Waters Wavelength

After the Soviet Union broke apart, Roman Ginis and his family left Ukraine and came to America. He earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the California Institute of Technology, and then landed engineering jobs at Intel, IBM and BAE Systems. From there, he moved to Wall Street as a junior quant at UBS, developing execution technologies and quantitative analytics for electronic market-making for the investment bank. That led to a job at Cubist Systematic Strategies, the quant trading arm of Point72 Asset Management. After seven years at the hedge fund, he shipped off to create a startup called Imperative Execution, the parent of IntelligentCross, a dark pool that uses AI to improve match times on a security-by-security basis to reduce market impact. Imperative Execution is backed by a consortium of investors, including Point72. Ginis talks about his career, the challenges of creating a startup, and how the world of trade execution is evolving.

Anthony Malakian and Jo Wright walk through some of the changes that have taken place at WatersTechnology and what it will mean for the podcast—all good things…we hope!

Tony Amicangioli, founder and CEO of HPR, formerly known as Hyannis Port Research, joins the podcast to chat about his career. Amicangioli has had an interesting ride in the world of technology. A graduate of MIT, he was at BBN Technologies, one of the leading firms behind the development of the internet. Switches, gateways, routers and mobile networks—he was in the vanguard for those, as well. He created his own companies—Zetari and Hyannis Port Research—and worked at cutting-edge tech firms like Juniper Networks and Lime Brokerage. For the podcast, he talks about the lessons that he’s learned when it comes to building a company. We also talk about how the so-called “Race to Zero” conversation has changed. Additionally, we look at the arms race for cloud supremacy unfolding between Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure, and what that might mean for capital markets firms over the next decade. To that last point, this outtake was very interesting—and it’s something that ba

This week, John Ramsay, chief market policy officer of IEX Group, the parent of the Investors Exchange (IEX), talks about the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Transaction Fee Pilot and why his company is supporting the regulator’s efforts, even as the likes of the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Cboe Global Markets are taking the SEC to federal court over the proposal. 0:45 John Ramsay joins the show. 3:00 John delves into the thinking behind the Transaction Fee Pilot. 7:00 The big US stock exchanges are taking the SEC to federal court. John does not think their legal claim is valid. 14:00 Fragmentation is exacerbating the problem. IEX is one of those startups that have entered the market. John contends that IEX’s proposition is different than others. 17:15 Dark pools are not part of the pilot. Is that a problem? 20:00 The largest exchanges contend that the average total cost to trade is lower on their exchanges than it is to trade of IEX. John disagrees. 22:45 He also does not think that

This week, Gerard Francis, global head of enterprise data at Bloomberg, re-joins the podcast to discuss the alternative data space. 1:45 Why did the company launch the data website Bloomberg Enterprise Access Point? 3:45 Is there room for consolidation in the alt data space, or is the universe only going to continue to grow? 8:00 What types of alternative data have the most room for growth, and how are firms incorporating these datasets? 12:00 Is geolocation becoming more commoditized? How can it be blended with other forms of alt data? 13:00 How do you go about validating an alt data provider? 16:00 What are some of the challenges when it comes to using environmental, social and governance data and where is there room for improvement in regards to standardization and reporting requirements? 18:30 Will sell-side firms ever be able to monetize their internal data? 20:00 How is Bloomberg evolving as a data provider? 22:30 What does the company’s product roadmap look like for 2019?

