Waters Wavelength

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony speak with WatersTechnology’s new GameStop editor Rebecca Natale to get the skinny on the Reddit vs. Wall Street saga. WARNING: As noted at the start of the podcast, there are a fair number of curse words that are uncensored used throughout this episode. Please do not listen if you are offended by that kind of language, and for the love of God, wear headphones if you are in a public place listening to this, or are around children.

Wei-Shen and Tony are trying a different format this year with the podcast, and they start by discussing mental health and ways to help and support coworkers and friends.

For the last podcast of 2020 here at WatersTechnology, Wei-Shen speaks with Likhit Wagle, general manager of global banking at IBM, about how financial firms are approaching cloud and containerization technologies. 5:00 Likhit joins the podcast and opens by explaining how banks should approach their cloud strategies. 13:00 He then discusses IBM Cloud for Financial Services and how banks are currently migrating to the public cloud. 16:00 Next, they look at the challenges associated with a cloud architecture versus on-prem. 23:00 Then he examines optimal ways for firms to keep on top of their cloud expenditure. 30:00 From there, Wagle delves into the challenges and costs associated with sunsetting an application. 34:00 He follows that with a look at how IBM Cloud for Financial Services structures contracts around flexibility. 38:30 While a believer in containerization, he analyzes what firms should be aware of when using these services? 46:00 Wagle wraps up the conversation by talking about his hopes for 20

This week, John Lin, founder and now chairman of Grasshopper, a Singaporean prop-trading firm, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast. They talk about his experience as a trader, why he left, and the projects he’s working on now. 4:00 John joins the podcast and talks about travel challenges during the pandemic. 8:00 John talks about his experiences in the open outcry trading pits, building a company from the ground up, and what led him to step back from his day-to-day responsibilities. 15:30 When it comes to technology, John says change is a constant, and it’s a reason why banks have struggled to keep pace with new innovations. 24:00 John next explains why he’s a believer in blockchain’s long-term adoption. 33:30 Since stepping back as CEO of Grasshopper, John’s joined something called Mastermind, which is a collection of innovative thinkers from an assortment of different fields. He discusses some of the more interesting projects that he’s been involved with through Masterminds. 44:30 To wrap things up, he

This week, two bank technology executives join the podcast to discuss what’s driving innovation in the capital markets during a pandemic, and the challenges that lie ahead. Before that, Wei-Shen incorrectly calls this Episode 222. In her defense, she's under two-week quarantine. Let's get to the show! Joerg Landsch: Head of Innovation, Americas, Deutsche Bank Apoorv Saxena: Global Head of AI Technology, JP Morgan Chase 4:00 How did the pandemic change “innovation” projects in 2020? 10:00 How did AI development change this year? 16:30 How has cloud, API, and open-source adoption help banks navigate the challenges of 2020? (Some DLT and quantum computing talk in here, too.) 23:30 What were some of the key lessons learned during the pandemic? 28:30 Why is interoperability and breaking down data siloes becoming even more important? 33:30 What are the greatest challenges when it comes to keeping a team engaged when everyone is working remotely?

Wei-Shen and Tony take a look at some headlines involving ESG. Come for the headlines, stay for the snark.

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony discuss some headlines from across the industry. 2:30 Texas woos financial services firms located in New Jersey. (Dallas Morning News) https://www.dallasnews.com/business/technology/2020/11/09/nasdaq-and-other-trading-exchanges-to-meet-with-texas-gov-abbott-about-potential-move/#:~:text=The%20Dallas%20Morning%20News%20reported,the%20state's%20business%2Dfriendly%20environment. 11:00 Goldman moving staff to lower-cost cities around the US/World. (Business Insider) https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-staff-low-cost-hubs-dallas-salt-lake-bangalore-2020-11 24:30 The best programming languages & platforms for data science in finance. (efinancialcareers) https://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/3004783/graham-giller-data-science-finance

David Hardoon, senior advisor for data and artificial intelligence at UnionBank of the Philippines, joins to discuss all things artificial intelligence and machine learning. 4:00 David talks about his previous role at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. What can you do vs. what should you do? 8:30 He explains how the accessibility of data and ML tools can lead to the convergence of ML algos. 15:00 How do firms get an edge? Hope is not a strategy. 18:00 Simulation is key in exploiting operational alpha. 27:30 How does adversarial AI play a part in this? 33:00 What should traders do to ensure authenticity? 40:00 David explains what operationalizing data and AI at UnionBank means.

