Waters Wavelength

On the podcast, Anthony and James first talk industry issues as they look at the New York State Department of Financial Services' new cybersecurity regulation, which hit a major milestone on Tuesday and has another big deadline looming. Then, because it's a slow week, they shift gears and explain the things that PR people do that drive them crazy. Finally, of course, they discuss the Game of Thrones season finale and Anthony gives his final thoughts on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight. 3:00-12:00 A rundown of the NYSDFS Cybersecurity Regulation and broader cyber issues 14:00-30:00 PR Dos and Don’ts, Part III 31:00-38:00 Game of Thrones Finale Recap 38:00-End Recap of Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor

The podcast is back and with an even better sound as the gang tests out proper recording equipment. First, Wei-Shen Wong joins the podcast to talk about quantum computing. After that, James and Tony look at a possible emerging trend: the combination of the investment book of record (IBOR) and blockchain technology. They then rant about the most recent episode of Game of Thrones and finish up by discussing Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor “fight”. Quantum Computing 3:35 Wei-Shen Wong calls in from Hong Kong to discuss her feature examining quantum computing. 5:05 What differentiates quantum computing from today’s traditional high-performance computers? 7:30 Which areas of finance could QC impact over the next few years? 9:30 What security problems will this revolution pose for all firms? 12:15 What’s colder than cold? Well, quantum computing... 15:00 What’s the time horizon for quantum computing? 17:00 Wei-Shen talks about the challenges of reporting on such a complex topic. 18:15 Wei-Shen finishes

This week James and Anthony take a look at how the systematic internalizer regime is shaping up, and then examine the regtech sector. They wrap things up by delving into the most recent episode of Game of Thrones and then talk politics. Systematic Internalizers 1:20 What is a systematic internalizer (SI) and how are banks and large buy-side firms are gearing up to become SIs? 3:45 Moving forward, how will the SI market develop between the various banks and liquidity providers? 6:00 Are there any potential risks or concerns over this eventual explosion of SIs? RegTech 7:30 A quick look at capital market IT spending in 2017. 9:45 Why the regtech sector is poised for growth. 12:30 Who are some of the players in the space? Miscellany 15:30 The weekly Game of Thrones recap begins. 22:45 Then, naturally, an examination of why Nazis are bad.

Anthony returns to the podcast after a short vacation, and he and James discuss how capital markets firms are embracing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) sector. They then take a look at Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity (Reg SCI) and examine whether or not the SEC is truly focused on the new mandate. Finally, they once again give their thoughts on the latest episode of Game of Thrones. 2:30 A primer on the ESG space, and why it’s unique. 4:30 Why invest in a company with high ESG standards? 11:15 When considering ESG investment, it’s important to look at peer groups. 15:15 This past week, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) expressed his concerns over the SEC’s transparency—or lack thereof—when it comes to Reg SCI. 18:15 Does the SEC have their act together to be able to properly enact Reg SCI? 20:15 Internet of Things-related challenges will make Reg SCI all the more important in the future. 23:35 James says that Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones was one of the greatest episodes of TV ever

This week Anthony is away on vacation so it’s up to James and Waters’ US reporter Emilia David to take the helm. They first look at the fintech space before moving on to Brexit movements and Game of Thrones. 1:00 Fintech and regulation—a primer. 02:30 Are sandboxes there to help fintechs, or to protect against them? 04:00 Miya and James examine whether it’s actually incumbent tech providers who might need more scrutiny. 07:20 They discuss Brexit, and how Frankfurt is emerging as a clear winner. 09:00 But what happens to London? 11:00 The guys try—and largely fail—to tackle the age-old question of whether German purity laws or American innovation produces better beer. 12:00 Miya and James wrap it up with the now-weekly post-mortem on this week’s Game of Thrones episode.

