Waters Wavelength

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).

The guys open things up discussing Anthony’s feature that looked at the public cloud sector and how the likes of AWS, GCP, IBM Cloud and Azure are trying to differentiate themselves in the capital markets space (1:00). They then discuss what the continued adoption of artificial intelligence means for jobs (18:28). The guys wrap things up talking about the United Airlines fiasco (26:15) and New York offering free tuition for its state schools (32:20).

Dan and Anthony chat about some of the hottest topics at this year’s North American Trading Architecture Summit. They open things up discussing the keynote address by Deutsche Bank’s Jim Adams, which examined financial firms’ use of open source and the need for collaboration (1:18). Dan and Anthony then talk about the C-level panel and its focus on cybersecurity (11:40). They also share some conversations they had at the conference with attendees about their thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence and machine learning (17:20). To wrap things up, the guys look at the recent flurry of stand-up acts on Netflix (24:45).

The guys open things up talking about four acquisitions that occurred over the past month. Dan and Anthony first talk about FactSet-BISAM Technologies (2:50), Numerix-TFG Financial Systems (7:21), Broadridge-Message Automation (10:05) and Trumid-Electronifie (13:09). The conversation then turns to Burton-Taylor’s research on industry data spend in 2016 (19:09). They wrap things up talking about the NCAA tournament (26:15) and the upcoming baseball season (29:45).

Dan and Anthony open things up discussing the former’s feature on shadow IT, looking at the pros and cons that come with developing technology project outside of the IT department’s jurisdiction (1:00). They then chat about Anthony’s trip to Florida for FIA Boca, including CFTC acting-chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo’s impassioned speech (15:00). Anthony wraps things up talking about his distaste for South Beach (21:30).

Dan is joined by Emilia David, WatersTechnology US staff writer, to discuss a recent DTCC conference she attended. They open things up to talk about Emilia’s story regarding the benefits of implementing automation across the entire organization as opposed to in silos (1:45). Emilia then shares some other highlights from the panel, including blockchain, cloud computing and regulators’ relationships with fintech firms (9:15). They wrap things up discussing Winter Storm Stella and how to deal with snow in the city (18:15).

Dan and Anthony are joined by Bill Murphy, chief technology officer of Blackstone and the Waters Wavelength podcast’s first-ever guest. The guys talk to Bill about technical debt (legacy systems that build up over time) and how firms can effectively handle it (1:56). They wrap things up discussing how the NBA playoffs are shaping up (22:00).

Dan invites Gabriel Woo, VP of innovation at RBC, onto the podcast to discuss some of the recent announcements the Canadian bank has made about artificial intelligence (2:45). Later on, Dan and Anthony welcome on former WatersTechnology editor and current Risk.net writer James Rundle to discuss the recent breakdown in the London Stock Exchange-Deutsche Börse merger (25:30). The guys wrap things up discussing soccer and the success James’ beloved Chelsea is enjoying this season (34:10).

Dan opens things up explaining why he’s not recording the podcast from Canada (:34). Then he and Anthony discuss colleague Aggelos Andreou’s story on organized trading facilities (OTFs) and how their implementation will affect the European marketplace (2:10). US staff writer Emilia David then joins the podcast to talk about her story looking at the rise of request-for-quote (RFQ) trading platforms for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and if it’s sustainable (11:55). The trio wraps things up talking about some plays and musicals they’ve recently seen (23:20).

Dan and Anthony decide to switch things up, using Dan’s column this week as a jumping off point to have a wide-ranging debate about what kind of impact artificial intelligence will have on our day-to-day lives in the future (1:50). They wrap things talking about the likelihood of a Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor boxing match (25:20).

Dan and Anthony open things up talking about phishing emails and how Dan was almost hacked (2:08). They then take a look at the recent trend in the industry of large and small vendors partnering up and debate if that’s a trend to keep an eye on (11:15). They wrap things up discussing the Super Bowl (16:30), including Lady Gaga’s halftime performance (23:20), and breweries they both visited over the weekend (24:20).

Dan and Anthony take a look at four recently-published features that appeared in Waters and Inside Data Management that analyze Mifid II, which comes into effect January 2018. They start by discussing two pieces regarding the reporting requirements for the buy side (1:35). The guys then take a look at what kind of clock synchronization will be needed for the regulation (11:15), and the impact Mifid II will have on the Asia-Pacific region (15:45). Anthony then gives his take on the recent SCOTUS nomination (19:55), and the guys wrap things up talking about their favorite Super Bowl prop bets (29:00). This week's podcast is sponsored by SmartStream.

Dan welcomes onto the podcast Sean Belka, the director of Fidelity Labs, to discuss virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR). They talk about the differences between VR, AR and mixed reality (2:30) and the potential benefits each have (7:25). Belka also discusses specific VR/AR projects Fidelity Lab has participated in (10:20) and what needs to occur for widespread adoption of the technology to happen (19:20). Dan and Sean wrap things up discussing how the growth of VR/AR speaks to the further consumerization of technology (21:50). Then, back with his co-host Anthony, Dan tells a story about a recent altercation he had on the subway (23:50). The guys wrap things up debating alternative facts (31:15) and the Super Bowl (38:15). This week’s podcast is sponsored by SmartStream.