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News & Commentary
Content posted in March 2007
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Test Finds Infrastructure Eliminates Latency Spikes
News  |  3/28/2007  | 
With market data message rates skyrocketing, Wall Street firms are worried about data latency affecting the behavior of their algorithms. One cool technology that is getting some attention comes from the networking side where market data platforms have traditionally used Ethernet. On March 20, Securities Technology Analysis Center (STAC) published a report examining the performance of the latest software from Wombat Financial Software running
Man Financial Launches Fixed Income ATS
News  |  3/28/2007  | 
Man Financial, the U.K.-based futures broker, has implemented SDS Financial Technologies' alternative trading system (ATS) and launched its Man E-Finance Fixed Income Marketplace.
Competition Between Regional Exchanges, Nasdaq/NYSE Heating Up
News  |  3/28/2007  | 
The key points of my last article were about being nimble, selective, and patient. The two companies that have done this are Knight's Direct Edge and BATS Trading. I have to say that I am surprised they have gained as much traction as they have in such a short period of time, but with the hard work I have witnessed firsthand I am not shocked.
February Market Decline Serves As Wake Up Call
News  |  3/28/2007  | 
During the brutal market decline of Feb. 27 and the volatility that continued for the next four trading days, hedge funds relied on technology from their brokers, exchanges and service providers to execute orders. To what extent was their trading interrupted and how well did their service providers do? "I think it was a wake up call for everybody, not only for the hedge funds, but for service providers," says Steven Harrison, president and COO at
Accenture Labs Offers "Training Wheels" for Wealth Managers
News  |  3/28/2007  | 
In a showcase today, Accenture Technology Labs showed off some of its latest projects. One, a newly developed "intelligent selling" application called Real Time Sales and Service Empowerment, could be used by wealth and asset managers, particularly in departments suffering "brain drain" - where knowledgeable managers are leaving or retiring and younger workers lack experience but are eager to learn. The Accenture application, which it developed with a French bank, is a basic customer relationshi
Salesforce.com Homes in on Wealth and Asset Management
News  |  3/27/2007  | 
Tien Tzuo, chief strategy officer, and Renny Monaghan, senior director of product management at salesforce.com, dropped in this morning to update us on their hosted solution for customer relationship management (CRM) and related applications. "We're seeing a lot of interest on Wall Street," Tzuo said. "Commissions have dropped, to zero in some cases, so many firms are shifting from a transaction focus to a relationship focus." Tzuo says the first wave of CRM implementations on Wall Street failed
Instinet Prepares to Roll Out BlockMatch for Buy Side in Europe
News  |  3/23/2007  | 
Instinet is developing BlockMatch - an Alternative Trading System for European equities that is aimed at institutions.
Is the Securities and Exchange Commission's Launch of Reg NMS Putting Stress on the Equities Market?
Commentary  |  3/23/2007  | 
The Securities and Exchange Commission moved ahead with launching Regulation NMS even though the market decline put stress on the equities market.
The LSE-Nasdaq Deal May Be Dead, but Nasdaq Has Other Options
Commentary  |  3/23/2007  | 
Finding another large acquisition target may be difficult for Nasdaq as the pickings are slim, but there are some interesting options the exchange could consider other than the LSE.
Evaluated Security Pricing Service Offerings Have Increased Recently
News  |  3/23/2007  | 
Vendors have invested actively in evaluated security pricing services, focusing on emerging market opportunities and new, complex products such as structured debt and derivatives.
What Web 2.0 Means to Securities Firms
News  |  3/22/2007  | 
Merrill Lynch, Dresdner Kleinwort, Fidelity, and Pioneer Investments are all embracing Web 2.0 - in other words, advanced Web technologies -- according to a recent Tower Group report, "Web 2.0 May Be the Future of the Internet, but What Does It Mean to Securities Firms?"
Alternative Trading Systems Are Emerging in Europe to Meet MiFID Best Execution Requirements
News  |  3/22/2007  | 
Europe's MiFID regulation is giving rise to alternative trading systems (ATSs) to challenge the traditional exchanges and help the buy-side achieve best execution.