This week there were several big announcements surrounding bitcoin and digital currencies. Anthony and James delve into those stories and look at James’ all-encompassing feature—which was published on Thursday—that looks at some of the issues hindering the cryptocurrency space. James next gives a breakdown of the FCA’s announcement that it will phase-out the Libor benchmark and what it will mean for the industry. They then talk about the dramatic scene that played out in the US Senate in the wee hours of Friday morning, and end things by discussing episode two of Game of Thrones. 1:00 First, an amusing story about how James got “scooped” by the SEC. 3:30 A quick tutorial on how digital currencies are traded. 6:00 A look at the biggest challenges facing adoption. 9:30 Circuit breakers and order limits—are those the solutions? 11:00 What does the SEC announcement mean for future bitcoin investment? 14:00 The CFTC approves LedgerX Bitcoin CCP. 16:00 FCA puts Libor on notice for 2021 phase-out. 20:00 What’s t

This week, Anthony and James look at two major announcements coming out of IBM and then turn their attention, once again, to the review of the Markets in Financial Instruments (Mifid II) and how the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is concerned about industry preparedness as January draws near. They end things by giving their thoughts—sans sophistication—on the first episode of Game of Thrones’s seventh season. 1:00 The Waters Rankings winners have been announced.  1:30 LSE partners with IBM on blockchain. 6:30 IBM debuts full encryption with z14 mainframe release. 9:30 A broader discussion of how IBM has been aggressively targeting the financial services sector in 2017. 13:00 FCA worried by lack of readiness for Mifid II reporting. 16:30 Questions remain around Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) rules. 18:30 A quick bar recommendation (hence, why all the cursing). 19:30 A recap of Sunday’s Game of Thrones season premiere (with apologies to Ed Sheeran).

This week, Anthony and James look at Anthony’s feature on the proliferation of JavaScript frameworks. They then discuss the CFTC’s announcement this week that it is going to conduct a review of its swaps data reporting rules. Finally, they wrap things up by discussing Donald Trump Jr., and his disclosure of emails linking him to a Russian lawyer. While James is basically a socialist, Anthony is a conservative—and even he is losing his mind about where his country is heading, politically speaking. 1:00 A quick update on next week’s Waters Rankings announcement, and the Mifid II event in London. 1:45 How the JavaScript feature came about. 3:45 The problem: Too many frameworks and libraries to choose from 8:00 The balancing act of keeping both young and older programmers happy and engaged. 10:00 Lessons learned for CTOs. 12:25 The CFTC announcement and what it means. 14:00 What the revision process will look like. 15:00 A timeline of what is supposed to come next, though James and Anthony are skeptical. 18:00

This week James and Anthony look at recent regulatory developments in Europe as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has releases its long-awaited study of the asset management industry and the UK, and final policy notes relating to Mifid II. They next turn their attention to this month’s Waters magazine cover story—a profile of Cheyne Capital’s Josh Jacobson—and examine how some vendors are entering the behavioral analytics space. 1:55 James gives an overview on recent FCA announcements and guidelines. 4:45 Change is coming for the way asset management is done in the UK. 7:00 Timeline for Mifid II developments going forward. 11:00 James and Anthony switch gears and look at this month’s cover story on Josh Jacobson. 13:45 What’s the case for behavior analysis of portfolio managers and traders. 18:30 James rants about Major League Soccer (MLS).

This week, Michael Radziemski joins Anthony and James on the podcast to discuss tech evolutions taking place in financial markets. Radziemski has 30 years of experience in the industry, with stints at Bankers Trust, Citigroup and Lord Abbett, where he was chief information officer from 2003 to 2016. 1:30 Radziemski looks at the problem of convenience overshadowing need in technology. 4:00 How has the industry evolved in his time as a technologist? 6:30 How do you take advantage of new tools such as machine learning without creating spaghetti infrastructures—and where do firms tend to fail when implementing new technologies? 10:30 The industry’s infrastructure isn’t up to snuff, according to Radziemski, but that’s also helping to drive public cloud infrastructure adoption. 13:00 How has the public cloud space evolved? 18:30 What skills do developers need to have in today’s environment? 22:45 Radziemski’s predictions for the top three trends in 2018: Robotic process automation; Machine learning; Public cloud

