reg NMS Require Financial Firms to Enhance Underlying Technology Infrastructures
As trading activity becomes more electronic and federal regulations create more information requirements, bigger and faster IT infrastructures will be needed to handle the increases in trade volumes and the associated market data and messaging.
Web 2.0 Enriches Applications and Services, Making Them More Compelling to Users
One of the hottest buzzwords of late, Web 2.0 refers to Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) that use the Internet as a platform to create interactive user interfaces that resemble PC-based applications. Typically, RIAs emphasize online collaboration among users.
Wealth Managers Turn to Unified Managed Accounts to Better Serve Wealthy Clients
Unified managed accounts and unified managed households are part of a growing trend to electronically aggregate a client's holdings in as close to real time as possible. The goal of such cross-product, cross-institution and cross-individual accounts is superior portfolio management, including tax optimization and risk mitigation.
GL Trade Connects to Instinet's Chi-X for Pan-European Equity Trading
Ivy Schmerken, Wall Street & Technology
GL Trade, the Paris-based supplier of front-to back-office trading systems, is offering connectivity to Instinet's Chi-X, one of the first Pan-European alternative trading systems (ATSs) to arise in response to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which goes into effect in Nove
A Market Turned Upside Down
The European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is scheduled to go into effect in November 2007. Even U.S.-based firms will need to have a thorough strategic plan for compliance in order to stay competitive in the global markets.
NYSE Requests a Four-Week Extension of the Reg NMS Deadline
Although it has been beaten to death by industry analysts and press, the importance of the changes to the U.S. securities industry spurred by Reg NMS cannot be overstated. The industry anxiously awaits full implementation of the regulation in 2007.
The Right Stuff: A Good IT Manager Is Hard to Find
CIOs are struggling to keep their departments staffed with talented technologists who understand the business. Finding senior-level workers with the right stuff will continue to prove difficult.
Firms Ready to Dive Into China's Financial Markets
The opening of the huge Chinese financial services sector to foreign-based institutions presents a gamut of opportunities -- whether in retail and corporate banking, investment banking or asset management -- for North American and European firms.
First Impression: Davos Goes Green for World Economic Forum
After arriving in an abnormally warm Davos for the World Economic Forum, talk quickly turned to finding ways for financial services companies to become "greener," especially when it comes to using advanced technology.
Regaining N.Y.’s Financial Glory?
The SEC's vote to reduce the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley by reducing audit and sign-off requirements on firms' financial controls is a positive step, but will it bring back growth to the U.S.'s financial markets?
PHLX Promotes Derivatives Specialist
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) has promoted Matthew Rotella to vice president of options derivative trading development systems.
Moody’s Hires Rotella as CIO
Moody's Corp. -- the New York-based parent company of the credit rating, research and analysis firm Moody's Investors Service -- hired Perry Rotella as SVP and CIO. He will report to CEO Raymond McDaniel.
Chauvin Promoted to CRO at TD
Mark Chauvin, a veteran of TD Bank Financial Group, has been appointed as EVP of risk management and chief risk officer for the firm.
VASCO Bolsters Tokens
Chicago-based strong authentication vendor VASCO Data Security International has bolstered its hardware authentication offerings with the release of two new user authentication products for online commerce.
Reuters Enhances IM
Instant messaging technologies are increasingly gaining a foothold in various functions of the financial services industry.
https://www.informationweek.com/
In order to address December's changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), electronic communications compliance vendor Orchestria released an e-discovery solution, Legal Hold.
On the Offensive
Capital markets firms enter 2007 amidst dramatic changes in their product offerings, customer relationships, organizational structures and markets.
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