For the last podcast of 2020 here at WatersTechnology, Wei-Shen speaks with Likhit Wagle, general manager of global banking at IBM, about how financial firms are approaching cloud and containerization technologies.

5:00 Likhit joins the podcast and opens by explaining how banks should approach their cloud strategies.

13:00 He then discusses IBM Cloud for Financial Services and how banks are currently migrating to the public cloud.

16:00 Next, they look at the challenges associated with a cloud architecture versus on-prem.

23:00 Then he examines optimal ways for firms to keep on top of their cloud expenditure.

30:00 From there, Wagle delves into the challenges and costs associated with sunsetting an application.

34:00 He follows that with a look at how IBM Cloud for Financial Services structures contracts around flexibility.

38:30 While a believer in containerization, he analyzes what firms should be aware of when using these services?

46:00 Wagle wraps up the conversation by talking about his hopes for 2021.

This week, John Lin, founder and now chairman of Grasshopper, a Singaporean prop-trading firm, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast. They talk about his experience as a trader, why he left, and the projects he’s working on now.

4:00 John joins the podcast and talks about travel challenges during the pandemic.

8:00 John talks about his experiences in the open outcry trading pits, building a company from the ground up, and what led him to step back from his day-to-day responsibilities.

15:30 When it comes to technology, John says change is a constant, and it’s a reason why banks have struggled to keep pace with new innovations.

24:00 John next explains why he’s a believer in blockchain’s long-term adoption.

33:30 Since stepping back as CEO of Grasshopper, John’s joined something called Mastermind, which is a collection of innovative thinkers from an assortment of different fields. He discusses some of the more interesting projects that he’s been involved with through Masterminds.

44:30 To wrap things up, he talks about some of his passions, from wellness initiatives to digital collectibles.

https://www.thegrastaman.com/#

https://open.spotify.com/user/1213086788?si=hVN5c92URsCxOcp7VN-c1g

https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/7722086/point-break-how-vendors-push-their-products-to-the-limit

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7721356/at-the-fringes-of-realism-agent-based-models-take-hold-among-quants

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7719291/regulation-wont-address-market-data-costs

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7719531/massive-land-grab-sps-ihs-markit-buy-creates-data-juggernaut-but-users-fear-price-hikes

https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/7720356/waters-wrap-sp-ihs-markit-and-the-land-of-giants-also-more-on-aml-tech

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7720701/sp-markit-its-not-over-yet

This week, two bank technology executives join the podcast to discuss what’s driving innovation in the capital markets during a pandemic, and the challenges that lie ahead. Before that, Wei-Shen incorrectly calls this Episode 222. In her defense, she's under two-week quarantine. Let's get to the show!

Joerg Landsch: Head of Innovation, Americas, Deutsche Bank

Apoorv Saxena: Global Head of AI Technology, JP Morgan Chase

4:00 How did the pandemic change “innovation” projects in 2020?

10:00 How did AI development change this year?

16:30 How has cloud, API, and open-source adoption help banks navigate the challenges of 2020? (Some DLT and quantum computing talk in here, too.)

23:30 What were some of the key lessons learned during the pandemic?

28:30 Why is interoperability and breaking down data siloes becoming even more important?

33:30 What are the greatest challenges when it comes to keeping a team engaged when everyone is working remotely?

Wei-Shen and Tony take a look at some headlines involving ESG. Come for the headlines, stay for the snark.

This week, Wei-Shen and Tony discuss some headlines from across the industry.

2:30 Texas woos financial services firms located in New Jersey. (Dallas Morning News)

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/technology/2020/11/09/nasdaq-and-other-trading-exchanges-to-meet-with-texas-gov-abbott-about-potential-move/#:~:text=The%20Dallas%20Morning%20News%20reported,the%20state's%20business%2Dfriendly%20environment.

11:00 Goldman moving staff to lower-cost cities around the US/World. (Business Insider)

https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-staff-low-cost-hubs-dallas-salt-lake-bangalore-2020-11

24:30 The best programming languages & platforms for data science in finance. (efinancialcareers)

https://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/3004783/graham-giller-data-science-finance

David Hardoon, senior advisor for data and artificial intelligence at UnionBank of the Philippines, joins to discuss all things artificial intelligence and machine learning.