Adoption of Electronic Systems and Algorithmic Trading Tools Is on the Rise With Canadian Traders
News  |  3/22/2007  | 
As more Canadian capital markets firms turn to algorithmic trading tools, U.S. players dominate the market.
Interactive Brokers Runs Annual Olympiad Trading Program to Recruit Technologists for Electronic Trading
News  |  3/22/2007  | 
Interactive Brokers Conducted its second annual Olympiad Trading Program to find technology savvy college students who can create a computerized trading program.
The Options Penny Pilot Has Been Successful So Far
News  |  3/22/2007  | 
While early returns on the SEC's graduated pilot for switching from nickel pricing to penny pricing of options have been positive, data-capacity issues remain.
The SEC May Start Monitoring Non-Transparent and Restricted-Access Trading Alternatives, or Dark Books, More Closely in the Future
News  |  3/22/2007  | 
The SEC is concerned about the effect the proliferation of dark books will have on public markets.
Head Traders Discuss What It Takes to Manage a Trading Desk
News  |  3/22/2007  | 
Advanced Trading's Randall S. Devere spoke with some prominent head traders about what it takes to manage a trading desk. What quickly emerged is a portrait of a group that has to think well outside the parameters of buying and selling - particularly those who trade for or run their own hedge funds.
The Buy Side Should Get Equal Access to Low-Latency Executions
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
There is so much focus on low-latency these days, but this has not been so much of a concern for the buy side. This is understandable because most buy-side firms use algorithms hosted by the sell-side, and most of the so-called low latency services coming out are targeted at broker dealers and hedge funds. But perhaps the buy-side should pay attention to make sure there is a level playing field. Buy-side firms that are executing trades through broker-sponsored algorithmic trading strategies sh
Bill Cline Leaves Accenture to Form Capital Markets Consultancy, Acai Solutions
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
William (Bill) Cline has left Accenture, the global consulting firm, to found Acai Solutions, a deep-domain capital markets consultancy located in New York.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management Hired Robert Shapiro for Trading Execution and Analysis
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
Morgan Stanley Investment Management tapped Robert Shapiro, formerly of Abel Noser, to work on trading and execution analysis and MSIM's global trading infrastructure.
Cantor Fitzgerald Hires Execs to Head Structured Products Group
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
Cantor Fitzgerald, a leader in the fixed-income market, has launched a structured products group with the hire of two senior executives. The group will operate as part of Cantor's debt capital markets team.
LSE CIO David Lester Opens Up About Launch of Next-Generation Trading Platform, TradElect and the Global Market
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
As the chatter around Nasdaq's failed takeover of the London Stock Exchange dies down, the LSE is readying to prove that it's worth its weight in trading. The exchange is preparing to launch its next-generation trading platform, TradElect, late in the second quarter.
Investment Technology Group Augments POSIT Match With POSIT Now
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
To take advantage of the new European trading landscape resulting from the implementation of MiFID, ITG developed POSIT Now, a continuous intraday crossing system for equities that covers 9,000 stocks in 15 countries.
Symons Gets Good Prices During Market Downturn
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
Having anticipated the recent market downturn, Symons Capital Management dips into cash reserves and gets good prices.
The NYSE Has Asked for a 30-Day Exemption From the Trade-Through Rule
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
The NYSE still uses the Intermarket Trading System (ITS) to access other market centers and does not have access to some ATSs as well as the International Securities Exchange.
Lehman Brothers and Fidelity Brokerage Link Their Dark Pools
News  |  3/21/2007  | 
This direct link between their respective ATSs will enable traders to place orders on either firm's matching engine and cross with both liquidity pools while still limiting market impact.