Pete Cherecwich, president of Corporate & Institutional Services (C&IS) at Northern Trust, joins the podcast to examine the challenges that firms face today when trying to offer convenience through technological innovation, while also making sure that these services are secure—the old security-versus-convenience debate, but on an enterprise scale. Also, Bloomberg intends to exit two key businesses and WatersTechnology has a new reporter. Pete Cherecwich 1:00 Pete joins the podcast 2:30 Security versus convenience 4:00 The problem with trying to monetize internal data 5:30 Navigating convenience and functionality 10:00 Changing the culture and organization 13:30 The problem with tech disintermediation 15:30 The blockchain question 18:30 Is an industry data utility the right answer? 20:30 GDPR 23:00 Security best practices 24:30 Northern Trust is partnering with Bloomberg to offer custodial data 27:00 C&IS’ product roadmap for 2019 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190326005582/en/Northern-Trust-Dri

This week, Simon Hazlitt calls in from London (11:00 min mark) to discuss where firms can get tripped up when migrating to the cloud. Hazlitt is the cofounder of Majede Asset Management. He retired from the firm at the end of 2016, but this year he decided to launch a cloud consulting business called Supl. This conversation comes on the heels of a deep-dive feature written by Anthony (5:30). People are learning that moving to the public cloud is not as simple as flipping a switch. Anthony spoke with executives from Blackstone, Bank of America, Northern Trust, Trading Technologies, Numerix and more to find out some of the lessons they’ve learned along the way. Click here to read: https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4224076/lessons-learned-from-early-public-cloud-adopters Additionally, for the April issue of WatersTechnology, Josephine Gallagher sat down with the FCA's Nausicaa Delfas to discuss how the regulator is preparing for any number of potential Brexit outcomes (2:30). Click here to read: htt

This week, Anthony and James discuss some of the biggest stories to come out of this year’s FIA Boca event, including Christopher Giancarlo’s thoughts on tech at the CFTC (5:00), the slow evolution of the crypto space (9:00), and the DTCC’s progress on its new blockchain-driven Trade Information Warehouse (12:45). Additionally, the CAT NMS committee has proposed yet another delay in the rollout of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) and the Australian Securities Exchange is trying to get the industry excited for its still-to-be-launched CHESS-replacement blockchain (19:45). Then, at the end, Anthony and James jibber-jabber about how Democrats are positioning themselves for the 2020 election. https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4208366/cftc-chair-says-agency-is-finally-getting-resources-to-bolster-tech https://www.waterstechnology.com/regulation/4219956/cat-nms-committee-proposes-five-month-delay-to-broker-reporting https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4207121/dtccs-blockchain-powered-tra

On the podcast, Anthony and James look at a wide range of topics this week: 1:00 The winners of this year’s Women in Technology and Data Awards were announced on Friday. 2:45 The April issue of Waters magazine will feature a redesign: James explains what this will mean for subscribers. 8:15 Finra was named the plan processor of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). 11:00 James is heading down to FIA Boca this week and he previews what he’ll be covering. 17:45 A very long discussion about the best show to hit the air in 2019: True Detective, Season 3.

Gil Mandelzis joins the podcast this week. Gil founded Traiana back in 2000 and eventually became CEO of EBS BrokerTec. In 2017 he cofounded another startup called Capitolis. He talks about the differences in the startup world today versus two decades ago and looks at some of the challenges facing the FX market. But before that, some news. In the News: 1:00 The Members Exchange (MEMX) names Jonathan Kellner as its inaugural CEO. What might this mean for the startup? https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4177991/jonathan-kellner-to-lead-memx READ: Challenging US Exchanges Will be Uphill Battle for MEMX, Experts Warn https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4082911/challenging-us-exchanges-will-be-uphill-battle-for-memx-experts-warn 3:15 State Street Corp. names Lou Maiuri as COO. What does this say about State Street’s acquisition of Charles River Development? https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4178351/lou-maiuri-named-coo-of-state-street READ: Questions Raised

Martin Boyd, global head of FIS’s institutional and wholesale business unit, which represents the legacy SunGard suite of services, joins to discuss everything from fintechs to regulation to machine learning to cloud. Before that, though, Anthony and James provide their takeaway after writing extensively about the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT).   CAT 2:15-18:00 Anthony and James look at the train wreck that is the Consolidated Audit Trail.  https://www.waterstechnology.com/regulation/4152906/cats-tale-how-thesys-the-sros-and-the-sec-mishandled-the-consolidated-audit-trail https://www.waterstechnology.com/regulation/4166596/cats-future-still-cloudy-as-nms-committee-declines-to-name-new-processor Martin Boyd 21:00 Martin Boyd joins the podcast and first looks at the state of the fintech community. 25:30 How does FIS try to interact with that fintech community? 29:30 Where are there still opportunities for fintechs to make an impact? 32:00 A look at how artificial intelligence comes into play.  34:30 How doe

