Waters Wavelength

This week, Richard Blore, CEO of KY3P, a company of IHS Markit, joins Tony on the podcast. They talk about the challenges of vendor due diligence, particularly during this tumultuous time. Then, they discuss some of the broader trends firms need to address, including automation, cyber resilience, and the possibility of some fintech startups running into cash flow issues. 3:30 – Wei-Shen and Tony talk about how machine learning models have performed leading up to the pandemic (https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/7524721/covid-19-tumult-tests-ai-fund-returns), and how this time is testing ground for these models, and also for emerging technologies. 11:30 – Richard joins the podcast and gives an overview of his career and how he stumbled into the capital markets. Before joining IHS Markit in late 2019, he spent 10 years at Goldman Sachs, and before that, at Coca Cola, International Aero Engines, and Rolls Royce. 15: 30 – Then, he explains how KY3P’s Significant Event Notification and Tracking (SENT)

This week on the podcast, Ofir Gefen, head of Asia-Pacific at Swedish trading and technology provider Itiviti, talks with Wei-Shen about some of the coronavirus lessons Itiviti in Asia has provided for its other office locations. Then, they talk about how Itiviti has been handling migration projects from those coming off the Bloomberg SSEOMS solution, which is ending in April 2021. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/4314076/itiviti-looks-to-capitalize-on-bloombergs-sseoms-exit) 1:30 – Wei-Shen and Tony talk about how the podcast will be a platform for thought leadership, and where firms can speak about their ongoing projects. 5:00 – Ofir joins the podcast and talks about his background and some of his experiences from ITG, Ullink, and then at the combined entity Itiviti. 9:00 – Then, he talks about how Itiviti in Asia entered the BCP mode, following the coronavirus outbreak, and how Itiviti’s other offices could learn from example. 15:00 – Ofir gives his wide, and narrow view of how markets h

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony talk about BlackRock chairman Larry Fink’s recent letter to shareholders. They then wonder if some roles may be at risk following the coronavirus development, and how technology could play a part. Later, they chat about enhancements being made to the podcast, WatersTechnology, and themselves. 3:00 – Wei-Shen and Tony talk about Larry Fink’s letter to shareholders and how he positions BlackRock will be adapting to the coronavirus situation. 5:00 – Are ETFs technology? They delve specifically into fixed-income ETFs and what BlackRock will focus on following this situation. 11:00 – What is the buy-side doing to catch up in their technology transformation, particularly in this new environment? 13:00 – Are front-office roles at risk, and what about third-party vendors? 21:00 – Wei-Shen and Tony talk about how we’ll be enhancing the podcast, and our coverage on WatersTechnology. 25:30 – Then, they talk about how we should use this time also to improve and better themselves. 29:0

This week, Mazy Dar, CEO and co-founder at OpenFin joins Wei-Shen on the podcast. First, they talk about how the developing coronavirus (Covid-19) situation impacts the workforce, and how OpenFin is communicating with clients. Then, they discuss financial institutions’ adoption of the Financial Desktop Connectivity (FDC3) standards, and what’s holding them back. 1:00 – Wei-Shen and Tony talk about industry-scale project delays, such as ASX’s CHESS replacement (https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/7511931/asx-reconsiders-chess-replacement-timeline-as-coronavirus-bites), and also the delay of deadlines for the CAT (https://www.waterstechnology.com/regulation/7506926/industry-given-cat-relief-due-to-coronavirus), due to the coronavirus (Covid-19). 7:00 – Mazy joins the podcast and talks about the working from home and schooling from home situation, and how OpenFin continues to communicate with clients throughout the disruption caused by Covid-19. 13:00 – Then, he discusses how cloud is becoming more

