Waters Wavelength

To mark the 200th episode of the podcast, Wei-Shen and Tony bring back Dan DeFrancesco and James Rundle. Together they reminisce on the beginnings of the Waters Wavelength podcast, and how they tried not to screw things up too badly. Then, they discuss how technology in the capital markets has evolved over the years, from the ‘Flash Boys’ era to the emergence of fintechs, blockchain, and cloud technology. They wrap up by talking about TV series and movies they’ve watched in the past few months. Here’s to the next 200 episodes!

This week Marshall Saffer, vice president and head of Americas sales at Hazeltree, joins Tony on the podcast to talk about software development issues that have arisen since the start of coronavirus and controversies around Microsoft Excel. 2:30 – Wei-Shen and Tony discuss his recent article on the Stevens Institute of Technology, which is creating an artificial exchange aimed initially at the HFT crowd. https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/7556791/stevens-institute-capco-lay-out-commercialization-efforts-for-new-artificial-exchange 9:30 – Marshall talks about his role at Hazeltree, which includes building out the sales organization around treasury management for buy-side firms. He then discusses some of the challenges of working remotely. 18:00 – Looking at software development from a sales perspective, Marshall says that Covid-19 has been the reason many projects were put on hold or delayed. 22:30 – Then, they discuss working with Excel, both on a personal and company-wide level. Despi

Jennifer Peve, managing director of business innovation at the DTCC, joins to discuss two new projects the company is working on in the distributed ledger technology (DLT) space, and how the Trade Information Warehouse (TIW) replacement is coming along. 3:30 – Jennifer joins the podcast, and gives an overview of her role at DTCC. 6:00 – Next, she explains how the Project Ion and Project Whitney case studies came about. https://www.waterstechnology.com/operations/7549201/dtcc-future-of-settlement-revamp-depends-on-industry-appetite 11:00 – Does the industry have an appetite for a full-fledged DLT revamp to optimize the settlement process in the public markets? What happens if the appetite isn’t there? 16:30 – What is the education component here? 18:00 – What are the next steps that will take place for Project Ion? 21:30 – Jennifer talks about Project Whitney being a whitespace opportunity for the DTCC and how tokenization plays a key role in digitizing the private market asset lifecycle. 25:30 – Sh

This week, Benjamin Quinlan, CEO and managing partner at Quinlan & Associates, joins the podcast to talk with Wei-Shen about his new report Beyond The Buzz. They also talk about the value of "innovation labs". https://www.quinlanandassociates.com/insights-beyond-the-buzz/ 3:00 – Benjamin joins the podcast. He and Wei-Shen discuss “innovation” as a buzzword and what separates a good innovation head from a bad one. 8:30 – Then, they talk about companies such as Kodak, Nokia, Blockbuster, Blackberry, and Myspace that seem to have dropped off the map after being some of the biggest names in technology. How does this compare to similar big-names in capital markets? 12:00 – Benjamin points out how the pressure to innovate can be a problem for some companies who are pouring money into things like “innovation labs” that are yet to yield much reward. 21:00 – As we are seeing more and more partnerships between cloud providers and financial services firms, Benjamin discusses what this means for cloud providers based

This week, Gerard Francis, global head of enterprise data at Bloomberg, comes back on the podcast to talk with Tony about lessons learned during Covid, the acceleration of cloud usage, and making data more accessible. The last time he joined the podcast, Gerard spoke about the alternative data space. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4275716/wavelength-podcast-episode-161-gerard-francis-of-bloomberg) 2:00 – Tony talks about his story on Trading Technologies' Echo Chamber and its goal of aggregating order flow on the TT platform. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7548941/trading-technologies-unveils-new-futures-market-data-feed) 7:00 – Gerard joins the podcast. He and Tony start off talking about the experience of transitioning to a work-from-home situation. 10:00 – Then, they talk about how the Covid situation accelerates the importance of cloud, and the decisions Bloomberg has made to making datasets and services available in the cloud. 14:30 – Gerard explains the thinking

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony discuss on how companies should be communicating ‘back-to-office’ moves to their employees. Is there a right way to do this, and if poorly communicated, what could it mean for staff morale? Companies should think about the full ecosystem before executing a full move back to “normalcy”. Then, they dig a little deeper into how the work-from-home situation should mean for productivity levels. They also talk about the practicalities and health concerns in getting staff back into the office, especially in crowded cities. Everyone is affected by this pandemic and physical distancing at varying levels mentally. How do we take care of our mental health during this time? They wrap up talking about how they deal with stress and what gives them joy. Next week, they’ll be back with a guest.

This week, Guy Warren, CEO of ITRS Group, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast. They discuss the importance of capacity planning and some of the capacity issues clients have been facing as a result of higher volatility. He also sheds light on what the future will look like for application development in a crowded market.  3:00 - Off the recent earnings season, Wei-Shen and Tony discuss how the likes of Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, and StateStreet are now portraying themselves more as technology companies.  https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/7531841/morgan-stanleys-katherine-wetmur-on-the-banks-tech-investment-covid-19-response https://www.waterstechnology.com/operations/7538871/blackrock-onboards-8-aladdin-clients-remotely 14:30 - Guy joins the podcast, and gives an overview of ITRS Group and capacity planning as a whole.   18:40 - He talks about the acquisition of Sumerian in 2018 and previous thoughts of building a capacity planning tool  https://www.waterstechnology.com/organization-management/all

This week, John Walsh, director of strategy and innovation at Refinitiv joins the podcast. Along with Tony, he discusses the regulatory challenges surrounding alternative data as well as the potential for implementation of alternative data in light of the coronavirus. He recently produced a research report titled A New Dimension of Data. https://www.refinitiv.com/en/media-center/press-releases/2020/april/refinitiv-report-on-alternative-data 1:00 – Wei-Shen and Anthony Malakian talk about the upcoming 200th podcast episode. They discuss the stories recently published on the website, including a story on the programming language, Cobol. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/7532056/on-cobol-and-legacy-systems-covid-19-turmoil-calls-for-change) 16:30 – John joins Tony on the podcast. They look at the alternative data space and some of the issues that have cropped up in the Covid-19 pandemic. 19:00 – John defines what alternative data means to him. Internally, it's the data that Refinitiv does not have

This week, George Ralph, managing director of RFA, a cloud and cybersecurity provider to the alternative investment sector, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast. He talks about some security challenges the Covid-19 situation has brought about, and how firms should be tackling them. Then, they discuss how the approach to BCP planning will change in the future, and some “quick fixes” firms can put in place to help prevent insider threats. https://www.fsb.org/wp-content/uploads/P200420-1.pdf 1:30 – Tony and Wei-Shen delve into M&A activity in the ESG space, following Morningstar’s acquisition of SustainAnalytics. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7529971/morningstar-wades-further-into-esg-space-with-sustainalytics-acquisition) How do the E, S, and G parts help firms understand the ripple effects of Covid-19? 15:30 – George joins the podcast on his birthday no less, and talks about some of the security challenges that the coronavirus pandemic has brought. And how IT teams and firms had to change their

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