Waters Wavelength

This week, Bitdefender’s Adrian Coleșa and Transilvania Quantum’s Sorin Boloș join to discuss security vulnerabilities in quantum computing 0:00 – Tony is back! 3:30 – Adrian Coleșa, Senior Security Researcher at Bitdefender, and Sorin Boloș, quantum software engineer at Transilvania Quantum, join the podcast 8:00 – How the partnership between Bitdefender and Transilvania Quantum began 12:00 – Research into QC as a potential target 14:00 – Why attack a QC 19:30 – Who bears the onus 23:30 – Classical and QC vulnerabilities 32:30 – What is a quantum antivirus

This week, Toby Glaysher, chairman at Finbourne Technology, joins the podcast to discuss the asset servicing industry. 0:00 – Reb and Shen rant about using ChatGPT for academic projects 12:00 – Toby Glaysher from Finbourne joins the podcast and gives an overview of his 36 years of experience in the asset servicing business 16:30 – Fund accounting is a good introduction to the investment lifecycle 19:00 – A potential zero fund accountant environment 23:00 – The impact tariffs have on asset servicing firms 27:30 – The potential solution 30:30 – There are too many participants 35:30 – 95% of the work is in executing 39:30 – Reducing the cost of investing

This week, Reb, Nyela, and Shen talk about unimaginative company names and then address some challenges in the loans market. 0:00 – Reb goes on a rant about company names 9:00 – They discuss the challenges in the loans market 14:00 – Identifiers are so esoteric

Bertie Haskins, executive director and head of data for Apac and Middle East at Capco, joins to discuss the challenges of commercializing data. 0:00 – Reb and Shen discuss Reb’s potential as the next host 3:00 – Bertie Haskins from Capco joins the podcast 5:30 – Four key areas around commercializing data 12:30 – Is the problem with how firms define the CDO role 16:00 – Strategies to commercialize data 19:30 – Understanding the data roadmap 24:00 – Steps to create new data products 26:30 – Sometimes, a simple option might be the best

This week, Jon Hodges, head of trading and asset services for Apac at FIS Global, joins the podcast to talk about how firms in Asia-Pacific approach AI and data. 0:00 – Tony and Shen talk about having faith in humanity 9:30 – Jon Hodges, head of trading and asset services for Apac at FIS Global, joins and gives an overview of how he started his career in a structured credit hedge fund 13:00 – Lessons for start-ups 17:00 – Observations from tariffs 21:30 – How Asia-Pacific firms are ahead in adopting AI 24:00 – Data’s importance 27:30 – Snowflake’s dominance in the capital markets 29:00 – Asia vs. US and Europe 31:30 – FIS is investing more in AI

Tony, Reb, and Nyela talk about tariffs (not really), journalism (sorta), and pop culture (mostly).

Brian Hyndman, CEO and president at Blue Ocean Technologies, joins to discuss overnight trading 0:00 – Nyela and Reb talk about Reb’s start at WatersTechnology 5:00 – Brian joins the podcast and walks through his background and the beginnings of Blue Ocean ATS 8:00 – How market data works for BOATS 9:00 – Obstacles for exchanges entering the overnight space 15:00 – Moving to MEMX Technologies’ platform 17:00 – Competition from other ATSs 20:00 – The growth of real-time information and its impact on trading 21:00 – Misunderstandings about overnight trading 22:30 – Roadmap for 2025

This week, SigTech’s CEO Bin Ren joins Eliot to discuss GenAI’s progress since ChatGPT’s emergence in 2022, agentic AI, and challenges with regulating AI. 0:00 – Wei-Shen and Tony discuss their bar trivia adventures 5:30 – Bin Ren, CEO of SigTech, joins Eliot on the podcast 7:00 – Agentic AI 10:30 – Next steps in GenAI 15:00 – Is AI impossible to regulate? 23:30 – The understanding gap between tech and finance teams

This week, Tony and Nyela discuss Nyela's week spent in Boca Raton, Florida covering the FIA Boca conference as well as the current developments around 24/7 trading in US equity markets. 0:00- Tony and Nyela discuss the beginning of baseball season in the United States 3:25- They discuss what happened last week at FIA Boca

Caesar, who previously spent 15 years at Google, joins to discuss Arta’s goal of putting a private banker in everyone’s pockets. 0:00 – Reb and Shen talk about cat punches and Reb’s profile on CME’s Terry Duffy https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tech/7952311/exclusive-terry-duffy-on-cmes-cloud-future-takeover-targets-and-candy 7:00 – Caesar Sengupta, co-founder and CEO of Arta Finance, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast 10:00 – Big Tech’s challenges in trying to get deep into finance and the capital markets 19:30 – Why it’s hard for traditional finance players to create new user experiences 22:00 – Arta’s use of AI and application of agentic AI 28:00 – How Arta is different from robo advisors 30:30 – Partnerships with banks 32:30 – Arta’s focus in the next few months 34:00 – Google connections