This week, Kelly Mathieson, head of enterprise solutions, and Dan O’Prey, chief marketing officer of Digital Asset, join Tony on the podcast to talk about some of the issues facing blockchain in the capital markets. Before joining Digital Asset, Kelly spent more than two decades at JP Morgan, while Dan was the CEO and the co-founder of Hyperledger, the first permissioned ledger. 1:30 – Tony talks about the coronavirus (Covid-19) situation in New York, and how we should keep a positive mindset, amid the doom and gloom outlook. We will take on a slogan from the US Marine Corps: Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome. 9:30 – Dan and Kelly join the podcast and address the difficulty of cutting through the hype of blockchain. 15:30 – Then, Kelly talks about three themes she sees on how the technology is being used practically, versus the opportunity of learning and understanding it. 21:00 – When it comes to capital market blockchains, how have they evolved from the previous definitions and ideas of blockchain? 28:30

This week, Joanna Wright, our London editor, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast to talk about her feature on how transformer models are benefitting the field of natural language processing (NLP). Then, they talk about having fun at the workplace, and how companies can help provide a sense of fulfillment to their staff. https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4870381/transforming-nlp-a-look-at-new-tools-being-used-by-banks 1:00 – Joanna shares why she thinks mobile phones are the worst thing to happen to our society in the past 20 years. 4:30 – Then, they talk about AI conversational agents (or chatbots) like Google’s Meena, and Mitsuku. 7.30 – They discuss why Google hasn’t released Meena to the public for now, and the issue of bias encoded within AI models. 12:00 – What is a transformer model, and how has it helped with the development of the NLP field? 18:00 – How are data providers like Refinitiv and Bloomberg using transformer models like BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers)

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony talk about two features recently published on the website. The first, written by Wei-Shen, is on how video game technology can be applied in the financial industry and some of the challenges there. The second feature is written by Rebecca Natale, our reporter based in New York, calling out data mining for what it is, and the importance of having a plan when dealing with alternative data. https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4858766/game-on-can-the-video-game-industry-teach-banks-something-about-visualization https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4867276/data-mining-is-bullsht-an-examination 2:00 – Tony shares some of his thoughts on Bank of America’s approach to using gaming technology and the ongoing work on its prototype. 6:00 – Then, Wei-Shen talks about some of the similarities between professional gamers and traders. 10:30 – Where’s the balance between new edge technology and the risk of information overload? 16:00 – Then, they discuss Reb Natale’s fea

Mark Schlesinger, Broadridge’s CIO, joins the podcast to talk about Broadridge’s efforts in migrating its infrastructure to IBM Cloud, and how that will give the firm access to new capabilities to develop applications. 5:00 – What is The Broadridge Private Cloud? 9:00 – What does migrating a significant portion of Broadridge’s infrastructure to IBM Cloud mean to the firm, and its clients? 12:00 – What motivated this decision, and when will migrations happen? 18:00 – What are some of the new application development capabilities that IBM Cloud provides? Mark talks about the wealth platform, and the data intelligence platform that Broadridge will launch soon. 23:30 – A look into Broadridge’s blockchain efforts. 28:30 – Why is implementing a multi-cloud strategy easier said than done? 34:00 – Mark talks about his passion for squash and starting the day early.

This week, Tony and Wei-Shen talk about issues dealing with transforming the workforce while financial firms start to automate and digitize. They discuss some of the challenges firms face in upskilling existing staff. Later, they touch on the Coronavirus situation in Hong Kong. 1:30 – Wei-Shen and Tony start the podcast highlighting that registration for the North American Financial Information Summit 2020 (NAFIS) is now open. https://www.financialinformationsummit.com/na 3:30 – Then, they discuss Reb’s story (https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4839456/the-retraining-conundrum-how-best-to-transform-a-workforce) on transforming the workforce. They address some challenges, both financial and non-financial firms facing in their efforts. 11:00 – Tony talks about how difficult it is to learn new skills and how it’s not as easy as it sounds. 17:00 – They get a little distracted and talk about the latest Korean drama series Wei-Shen is watching. 18:30 – Wei-Shen brings it back to the topic. It