This week on the podcast, Wei-Shen talks with Victor Alexiev, director and head of programs and strategic partnerships for Citi Ventures APAC. They talk about some of the challenges and opportunities within banks and how D10X—Citi Venture’s internal entrepreneurship program, which looks at moonshot projects—tackles them. 3:30 – Victor joins the podcast and gives an overview of Citi Ventures and its three pillars—investment, exploration, and learning. 10:30 – Then he delves into some of the projects D10X has worked on recently. 13:00 – Most of the solutions don’t necessitate using emerging technologies. 15:00 – Defining the problem comes first. 20:00 – Challenges and themes Citi Ventures and D10X are looking at. In Asia, Citi is interested in the lifecycle of tokenized securities. 28:30 – Victor explains how the team at D10X is expandable. 32:00 – The team is looking at advanced data analytics, ML, and NLP to mine external content for signals.

After a couple late postponements, Wei-Shen and Tony just spend the show having a conversation about Tony’s new pool cue and other nonsense (start of podcast), some conversation about the current M&A market (5:00), and then they get into politics (18:30). Enter at your own risk. (Editor’s note: This was recorded last week, but I—Tony—am lazy and took forever getting this posted…back soon this week with a guest.)

On February 3, 2020, it was publically announced that Bill Murphy—Blackstone’s CTO for almost a decade—would be leaving the firm at the end of March. Bill rejoins the Wavelength podcast—for a record fifth time—to discuss some of the lessons he learned while working at the private equity giant, and the next phase of his career. (2:00-47:00) At the backend of the podcast, Wei-Shen and Tony discuss Refinitiv’s plans going forward after the launch of Workspace (47:30-end). https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7692821/of-refinitiv-and-old-rivalries 3:30 Bill discusses his decision to join Cresting Wave. 7:15 For those who have fared well during the pandemic, what went right? 10:30 What are the dangers of making knee-jerk tech decisions to answer Covid-related needs? 13:30 When it comes to the buy v. build debate, are banks more wary of taking the lead on moonshot projects? 19:00 Do banks and asset managers risk falling behind if they hand too much off in the innovation space? 21:00 What interests Bil

This week on the podcast, Wei-Shen talks with Hans Brown, head of enterprise innovation and chief information officer for corporate technology at BNY Mellon. The two delve into the topic of innovation and what that word means today compared to pre-coronavirus. Before that, Tony highlights two big stories posted on WatersTechnology.com from the past: Refinitiv’s new Workspace platform and what this rollout means for Eikon and Thomson One, and a deep-dive into Bloomberg’s Financial Instrument Global Identifier (FIGI). The interview begins at the 5:00 min mark. https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7689651/refinitiv-begins-move-away-from-eikon-thomson-one-with-debut-of-workspace https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7690251/bloombergs-figi-a-case-of-red-light-green-light

Once again, Wei-Shen and Tony are poaching a panel from the inaugural WatersTechnology Innovation Exchange. This week, the conversation centers around data: lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic; why banks are increasingly embracing the cloud; a look at whether or not disaster recovery will change after Covid; and our panelists wrap it up by looking into their crystal balls and predict one major trend that will develop in 2021. Skip to the 5:00 mark if you don't want to hear about Tony's birthday weekend and just want intelligent conversation about data. Michael Ruttledge, chief information officer and head of technology services, Citizens Bank David Wright, chief data officer for North America, Commerzbank Andrew Foster, chief data officer for the Americas, Deutsche Bank

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony step aside and turn the podcast over to a panel of AI experts. Last week, executives from Bank of America, Prudential, FactSet, and University College London were on a panel at the inaugural WatersTechnology Innovation Exchange. They talked about a range of topics pertaining to AI and machine learning, including issues around explainability, where banks struggle to implement AI, and the buy-v-build debate. https://events.waterstechnology.com/innovation-exchange Laura Hamilton, global head of treasury technology, Bank of America Michael Natusch, global head of AI, Prudential Emine Yilmaz, department of computer science, University College London (UCL) Ruggero Scorcioni, principal machine learning engineer for cognitive computing, FactSet