This week, Tony and Nyela discuss FactSet’s recent acquisition of LiquidityBook and what it could signal for trading technology. https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tech/7952274/factset-liquiditybook-the-buy-side-oms-space-continues-to-shrink 0:00 – Tony and Nyela discuss the year's Best Picture Oscar winner 3:30 – They discuss the evolution of the OMS space

Reb is back on the podcast to talk about her trip to Reykjavik, as well as two market data reports released this month. 0:00 – Reb talks about her travels to Iceland 14: 00 – They discuss market data fees

Jennifer joins Eliot on the podcast this week to discuss the changing agenda at the SEC under Paul Atkins, crypto regulation, and the status of the Consolidated Audit Trail. 00:00 Tony and Shen discuss the Super Bowl and Tony's close encounter with a pizza cutter 13:00 Jennifer Schulp, director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, joins Eliot on the show 16:00 Core focuses of the SEC going forward 23:00 The Uyeda interim administration 28:00 The new crypto agenda 32:00 "Minding the shop" vs. "setting the stage" 39:00 The Consolidated Audit Trail

Lee joins to discuss changes in communication platforms over the last few years. 0:00 – Tony and Shen discuss their favorite desserts 4:30 – Lee Garf, general manager for financial markets compliance at Nice Actimize, joins Nyela on the show 5:30 – They discuss regulatory fines from 2024 and what it means for 2025 9:30 – The role of cloud 11:00 – Nice Actimize’s approach today 13:00 – How Nice Actimize is approaching AI 18:00 – The AI training process and financial lingo 25:30 – Predictions for 2025

This week, Dan Entrup, co-founder of AggKnowledge and the creator of the It’s Pronounced Data newsletter joins Tony on the podcast. They discuss private markets data, artificial intelligence, and more. 00:00 Wei-Shen and Tony ramble on about Lunar New Year traditions 9:05 Dan Entrup, co-founder of AggKnowledge and the creator of the It’s Pronounced Data newsletter, joins the show 11:06 Dan’s career and the origins of AggKnowledge 15:33 The origins of the It’s Pronounced Data newsletter 20:42 The private markets data ecosystem 22:16 Challenges around private markets data 25:56 Why Dan doesn’t like the term “alternative data” 27:53 Data is still sold, not bought 31:52 Misalignment of data needs 36:54 The current appetite for AI

This week, Nick Kolba, CEO and co-founder of Connectifi, joins Tony on the podcast. They discuss interoperability, the FDC3 standard, and the challenges of starting a company. 4:30 – Nick joins Tony on the podcast 11:30 – Desktop containers and interoperability 15:30 – Things should just work 19:00 – Limitations of the FDC3 movement 27:30 – You need tech that can support the transformation of data 28:30 – AI and its irrelevance to structured data 38:30 – Unexpected challenges of starting a company

This week, Javier Hernani, head of securities services at SIX, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast. They discuss the key takeaways from shortening the settlement cycles in the US, Canada, and Mexico, and the landscape for what needs to happen for Europe, UK, and Switzerland’s own move to T+1. 7:30 – Javier gives an overview of his role and dislike of the term “post-trade” 12:30 – The key takeaways from North America’s move to T+1 16:30 – What was the total investment in moving to T+1 21:00 – An opportunity to improve 23:00 – Lessons the EU, UK, and Swiss markets can apply 33:30 – The number of CSDs does not make it more complicated 35:30 – Why harmonizing EU’s securities services matters 40:30 – Balancing efforts for T+1 and DORA

Happy New Year, dear listeners. This week, Tony and Shen reflect on how this podcast started, the guests we’ve brought on, the changes in music (and co-hosts), and the topics we’ve covered and will be covering looking ahead.

Eliot talks to Carlo di Florio, president of financial services advisory company ACA Group, about the SEC’s key decisions this year, as well as the future of the regulator with current SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s tenure at the helm of the top US financial services regulator coming to an end in 2025. di Florio joined the SEC in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, and while there, headed up the regulator’s examinations division. Note to listeners: This episode was recorded before Paul Atkins’ SEC nomination. 6:30 – Carlo joins Eliot on the podcast 13:00 – Striking a balance 14:30 – The Gensler administration vs. future direction of the SEC 18:00 – New regulatory ideas around crypto, and other emerging technologies 19:30 – Pause on rulemaking 23:00 – Enforcement of off-channel communications 29:00 – The future of the Consolidated Audit Trail

Reb and Shen discuss Reb’s article about how generative AI will impact the market data industry and how that will also creep into the reference data space. Reb also details a market data framework by Substantive Research, the drama around reference data identifiers, and a preview of her next story. https://www.waterstechnology.com/emerging-technologies/7952088/ai-set-to-overhaul-market-data-landscape-by-2029-new-study-finds?ref=header-search https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7951990/industry-seeks-to-avoid-future-clashes-over-data-costs https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7951982/new-working-group-to-create-open-framework-for-managing-rising-market-data-costs