This week, Tony and Wei-Shen talk about third-party resiliency and how interconnected systems are. They discuss how disruptive outages and vulnerabilities are to the industry and the implications on systemic risk. https://www.waterstechnology.com/regulation/4818706/vendors-feel-heat-as-regulators-pile-pressure-on-third-party-resiliency https://www.waterstechnology.com/regulation/4813941/google-exec-regulators-insisting-on-multi-cloud-for-financial-firms https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4515601/the-future-of-cloud-regulation-the-authorities-are-taking-notice 1:00 – Tony starts by talking about how new laws in Europe will require fintech firms to scrutinize their control frameworks to deal with system failures. 3:30 – The challenge of understanding third-party and fourth-party vendor relationships. 5:00 – They delve into the complexities of validating their relationships with third-party vendors, and beyond. 7:00 – This is where the fight begins. How much will vendors push back on revealin

This week, Anthony is back on the podcast with Wei-Shen. They talk about the investment Swedish private equity firm EQT made in Rimes Technologies, as well as the two acquisitions the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) made this week. Then, they discuss some drawbacks of AI when looking at predicting market movements. https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4811986/rimes-wards-off-sale-speculation-with-investment-from-eqt https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4812921/cboe-buys-hanweck-and-ft-options-in-dual-acquisition https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4798531/nomura-chief-warns-of-ais-limitations 1:00 – Tony joins the podcast to talk about this week’s acquisition and investment news, and issues with using AI as a predictability tool of market movements. 3:00 – Then, he cautions how M&A speculation stories generally, might be a play to perhaps make the valuation of a company look better, highlight the competition, et cetera. 9:00 – Tony explains why he finds it in

Sara Dillon, FactSet’s head of private markets, joins the podcast to discuss the private markets and how firms are looking to pull together this disparate information to glean trading insights. Prior to joining FactSet last year, she had spent 17 years at General Atlantic, most recently serving as chief research officer. 1:15 When we talk about the private markets and private markets data, what are we talking about? 2:00 What are the main challenges when it comes to capturing this information? 3:15 A real-world example of this data in motion. 5:00 How do you avoid the noise? 6:15 What’s the difference between private market data and the whole scope of alternative data? 7:45 Where can firms go wrong when incorporating this information? 9:00 Why are investors taking greater notice of this space? 12:30 What new data is available today that wasn’t available before? 13:45 How does the private markets group fit into the larger FactSet offering? 15:15 How is the industry pushing toward standardization?

This week, Josephine Gallagher, UK senior reporter at WatersTechnology, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast. They talk about the feature Josephine wrote about the proliferation of deepfakes (https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4780806/the-proliferation-of-fake-information), and what it could mean for the capital markets. As firms increasingly turn to new and unique alternative data sources such as sentiment scores, and web scraping, they need to ensure the data they plug into their systems is authentic. 1:00 – Josephine joins the podcast to talk about what interested her the most about deepfakes. 3:00 – Then, they discuss two well-known deepfakes and how it’s near impossible to spot signs of tampering. 5:30 – Josephine and Wei-Shen then talk about an example that NICE Actimize’s Robert Tharle made on how criminals used a deepfaked voice of a CEO to steal $250,000. 6:30 – Does that mean firms need to implement multi-factor authentication or multi-factor authorization? 9:00 – They discuss how s

This week, Jonathan Kellner, chief executive officer, and Tom Fay, chief operating officer at the Members Exchange (MEMX), join Tony on the podcast. They talk about why there's a need for a new exchange in the US (https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4082911/challenging-us-exchanges-will-be-uphill-battle-for-memx-experts-warn), the work that has gone into getting it off the ground, and what else needs to be in place before launching.  1:30 – Wei-Shen and Tony briefly highlight some of the stories new to the website this week, including a deep-dive into API security (https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4774536/apis-frontier-of-a-new-threat)and how the likes of UBS and BlackRock are looking to break into the Chinese market (https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4772186/asset-managers-look-for-partnerships-to-expand-in-china). MEMX 4:30 – Jonathan and Tom join the podcast and talk about what MEMX is all about. 9:00 – Then, Jonathan explains how MEMX fits into the alrea

