February 2008
COVER STORY Asset Managers Start Benchmarking IT Projects Against the Competition As the technology that asset managers use in all parts of the business matures, firms increasingly are questioning how their technology strategy compares to that of the competition. Trading: All Trading Desks Are Not Equal With all of the resources spent on giving traders an edge, asset managers are benchmarking their trading capabilities to learn how they stack up. Perfomance Management: Performance Measurement Often Is Manual, Reveals CutterBenchmarking Study The CutterBenchmarking report found that firms varied wildly in their performance measurement capabilities, although there was no relationship between their overall score and either their size or major asset type. Client Reporting: Client Reporting Is Key, But Still Lacking Resources Client reporting is critical to customer satisfaction and retention. But automation and other resources in the area still are lacking. Enterprise Architecture: Buy Side Firms Start Taking Enterprise Architectures Live AIG, TIAA-CREF, Freddie Mac and other asset management firms have begun not only building formal enterprise architectures, but benchmarking them against others' as well. 6 Reasons to Adopt an Enterprise Architecture A Cutter Associates study of enterprise architectures in buy-side asset-management firms cites six reasons why these firms should adopt a framework and structure for enterprise architecture. Corporate Actions: Asset Management Firms Slowly Automating Corporate Actions Asset firms are doing their best to automate corporate actions, but they're waiting for custodians to catch up. Financial Firms Spent $285 Million on Corporate Actions Technology in 2007 An Aite Group study found that spending on corporate actions technology has been rising dramatically since 2004. BUSINESS LINES: OPERATIONS Application Lifecycle Management Speeds Product Delivery at Raymond James Financial Application lifecycle management (ALM) tools are being adopted at Raymond James Financial to improve time to market time to market and reduce IT inefficiencies. TRADING Lehman, NYSE, CME, Forex Capital Pursue New Latency Killers Data compression, network redesigns and distributed memory are some of the new approaches that organizations such as Lehman Brothers, the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Forex Capital Markets are exploring to eliminating data latency. Forex Lowers Latency By Upgrading Its Messaging Platform Foreign exchange brokerage Forex Capital Markets had to reduce data latency to less than one second. Its answer lay in adopting multicasting and deploying a new messaging solution from 29West. COMPLIANCE Enhanced Shared Assessments Program Can Make Audits Speedier The Collaborative Software Initiative (CSI) recently joined the Shared Assessments Program, automating the questionnaire by providing a web services front-end application for collection and editing shared assessment submissions and an XML schema for validating and accepting those submissions as XML documents. |
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FROM THE EDITOR The Term Web 2.0 Is Fading Away Web 2.0 is rapidly becoming the Internet as we know it. Soon, people will refer to Web 2.0 applications as, simply, the Web. INDUSTRY VOICE Trade Reporting, Surveillance Key To Compliance With increased regulatory focus on protecting securities market participants, trade reporting and trade surveillance are key to providing transparency, efficiency and oversight for today's trading environment. PERSPECTIVES Data Center Engineering Needs To Consider Consumption The modern data center must be crafted with regard to resource consumption so firms can obtain enough power to efficiently manage data, analyze the markets and route orders. UP FRONT Global Trading Technology Spend Reached $45.8 billion in 2007 The U.S. accounts for around 35 percent of the total global spend on trading and related technology and services. Back-Office Staffing Difficulties to Continue Hedge funds and mutual funds will continue to have difficulty staffing their back offices in 2008. Data Consolidation Can Help Financial Advisers Gain Client Trust With wealthy individuals employing the services of multiple financial advisers, becoming the most-trusted adviser now requires a comprehensive picture of the client, Aite Group reports. Fixed-Income Products Fail to Go Fully Electronic New research from Celent reveals that not all types of fixed-income securities are experiencing rapid electronification. 6 Tech Issues Wealth Managers Must Address To Meet Client Expectations Wealthy clients are considering more-sophisticated strategies for managing their assets and are requiring a great deal more from their providers. Financial Firms Need to Improve Their Use of Web 2.0 Technologies A new report by kasina argues that Web 2.0 technologies -- including blogs, wikis and mashups -- could yield powerful advantages and that firms are missing out on a great opportunity. Brokerages Still Fail to Offer Full Web-Based Banking Services New Corporate Insight report suggests only 40 percent of brokerages can truly be considered a full 'bankerage,' defined as a brokerage that offers traditional banking products, including FDIC-insured savings and checking accounts, with all accounts accessible via a single Web login. PRODUCT WATCH Guardian Analytics Launches Easy Fraud Prevention Solution FraudMAP does not require fraud rules development or algorithm training, according to Guardian Analytics. TraceSecurity Launches Risk Manager Solution Risk Manager enables companies to protect confidential data from physical and electronic threats, as well as demonstrate a verifiable and repeatable methodology for security. Financial Crossing Releases Liability Manager 3.0 Liability Manager 3.0 features a customizable front end that can be configured for self-service on a Web portal. SHIFTING GEARS Citisoft Hires Christopher Russo as Managing Director Russo will develop business opportunities and key client relationships, and perform executive-level project management duties across the front, middle and back-office within the buy-side technology and operations space. Axelrod Named CEO at Cogency Jeffrey Axelrod, the founding CTO of the funds of hedge funds software provider, has been named CEO NSX Names Saro Jahani as SVP of IT Former Townsend Analytics executive Saro Jahani is named senior vice president of IT at the National Stock Exchange (NSX) |