On the podcast, Viral Shah, co-founder and CEO of Julia Computing and a co-creator of the Julia programming language, talks with Anthony about the launch of Julia 0.6, what’s expected of Julia 1.0, and how finance and insurance firms are using the language for research and risk modeling. Then, Anthony and James take a look at how machine learning and alternative data are starting to be paired, creating both interesting use cases and, perhaps, overblown hype. Next, they turn their attention to digital currencies and how they’re filtering into the buy side. Finally, they discuss the recently released trailer for the upcoming season of Game of Thrones. Julia Language (1:25) A quick update on this year’s JuliaCon conference. (2:10) Then a look at Julia 1.0, which could be released later this year. (2:40) This week, Version 0.6 was released. Viral talks about enhancements made with this rollout. (3:30) With Julia Computing receiving $4.6 million in seed funding from General Catalyst and Founder Collective, Viral

This week, Anthony and James delve into regtech and also take a look at how employee privacy may be diminishing due to new cognitive technologies being used in surveillance. They next turn their attention to clearinghouses in London and how new EU rules could force them to relocate to the Eurozone. Finally, they talk about how Anthony was incredibly wrong in saying that a Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight would never happen. Regtech (2:00) The evolution of the regtech space. (3:15) What is cognitive computing? (4:20) How cognitive tools are infiltrating the surveillance space. (8:00) With the advent of cognitive tools, employee privacy could diminish. (16:00) An examination of the AML/KYC vendor landscape. Clearing (21:00) What has the European Commission done that’s caused such a fuss in regards to clearing? (23:45) Why is this such a big deal for Europe? (25:30) What is the impact first for banks and those who use clearinghouses—and second, for the clearinghouses? (27:15) What has the market reacti

On this edition of the podcast, new co-host, James Rundle, joins Anthony Malakian to discuss Thursday’s UK general election and the effect it could have on the fintech sector in London and Europe. After that, Anthony chats with Sell-Side Technology deputy editor John Brazier to discuss the integration of Barclays’ Point IP into Bloomberg’s Port portfolio analytics platform. The UK General Election (0:00-3:10) First, Anthony introduces James—who has taken over as Waters’ news editor and deputy editor of Buy-Side Technology—and gives a reminder that voting on the Waters Rankings closes Friday, EOD. (3:30) Speaking of votes, James gives a primer on why the election was called. (5:30) A quick examination as to why the polls show the race getting closer. (8:00) Point: Why Brexit could potentially hurt the burgeoning fintech sector in London. (11:00) Counterpoint: Why Brexit might not hinder the London fintech scene in the long term. (12:30) What effect might the Brexit negotiations have on talent acquisition? (

This week on the podcast, Anthony is joined by Waters reporter Emilia David to discuss her feature that looked at technology adoption in the municipal bond market. And since the summer has finally arrived, Anthony and Emilia look at the summer movies they’re most interested in seeing. Here are the timestamps, in case you want to jump around: (0:00-2:05) The intro offers a reminder to vote in this year’s Waters Rankings, and also we announce our newest addition to the Waters team, who will be joining next week. (2:15) Before they look at the technology platforms permeating the market, they first give a primer for the municipal bond market. (3:50) The two greatest challenges facing the muni space: rising interest rates and the potential for more debt being issued to help launch infrastructure projects across the US. (7:30) From a technology perspective, what advancements are helping to drive automated adoption? (9:30) The muni space is still very voice driven—as muni traders tend to be set in their ways—b

Earlier this week, Waters’ sibling publication, Inside Data Management, hosted its annual North American Financial Information Summit (NAFIS). During the event, Stephen Morse, former head of global financial data partnerships at Twitter, spoke to the audience about how traders are mining data created through social media—and, specifically, through Twitter—to find a trading edge. After Anthony gives some information on how to vote in this year’s Waters Rankings, Stephen’s presentation will be played in full. See below for timestamps: (0:00-2:30) Info on the Waters Rankings (2:35) The start of Stephen’s presentation (4:00) A look at the trends driving alternative data adoption and the types of data that’s increasingly being used (6:40) A look specifically at social media data (7:15) Then a look at Trump’s tweets moving markets (8:30) Information that matters specifically for capital markets usage (10:45) Some examples of crowd-sourced estimates data (12:10) Some usage examples of sentiment analysis and volatil