Bryan Cross, head of UBS Asset Management’s Quantitative Evidence and Data Science team (QED), joins the podcast to talk about why the firm created the unit in 2018 and examines the alternative data space. 3:00 What led UBS Asset Management to create the QED group? 6:00 Active versus Passive, and how alternative data fits in. 9:00 It’s still early days in the alternative data industry. 13:30 Which sectors of alternative data are most useful? 18:30 How does AI help to distill this information? 21:00 Talent and culture…what are the lessons learned when building this group? 27:30 Bryan talks about his career path and gives advice to up-and-coming data scientists. 31:00 Some book recommendations.

Lars Ottersgård, head of market technology for Nasdaq, joins to discuss what he sees as being the biggest tech trends in the capital markets for 2019 and beyond. 1:15 Lars takes a quick look back at highlights from 2018. 2:30 He then breaks down what he thinks some of the key tech trends will be for 2019 and beyond. (Cloud will continue to be big.) 6:00 He also thinks that 2019 will be the year for real blockchain use-cases. 9:00 A look at Nasdaq’s recent acquisitions and the company’s tech roadmap. 11:30 Will we see greater consolidation in the alternative data space going forward? 13:00 Lars explains why they are already looking at quantum computing advancements. 15:30 When it comes to AI, what are the most exciting trends that could yield new advancements in 2019? 18:00 Lars tells us his favorite things to do in Stockholm.

First (1:00), the final phases of initial margin rules are expected to capture over the next two years more than 1,000 buy-side and sell-side firms, which technology providers see as potential customers—what are the tech challenges? Then (12:00), James discusses his profile of Robert and Richard Michaud of New Frontier Advisors and why it’s important for technologists to understand investment theory. Finally (22:00), Anthony and James ramble on about comedy and the 1st Amendment. https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4103001/tech-releases-surge-ahead-of-initial-margin-deadlines https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4089301/rebel-math-robert-and-richard-michaud-new-frontier-advisors

Adam Sussman, head of market structure and liquidity partnerships for Liquidnet, joins the podcast to talk about the Members Exchange (MEMX), which is a proposed new venue for trading US stocks that is backed by a consortium of financial firms: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, E*Trade, Fidelity Investments, Morgan Stanley, UBS, TD Ameritrade, and Virtu Financial. https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4082911/challenging-us-exchanges-will-be-uphill-battle-for-memx-experts-warn https://www.liquidnet.com/expert-insights/is-it-live-or-is-it-memx 2:00 Does the US need another equities venue? 5:00 Might this be a play by these firms to get the established trading venues to lower their fees? 10:00 There aren’t any human names attached to this project yet, should that raise red flags? 13:00 From a tech standpoint, are there any barriers for entry into the exchange marketplace? 18:00 Moving forward, if this exchange gets off the ground, how will it add liquidity?

This week Bill Murphy, chief technology officer of Blackstone Group, joins to discuss his firm’s migration to the public cloud and what he views as being best practices for going to the cloud. This is Bill's fourth time on the show. Here are the links to his previous conversations. https://www.waterstechnology.com/industry-issues-initiatives/3473326/waters-wavelength-podcast-episode-105-blackstones-bill-murphy-part-3 https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/3056376/waters-wavelength-podcast-episode-60-bill-murphy-blackstone-cto https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/2461751/waters-wavelength-podcast-episode-22-blackstone-cto-bill-murphy 1:45 Where is Blackstone in its cloud migration journey? 4:30 Where is the industry as a whole when it comes to cloud adoption? 6:30 How can you “do the cloud wrong”? 8:00 As these platforms become more mission critical for everyone, how concerned are you about outages? 12:00 Beyond price, what other factors come into play when choosing between Amazon, Google