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony discuss the increase in data that firms will see coming to market as a result of 5G networks and IoT-connected devices. They talk about how firms might tackle this, following on from the current challenge firms face with alternative datasets. Then, they discuss some of the concerns surrounding the rollout of 5G and what that means for the future of financial firms and people. 2:00 – To start, Tony gives an overview of his 5G and IoT story. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4743391/5g-iot-are-you-ready-for-the-data-deluge) 4:00 – They discuss the vast amount of data that will come to the market as a result of 5G rolling out, coupled with more IoT-connected devices. 6:30 – Then, they question how firms will deal with this mountain of data coming in, as this is one of many key challenges firms deal with now? 9:00 – Is the key deciding when to fail when experimenting with noisy datasets? 13:00 – Will this mean we’ll see more consolidation in the industry? 15:00 – Tony brea

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony talk about how firms experiment with AI and ML and how firms should be more specific when they talk about these techniques. Then, they discuss the issue of gender and industry working groups, and what that might mean for the future. 1:30 – First, they talk about Hamad Ali’s Wells Fargo story. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4714551/wells-fargo-exec-banks-struggle-to-feed-hungry-ai) 7:00 – They discuss the need for failure when experimenting with machine learning. 15:30 – What’s the timeframe when it comes to implementation? 16:00 – Then they talk about the EDM Council’s formation of a Women in Data interest group 21:00 – What’s the ROI for these groups? 26:00 – Tony explains how he’s not ready for the next 20 years. 27:30 – They discuss changes the industry needs to make when it comes to managerial styles. 33:00 – Wei-Shen wraps up the podcast for 2019 with jolly holiday wishes. (aka, see you all in 2020.)

On the podcast this week, Wei-Shen and Tony briefly discuss the Waters USA conference. Then, Billy Hult, president of Tradeweb Markets, speaks with Duncan Wood, global editorial director for Infopro Digital, about the changing face of trading, how Tradeweb stacks up against the likes of tech companies like Bloomberg and Symphony, the dimming allure of exchanges, and much more. 3:00 – Billy joins the podcast with Duncan 7:00 – Billy and Duncan talk about Tradeweb post-IPO 14:30 – Next, they discuss Tradeweb’s expansion into new asset classes 18:30 – Duncan asks about how Mifid II’s best execution requirement creates challenges 21:00 – Which trends are having the greatest impact on the market structure debate 28:00 – What is the difference between an old-style exchange and an interdealer broker 32:00 – Billy responds to whether Symphony is a disruptive force 39:30 – To wrap it all up, Billy bravely answers Duncan’s random quick-fire questions

Prior to today, there have been two hosts of the Waters Wavelength Podcast: Dan DeFrancesco and Anthony Malakian. Now, we have a third: Wei-Shen Wong! Anthony, aka, Tony, will still co-host, but Wei-Shen, aka, Shen, will run the show from here on out. Here's to new beginnings! This week, Shen and Tony discuss Waters USA, which will be held on Dec. 2-3 at 1 Liberty Plaza Convene in Manhattan. They discuss digitization, new jobs in data, and the problem with polls painting a broad stroke. https://events.waterstechnology.com/watersusa

Giles Nelson, CTO of financial services for MarkLogic, joins the podcast to discuss data issues facing the capital markets, data warehousing, and Hadoop. 1:00 Giles Nelson joins the podcast. 2:00 Conventional approaches to managing data are stuck in the 1970s, according to Giles. 7:00 How to change hearts and minds. 15:00 Data warehouses—are they dead? 22:00 The balance between emerging technologies and legacy technologies. 26:00 Is the Hadoop hype gone, or just changing? 32:00 Why do firms need to be both innovative and think outside of the box, as well as stay responsible to not flush funds down the drain on a shiny new object.

This week, Jonathan Clark, CEO of Luminex, and David Hagen, Luminex’s head of product, join the podcast to look at some of the challenges and opportunities that traders on the buy side face in today’s evolving, increasingly-automated market (3:30). Also, at the start, Anthony gives an update on the Waters Asia event taking place this week.