4:00 David talks about his previous role at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. What can you do vs. what should you do?

8:30 He explains how the accessibility of data and ML tools can lead to the convergence of ML algos.

15:00 How do firms get an edge? Hope is not a strategy.

18:00 Simulation is key in exploiting operational alpha.

27:30 How does adversarial AI play a part in this?

33:00 What should traders do to ensure authenticity?

40:00 David explains what operationalizing data and AI at UnionBank means.

This week on the podcast, Wei-Shen talks with Victor Alexiev, director and head of programs and strategic partnerships for Citi Ventures APAC. They talk about some of the challenges and opportunities within banks and how D10X—Citi Venture’s internal entrepreneurship program, which looks at moonshot projects—tackles them.

3:30 – Victor joins the podcast and gives an overview of Citi Ventures and its three pillars—investment, exploration, and learning.

10:30 – Then he delves into some of the projects D10X has worked on recently.

13:00 – Most of the solutions don’t necessitate using emerging technologies.

15:00 – Defining the problem comes first.

20:00 – Challenges and themes Citi Ventures and D10X are looking at. In Asia, Citi is interested in the lifecycle of tokenized securities.

28:30 – Victor explains how the team at D10X is expandable.

32:00 – The team is looking at advanced data analytics, ML, and NLP to mine external content for signals.

After a couple late postponements, Wei-Shen and Tony just spend the show having a conversation about Tony’s new pool cue and other nonsense (start of podcast), some conversation about the current M&A market (5:00), and then they get into politics (18:30). Enter at your own risk. (Editor’s note: This was recorded last week, but I—Tony—am lazy and took forever getting this posted…back soon this week with a guest.)

On February 3, 2020, it was publically announced that Bill Murphy—Blackstone’s CTO for almost a decade—would be leaving the firm at the end of March. Bill rejoins the Wavelength podcast—for a record fifth time—to discuss some of the lessons he learned while working at the private equity giant, and the next phase of his career. (2:00-47:00) At the backend of the podcast, Wei-Shen and Tony discuss Refinitiv’s plans going forward after the launch of Workspace (47:30-end).

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7692821/of-refinitiv-and-old-rivalries

3:30 Bill discusses his decision to join Cresting Wave.

7:15 For those who have fared well during the pandemic, what went right?

10:30 What are the dangers of making knee-jerk tech decisions to answer Covid-related needs?

13:30 When it comes to the buy v. build debate, are banks more wary of taking the lead on moonshot projects?

19:00 Do banks and asset managers risk falling behind if they hand too much off in the innovation space?

21:00 What interests Bill the most in genre of “innovation” and why is technical debt hindering the capital markets?

28:30 What does technical debt look like when it comes to machine learning and data analysis?

35:30 Working remotely v. working in the office—how will that dynamic change in a post-Covid world?

40:00 Blockchain?

41:30 ESG?

43:30 Quantum computing?

45:00 Deep learning?

Bill Murphy’s previous episodes:

https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/2461751/waters-wavelength-podcast-episode-22-blackstone-cto-bill-murphy

https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/3056376/waters-wavelength-podcast-episode-60-bill-murphy-blackstone-cto

https://www.waterstechnology.com/industry-issues-initiatives/3473326/waters-wavelength-podcast-episode-105-blackstones-bill-murphy-part-3

https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4078696/wavelength-podcast-episode-150-bill-murphy-of-blackstone-group

This week on the podcast, Wei-Shen talks with Hans Brown, head of enterprise innovation and chief information officer for corporate technology at BNY Mellon. The two delve into the topic of innovation and what that word means today compared to pre-coronavirus. Before that, Tony highlights two big stories posted on WatersTechnology.com from the past: Refinitiv’s new Workspace platform and what this rollout means for Eikon and Thomson One, and a deep-dive into Bloomberg’s Financial Instrument Global Identifier (FIGI).

The interview begins at the 5:00 min mark.

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7689651/refinitiv-begins-move-away-from-eikon-thomson-one-with-debut-of-workspace

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7690251/bloombergs-figi-a-case-of-red-light-green-light