How traditional high street banks must harness the power of big data to remain competitive
At the core of the challenge for banks is understanding their customer better and using the information effectively across the business.
Data & Analytics
Regulations raise new questions about industry standards
Financial market regulations across the globe are increasingly focusing on risk management. This includes ensuring it is clear who firms are trading with and for, and confirming that firms can identify the instruments being traded. As a result, the field of reference data is increasingly held under the regulatory microscope and that lens extends to the standards used to identify financial instruments, writes Chris Pickles.
Velocimetrics doubles data capture rates for trading analytics
Real-time business performance monitoring and analysis specialist Velocimetrics has announced that its TipOff product can now capture network packets to disk at a sustained rate of 40 Gigabits/sec, almost double its previous performance.
Breaking down BCBS 239
January’s Basel Committee on Banking Supervision report on banks’ progress towards BCBS 239 compliance threw up a telling contradiction. While global systemically important banks “are increasingly aware of the importance” of the BCBS 239 project, their sense of preparedness has decreased. In 2013, 10 of the 31 eligible banks reported they would be unable to comply fully by the 2016 deadline. This year, that number rose to 14. It is understandable that there is more work to be done, but how is it that the G-SIBs are moving backwards?
FCA approval takes Bloomberg into European trade reporting space
Continuing its policy of offering products that fit across user workflows, Bloomberg has moved in to the transaction reporting space in Europe. The company’s Trade Order Management System has been granted approval by the Financial Conduct Authority to report securities with an ISIN and OTC derivatives as part of the UK’s Approved Reporting Mechanisms regime.
Bringing it all together
From the early days of internet distribution, New York-based Alacra has been aggregating reference data. Chief executive Steve Goldstein told David Bannister the company’s story
Laying the foundations for agile financial services
As many more tech companies begin offering bank-like services, mainstream banks are searching for ways they can fight back
SmartStream acquires Algo Collateral business from IBM
SmartStream Technologies has acquired the assets of IBM’s Algorithmics Collateral solution and will add it to its existing solutions for the automation of the end-to-end post trade lifecycle, rebranding it as TLM Collateral Management. The system provides collateral lifecycle automation for buy- and sell-side institutions, custodians and asset servicers, large and small.
Investment banks can benefit from online intelligence
It’s no secret that more bulge bracket trading desks are turning to online intelligence – predominantly social media – to obtain breaking news and views ahead of traditional wires. Yet, with constant pressure to get the edge over competitors, other departments of major investment banks will start following the trading floor’s lead.
Diliger looks for crowdfunding to expand procurement research service
Diliger, a start-up offering research tools for buyers of capital markets services, is looking to raise £500,000 through crowdfunding using the Crowdcube site.
The media as a source of reputational protection, rather than risk
For better or worse, financial institutions are more risk averse than ever. This is the direct result of continuing and growing regulatory scrutiny over a broad range of activities, including the compliance of financial institutions in areas such as international sanctions, the prevention of money laundering, the funding of terrorism or the facilitation of tax evasion.
Orchestral manoeuvres
When first reports of an integrated communications project that had attracted a $66 million investment from a consortium of banks led by Goldman Sachs appeared last year, there was an element of cloak and dagger about the enterprise. The truth is both more prosaic and more interesting according to David Gurle, chief executive and founder of the company behind it.
Data analytics do drive financial growth finds EY study
Firms that excel at data analytics also achieve better financial results according a study by EY. High-growth companies are twice as likely to focus on data and analytics in revenue-generating areas such as marketing and sales,
Times they are a changing – data analytics in the new era of capital markets
In 2015, organisations in the business finance solutions space are likely to spend significantly on business intelligence and analytics. This data goldmine can help organisations unlock hidden opportunities and insights
ICAP brings BrokerTec and EBS under one roof
ICAP is combining its EBS foreign exchange and BrokerTec fixed income electronic trading platforms into one business unit. The change is“an internal management reorganisation” and the platforms will remain separate for the foreseeable future.
Financial industry chat consolidates as Symphony buys Markit’s messaging service
Symphony Communications, a financial industry messaging service provider, has acquired a rival service provided by Markit, a financial data management provider. The move may bolster Symphony’s ability to rival more entrenched, expensive cloud-based chat services used by financial institutions.
Banking on Big Data
The volume, speed and power of technology has transformed the Financial Services industry into one the most sophisticated data driven sectors in the global economy, allowing for the execution of complex global transactions at the push of a button. From high frequency trading to eCommerce to mobile banking, the financial sector is generating a huge amounts of data – in fact, almost too much data. Like individuals, institutions are facing an information overload that is limiting the promise and opportunity of technology.
What are bank’s requirements for next generation analytics?
Today’s consumers have high expectations − and for good reason. They have become accustomed to, and in today’s connected world, demand, anytime/anywhere access to the products, services, and information they desire and need
FIX focuses on high performance with consolidated effort
FIX Trading Community has combined all its high performance trading and market data initiatives into a single working group, emphasising the importance that high performance has in the FIX family of standards. The next generation of the FIX Protocol will fully support high performance on all levels (application, presentation, session) to offer an open standard that can replace today’s proprietary interfaces for high performance trading and market data.