This week on the podcast, Clare Flynn Levy, founder and CEO at Essentia Analytics, joins to talk about her shift from the buy side to going “native”. Before that, Wei-Shen and Anthony talk about the WatersTechnology Innovation Exchange, which starts on September 9. To register for the three-week virtual event, use this link: https://events.waterstechnology.com/innovation-exchange/book-now * Clare joins the podcast and explains the reason for starting Essentia Analytics and what it means to “go native”. (5:30) * Using analytics to trust your gut, or let you know if your gut is wrong. (15:00) * How can understanding behavioral biases help push active managers forward? (16:30) * Clare discusses how AI biases play into the fund management process. (32:00) * For those on the buy side not using behavioral analytics, what’s holding them back? (38:00)

Since it’s the end of August, Tony and Shen—mainly Tony—ramble incoherently about Covid tests and influencers. Come September, we’ll be back with guests and (hopefully) informative conversations about fintech. This one is more about laughs and fun.

This week’s podcast is something of a preview for next month’s WatersTechnology Innovation Exchange. Tony, Wei-Shen, Max Bowie, and Joanna Wright got together for a Microsoft Teams video call to help promote the event, but the conversation was good (and long) so we decided to put the full thing up on the podcast. Max kicks things off talking about how banks might look to turn their office spaces into something of a WeWork for fintechs (8:30). Joanna has been writing a lot about ESG of late, both from a regulatory perspective, as well as looking at actual use cases, so she delves into how ESG is being used in today’s markets (14:00). Wei-Shen looks at innovation in the APAC region and how Asia may be ahead of North America and Europe when it comes to tools that allow employees to work remotely (19:00). Finally, Tony asks some follow-up questions of the three editors (26:00-55:00). To register for the Innovation Exchange, which will be held over the course of three weeks—September 9-22—click here: https://eve

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony talk about a recent story published on WatersTechnology (link below) where tech execs from UBS, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale, and Nomura discuss where they're directing their IT budgets (2:00). The gist is that so-called innovative moonshot projects are being put on the backburner...Tony and Shen take a contrarian view. Also, what happens if banks cut back on their metropolitan office footprints (15:30)? To wrap things up, Tony and Shen discuss what their own personal moonshoots are (20:00). https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/7666226/moonshots-shelved-banks-spend-on-home-working-tech https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/7552636/space-exploration-how-will-banks-handle-unwanted-costly-real-estate-post-covid

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony share their thoughts on new alternative datasets relating to the pandemic, and how investment firms are taking advantage of it. 2:00 – Tony talks about how he’s putting together the August issue of the WatersTechnology magazine, focused on our coronavirus coverage. 4:00 – They discuss Jo Gallagher’s story on vaccine tracking data as an alt dataset, and how it can signal potential “winners” to investment professionals. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7660636/vaccine-tracking-data-the-next-big-alt-dataset) 8:30 – Advancements in NLP and sentiment analysis has helped give these new datasets a leg up. 10:00 – Tony talks about geolocation data is used to monitor foot traffic in and out of hospitals. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7534286/geolocation-data-spotlights-covid-recovery) 13:00 – Then, they discuss the privacy issues associated with geolocation data, and how many don’t realize the personal data they’re giving away. 19:30 – They wonder

This week on the podcast, Simon Maughan, Liquidnet’s head of trading alpha, joins (3:00-35:30) to discuss the current landscape in the agency-broking space and the buy side’s need for strong analytics in today’s trading environment. Then Wei-Shen and Tony jump back on (35:30) to discuss a documentary that they both watched, and somehow they try to connect it to the world of AML/KYC. (Note: There's a bit of an awkward cut as Wei-Shen and Tony went longer than anticipated talking about a documentary, so we tacked that on at the end.) 3:00 Simon joins the podcast. 7:00 He first talks about the state of agency trading and cost-of-trade issues. 10:30 How have the needs of the buy side changed? 19:00 Over the past few years we’ve seen agency brokers use block trades to drum up business, employ nifty algos to attract clients, while incorporating transaction-cost analysis and other data points as value-adds. Is there a point where the road runs out on what an agency broker can offer? 23:00 He then explains the