Anthony and James discuss the trends that they think will dominate the headlines in 2019: https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4045791/the-best-longform-stories-of-2019 Artificial Intelligence (2:00) Blockchain (3:00) Back to AI (4:00) Cloud (6:00) Regulation (9:00) Alternative Data (14:00) Quantum Computing (16:45) M&A (17:30) Market Data Fees (22:00) WatersTechnology (24:00) The Best Longform Outside of WatersTechnology (28:00) Trashed: Inside the Deadly World of Private Garbage Collection, Kiera Feldman (ProPublica) https://www.propublica.org/article/trashed-inside-the-deadly-world-of-private-garbage-collection Blood Will Tell, Pamela Colloff (ProPublica) https://features.propublica.org/blood-spatter/mickey-bryan-murder-blood-spatter-forensic-evidence/ “I Killed Them All”, Jessica Garrison (Buzzfeed) https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jessicagarrison/martinez-hitman-cartel-black-hand-mano-negra-contract-killer Inside Palmer Luckey’s Bid to Build a Border Wall, Steven Levy (Wired) ht

With James away in London, Wei-Shen Wong, Asia editor for WatersTechnology, calls in from Hong Kong to give her perspective on trends unfolding in the Asia-Pacific region. They talk about blockchain (3:15), cryptocurrencies and—separately—tokenization (14:15), various forms of artificial intelligence and automation efforts (20:00), the proliferation of cloud usage in the region (25:30), and the feud that unfolded between India and Singapore earlier this year and what’s ahead for the two nations (28:00). They wrap things up by admitting to their favorite Netflix shows that bring them shame (35:30) and Wei-Shen talks about some of the stories she’s working on for 2019 (48:30). https://www.waterstechnology.com/operations/4014326/tokenization-the-flip-side-of-the-coin https://www.waterstechnology.com/exchanges-trading-venues/3969216/custody-seen-as-cryptos-next-major-battleground https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4007716/deep-learning-the-evolution-is-here https://www.waterstechnology.com/excha

This week, Anthony and James talk about some of the themes and discussions at our flagship Waters USA conference, which was held in New York City on December 3. Then, James sits down with Raymond Zenkich, president and chief operating officer of crypto insurer BlockRe, to talk about some of the challenges of offering insurance products in such a new and risky market. 2:00 James and Anthony revisit some of the themes from this week’s conference, including where fintech companies get it wrong while trying to attract bank funding. 4:00 One of the highlights was Cathy Bessant, global chief operations and technology officer at Bank of America, being interviewed on-stage by editor-in-chief Victor Anderson. 7:00 A new way of looking at artificial intelligence, beyond the hype cycle, was evident at the conference. [For a very deep dive into how firms are using deep learning in the capital markets, click here.] 9:30 While people are coming around to using one (or more) of the big cloud providers, there are still

After a brief break, Anthony and James are back. This week they look ahead to Waters USA, the December issue of Waters, and Brexit. 1:00 Waters USA will be held on Monday, Dec. 3, at the Convene on W 46th Street in Manhattan. Anthony first looks at some of the highlights—cloud, artificial intelligence, alternative data, regulation, blockchain—for the all-day conference. If you are an end-user, this event is free to attend; vendors will have to pay a fee, but there will be tons of senior executives from end-user firms both in attendance and speaking. Click here to register: http://events.waterstechnology.com/watersusa/book-now Click here to see the agenda: http://events.waterstechnology.com/watersusa/agenda 8:30 James and Anthony give their thoughts on what they hope to hear from speakers at the event and why this is an important tech conference for even non-techies to attend. 17:00 James gives a look at the December issue of Waters magazine. 23:00 Finally, James gives his thoughts on recent developmen