Deutsche Bank hires Salesforce chief scientist for new data role
JP Rangaswami has been appointed as chief data officer at Deutsche Bank, a newly-created role in which he will “play a key role in standardising the bank’s processes, tools and governance around information and in supporting its digital strategy”.
Regulatory overload and the role of the data scientist
In the ongoing discussion about the need to use data to increase business value, it is imperative to substantiate the argument with practical, real-world use cases. Otherwise, the debate becomes just another line of marketing waffle around big data – an area already suffering from too much hype.
SEC beefs up surveillance as Barclays probe results in $72 million fine
The Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up its drive to monitor and enforce the financial markets by implementing new surveillance tools to examine and inspect reconciliations. The deal comes as the US regulator charges Barclays with failing to build adequate compliance systems and the bank suffers a fine in the UK.
Better use of data is route to new revenue says EFMA report
Banks should focus their efforts on using data to provide better services to merchants, retail customers and other businesses – and they can build a more efficient business, according to a new report by Kurt Salmon and the European Financial Management and Marketing Association.
Is your analytics solution getting the better of you?
All banks, whatever their size rely on data to make decisions. With that in mind getting that data in a timely manner and in a format that can be digested easily is critical. So why can this be so difficult? We are all used to receiving reports from our systems and even the most rudimentary examples will utilise some form of analytics, however simple. We might be getting the reports and be used to the status quo, but is your analytics platform getting the better of you?
Goods in transit: how lessons from retail can transform the financial data supply chain
Regulatory mandates call for the financial services industry to collaborate and rethink its data supply chain to tackle systemic risk and improve transparency. Looking at how the retail industry manages its supply chain could hold the key.
EY seeks start-up to solve data privacy challenges
EY is inviting start-up tech companies to compete in a competition looking for solutions to the problems posed by “right to be forgotten” regulations.
Data veteran Dalglish takes transformation role at SmartStream
Industry veteran Tom Dalglish has joined SmartStream Technologies as head of transformation services, managing post-trade processing and data management projects for global clients. Initially he will be responsible for managing the back-office transformation programme at an unnamed European bank.
Capital markets big data ‘still at an early stage’ says Thomson Reuters
Most capital markets firms are still not using big data and even those that do often lack a concerted strategy, according to a new report commissioned by Thomson Reuters.
“Cambrian explosion” of data costs banks dear
The rising volume of market data is comparable to the Cambrian Explosion in which the number of species on Earth dramatically increased around 542 million years ago. Banks will have to adjust to this deluge of data if they are to keep pace with aggressive new competitors.
Intraday liquidity reporting poses challenge for banks says Swift
New intraday liquidity reporting tools set out by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision could pose a serious challenge for banks, according to a new white paper by Swift.
Bloomberg hybrid cloud service opens access to ‘dark data’ for firms
Bloomberg Vault has introduced File Analytics, a hybrid cloud-based service that enables firms to “identify, categorise, track and manage” unstructured data held in corporate files and documents.
Piecing together the data scientist puzzle
Depending on who you speak to, the definition of a data scientist seems to mean different things to different people. Some see it as a glorified number crunching role, others believe the position requires someone more inquisitive to spot and respond to key trends.
Data dominates SifmaTech debates
The explosion of data in the securities and capital markets industry – more than 30% CAGR – is rapidly becoming a problem for market participants and managing that challenge will require a disciplined approach to the development of new data architectures.
Market manipulation detection firm offers “Pepsi Challenge” with new system
One company grateful for the flurry of publicity given to the practice of front-running orders by the publication of Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys earlier this year is New York-based Trillium, whose Surveyor market manipulation detection tool can be used to detect the practice.
Tullett Prebon launches aggregated SDR feed for interest rate swaps
Tullett Prebon has launched an aggregated swap data repositories data feed for the interest rate swaps market, aiming to increase price transparency in accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act.
Nasdaq OMX pursues data and technology revolution
Shifting settlement cycles, the rise of big data, global regulation and increasing demand for post-trade services are creating both challenges and opportunities that global exchanges would do well to face wisely, according to Lars Ottersgard, head of market technology and Eva Saidac, head of business development market technology at Nasdaq OMX.
Citi adds TCA tools to futures and options platform
Citi has launched a new set of trading features and transaction cost analysis tools on its Citi Futures and Options Execution platform, which it says will help clients to gain clarity from their futures clearing merchants.
Nasdaq OMX launches MiQ business intelligence
Nasdaq OMX has launched a new business intelligence service called MiQ, which it says will help its regional exchange, clearinghouse and CSD customers to better understand liquidity, market movements, performance and business opportunities.
Big Data and data management in capital markets
The capital markets industry continues to be amongst the top data driven industries. Electronic trading generates millions of market messages during a given day. With diminishing returns in high-frequency trading, focus has shifted from high-speed trading to looking for patterns in large volumes of market data for financial information and use cases.
Citi launches block pricing tool on Bloomberg App Portal
Citi has launched an electronic block pricing tool via the Bloomberg App Portal, marking the first time a major tier one broker has ever used the Portal to deploy an application around the world.