Earlier this week it was announced that Liquidnet had acquired OTAS Technologies, a vendor that had made its name in the analytics and artificial intelligence fields. To discuss what the deal means for users, as well as some of the broader trends in the market, Adam Sussman, head of market structure for Liquidnet, joins Anthony on the podcast. (0:00-2:40) Some information about the Waters Rankings and next week’s North American Financial Information Summit. (2:40) Adam joins via phone. (3:30) Adam talks about how this deal will bring together Liquidnet’s Virtual High Touch trading platform with OTAS’s analytics platforms. (4:35) How the pairing will improve decision-support capabilities for traders. (5:35) How will it help buy-side firms to better monitor performance and algo usage? (7:45) Why did Liquidnet go with OTAS over other analytics providers? (9:05) For OTAS users, will they have full access to the tools they were previously using with the vendor? And what will integration look like? (12:15)

This week on the podcast, Anthony is once again joined by Dan (last time…at least for a while!) to welcome this week’s guest: Neal Pawar, AQR’s chief technology officer. AQR, which manages $187.6 billion as of March 31, 2017, is in the midst of a major buildout, upgrading different parts of it infrastructure, front to back, as the firm looks to continue its growth. To answer these enhancements, the need for talent has become increasingly important. Here are topics Pawar hit on during his time on the podcast: (1:45) Neal starts off looking at the fight for talent at colleges in the Northeast. (3:45) A look at how fintechs are disrupting the finance space. (6:20) What he looks for when hiring an engineer/programmer. (9:35) Programming languages they’re most interested in (Python, Pandas, Scala). (11:05) Ways to keep talented, experienced technologists. (13:45) The impact and growth of open-source applications. (14:55) The ethos of contributing back into open-source projects. (17:25) The future of open-source a

This week, Marc Andrews—vice president of Watson Financial Services Solutions for IBM—sits down with Anthony and Dan to discuss how the company is using the famed Watson platform in the financial services space. 1:00 How to enter your company for this year’s Waters Rankings. 3:00 Marc talks about why IBM focused on regulatory compliance, first, for the financial sector. 4:45 The difference between artificial intelligence and augmented intelligence. 6:45 How IBM breaks down its regulatory services. 8:00 Mifid II uses cases for cognitive learning. 10:30 Is an industry utility for AML/KYC on the horizon? 13:30 Other potential benefits for cognitive learning in the trading lifecycle. 17:00 Cognitive technology’s ability to diagnose an issue based on different “symptoms”. 20:00 A preview of Watson’s AML/KYC solution, which will be rolled out later this year. 23:40 Will cognitive machines take over the regulatory process at banks?

This podcast is dedicated to co-host Dan DeFrancesco, who, starting Monday, will move over to Waters’ sibling publication, Risk, where he’ll write about the commodities sector. To start, Dan discusses his new remit and Anthony talks about how the podcast will progress going forward (0:40). Dan then touches on his three favorite stories, which we’ve put in front of the paywall for all to read, including his feature on the Consolidated Audit Trail (9:00), the struggle to find talent (12:30) and two cover stories (16:30) that particularly stand out for him. While we will miss Dan, the Podcast will continue uninterrupted. Tune in next week to hear IBM’s Marc Andrews talk about how the company is using Watson to improve surveillance and compliance needs.

The guys open things up talking about how the Waters Rankings are now open for entry and describe the (very easy) process for getting listed (1:00). Next, they delve into how Hollywood portrays technologists and traders on TV and in film, whether these characters are accurate to real life, and what that means for talent acquisition (3:00). Finally, they talk about the films that they’re most excited to go and see (22:00).