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. Despite new tools being deployed frequently, the industry still relies on Excel.

28:30 – Marshall explains how hedge funds should shine during volatility.

31:00 – Hazeltree acquired ENSO Analytics from CME Group back in 2019. Marshall talks about how the integration has been going since October.

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 – She walks through what some of the steps in the next six months will look like for Project Whitney.

27:00 – The DTCC’s other big DLT-related project is the TIW replacement. Jennifer explains where that project is at in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

29:00 – There are many skeptics when it comes to blockchain, and some think current DLTs are watered-down versions of those platforms that were originally hyped. Jennifer gives her thoughts on how DLTs have evolved over the last four years.

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 in Asia.

26:30 – Innovation labs need to be more focused on one part of the business to add value across the whole business. You cannot simply use the word “innovation” as a remit.

35:00 – In the fintech space, sometimes the hype exceeds the returns. Benjamin talks through his cynicism about buzzwords like blockchain and AI.

38:00 – Each firm has a different set of needs. How should start-ups set their selling strategies to investment banks, asset managers, and hedge funds?

43:30 – Lastly, Benjamin tells Wei-Shen how he is continuing to innovate in his day-to-day and business life during Covid-19.

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 behind Bloomberg Enterprise Access Point (BEAP) and making data more easily available to people.

17.30 – What were the pressure points that led to this?

20: 30 – Is there more emphasis on allowing customers to do what they want with data?

23:00 – Gerard talks about Data License+, the barriers of creating it in the past, and how the Polarlake acquisition in 2012 helped. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7540596/bloomberg-debuts-data-license-plus-to-aid-data-management-during-covid-19)

26: 30 – What has changed financial institutions’ perception of the cloud?

29:00 – Were any adjustments made to Bloomberg’s licensing models during this environment?

30: 30 – Gerard discusses the different types of data that are valuable now, and how consolidation in the alternative data space is inevitable.

36:00 – They wrap up talking about personal lessons and takeaways from working from home.

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/alliances-mergers-acquisitions/3669186/itrs-buys-capacity-management-firm-sumerian

23:30 – Then, they talk about the capacity challenges firms are facing at this time. He says that most companies are unaware their systems have a throughput limit.  

27:30 – Guy explains how capacity thresholds are set, monitored, and at what point ITRS alerts their customers.   

30:00 - How are capacity challenges addressed? Guy discusses elastic applications.  

33:00 - What does the future look like for application development? What happens with existing applications?  

35:30 - He talks about the ITRS capacity planner and how take-up has been as a result of Covid-19. Guy explains how people want to “Try before they buy.”  

37:00 - Where have investment firms found their infrastructure inadequate to meet current trading volumes and demands? 

40:00 - What are some new features ITRS is working on for the tool? Guy wraps up talking about cloud cost optimization.

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 commercially available. 

20:30 – Tony asks how firms are trying to tackle this pandemic by using these unique data sets specific to the coronavirus?

25:30 – There is not one dataset that will solve every problem. It’s more of mixing, matching, and blending of datasets to be able to track the coronavirus. How do you manage that blending of datasets to work out which work well together?

30:00 – John talks about the main roadblocks when it comes to standards in the alternative data space.

35:00 – Then, he discusses where firms go wrong when incorporating alternative datasets.

40:00 – In a crowded space, John says data buyers are not going to deal with companies that do not take data rights seriously.

46:00 – They wrap up talking about whether Refinitiv's plans are changing and the adjustments needed in the current environment.

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 working models.

19: 30 – Then, they discuss BCP plans and how firms have to tweak them to fit the current situation, particularly for longer-term remote access.

27:00 – How are firms dealing with the insider threat risk? What processes and training can they put in place to prevent these risks?

32:30 – George talks about the importance of data flow, and addresses some quick fixes available.

34:30 – Are there security concerns when critical operating system updates can only be done on-site?

39:30 – How are firms dealing with concerns of migrating more critical workloads and data onto the cloud?

45:30 – Looking at a post-virus situation, George talks about how the approach to BCP will change.

48:30 – He wraps up by discussing RFA’s plans going forward.

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) capability works.

19:00 – Richard talks about how for the Covid-19 outbreak, KY3P identified and asked six questions relating to the pandemic. He discusses some of the common pain points firms have.

25:30 – Tony and Richard review some wider trends that firms need to address. Will automation projects receive more attention and investment?

30: 30 – What are the unique challenges that fintech startups face in light of cash flow constraints?

32:30 – They talk about how firms should pay greater attention to cybersecurity issues when it comes to vendor due diligence.

37:00 – Richard says firms will need to stay closer to their core vendors and better understand the full supply chain of the organization.

39:30 – Then, he previews some projects KY3P is currently developing.