With HyperFeed Litigation Pending, Exegy Launches Low-Latency Ticker Plant
News  |  3/20/2007  | 
On the heels of breaking off an agreement last November to merge with Chicago-based market data vendor HyperFeed Technologies, Exegy Inc., a St. Louis-based technology provider is launching a new ticker-plant service initially to 21 Wall Street customers. But when Wall Street firms consider Exegy's new ticker plant, should they care that Exegy jilted HyperFeed at the altar? And should they be co
Unveiling the Trading Floor — 70-Plus Photos
Commentary  |  3/20/2007  | 
Through "Anatomy of a Trading Floor", we'll be offering our readers a glimpse at the most exciting technology in the industry. You can experience a state-of-the-art trading floor, including close-ups of trading desks, such as institutional sales, currency, special situations, block trading and much more.
Blackberrys That Never Fail
News  |  3/20/2007  | 
Crackberry addicts who can't put their PDAs down can now buy assurance that they'll never have to -- for technical reasons, anyway. Neverfail, Austin, TX, today announced the first-ever failover solution for Blackberry email and mobile data system applications (called Neverfail for Blackberry Enterprise Server). Why didn't such Blackberry backup exist before? "Making applications cluster-aware isn't a simple task," says John Posavatz, vice president, product management at Neverfail Group, Austin
NASD Gives BrokerCheck a Face Lift
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
NASD announced today that it has updated and redesigned its BrokerCheck service -- a public, online service for reporting on the background of NASD member-firms. The update, says the regulator, should provide much-needed improvement in the usability and effectiveness of the service. Speaking from experience, the previous version of the
Barney Frank: Banks' Best Friend on Capitol Hill?
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
If Barney Frank's recently reported statements are accurate, banks and financial institutions may have a surprisingly friendly advocate on Capitol Hill. Frank, who also happens to be the influential chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, contends that banks sho
Scivantage Releases Automated Tax Reporting System
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
The vendor says it hopes to attract financial advisers and individual investors who are searching for ways to reduce the complexity of the investment tax process.
Echoworx Releases Platform for Web-Based Communication Encryption
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
EMX is designed for organizations that want to enable communication with their customers and partners using a secure, private label Web-based environment, the vendor says.
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
Lobby groups have convinced the SEC to conduct a rare review of market-data fees, reenergizing a spirited debate.
U.S. Firms Have Had Few Options When it Came to Investing in Companies Overseas, Until Now
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
Global is where it's at. The balance of trade, interest rates, economic growth and global expansion all are sending payments from high-wage Western countries to lower-wage emerging markets and Eastern countries.
BIDS Brings On Richard Levin as CCO
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
Video
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
TSX Group Hires Brenda Hoffman as CIO
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
Evaluating CRM Solutions When Companies Merge
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
Today, most financial organizations already have a CRM solution in place. When two organizations merge -- each with its own preferred relationship intelligence software -- how do they determine which system to use moving forward? A few considerations to keep in mind when evaluating CRM include:
How CRM Helps Merge Firms’ Crucial Relationship and Intelligence Assets
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
The financial industry has undergone much change over the past decade. Among the most-notable trends has been the movement toward consolidation -- namely mergers and acquisitions.
Wachovia Delivers High-Performance Computing Through a Services-Oriented ’Utility’
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
In a pioneering approach, Wachovia is becoming more and more discriminating about how and to whom it provides high-performance computing.
Capital Markets Firms Can Run Spreadsheets on a Server With Microsoft’s New Excel Services
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
Microsoft's Excel 2007 offers capital market firms the ability to run Excel Services on a server, providing faster performance and stronger governance.
The High-Speed Arms Race on Wall Street Is Leading Firms to Tap High-Performance Computing
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
Wall Street firms are turning to high-performance computing technologies to meet the increasing computing demands of quantitative analysts, traders and risk managers without driving up power consumption.
A Few Common Clearing Service Providers
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
The Depository Trust Company
Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:43:35 -0500
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
In outsourcing its back-office functions to ADP, WestLB Securities didn't want to lose its identity.
Many Firms Lack the Processing Infrastructure to Support Growth in Alternative Investments
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
Many firms lack the processing infrastructure needed to support the huge growth in alternative investments.
The Proxy Plan: The Future of Shareholder Material Delivery Is Paperless
News  |  3/19/2007  | 
The future of shareholder material delivery is electronic, and the SEC has laid out the plan to get there.
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