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.

This week, Rich Newman, global head of the Content and Technology Solutions (CTS) group at FactSet, joins to discuss this idea of open data and delves into the world of alternative data.

2:30 Open data: why is it gaining traction and why is that important?

8:30 The alternative data space is vast, to say the least, but what is actually providing value?

11:00 One-stop-shop data providers versus more niche specialists.

14:00 When FactSet went down the Open:FactSet road, where did it have to readjust its strategy?

17:00 With the data explosion that will result from 5G and IoT advancement, how do you prepare for the future?

19:45 Banks and asset managers are trying to figure out how to package their internal data—where are we at?

23:00 ESG: where is there real value, what are the challenges?

29:00 Rich is a cofounder of technology company Insyte, which FactSet acquisition in 2000. He explains why he’s stayed on with FactSet all these years later.

36:00 Which is better: Queens pizza or Boston pizza? (The answer is obvious.)

This week, Anthony and Josephine Gallagher, senior reporter for WatersTechnology, discuss the European consolidated tape and how it mirrors what we’re seeing in the US with the consolidated audit trail.

https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/4495891/platos-planned-platform-could-serve-as-precursor-to-european-consolidated-tape

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4520496/finra-cat-lays-out-security-plans

2:30 When the consolidated tape was first proposed, the idea was largely applauded.

5:00 No one wants to be responsible for building this thing.

7:15 There is some overlap with what we’re seeing with the consolidated audit trail (CAT).

10:00 A look at the next few deadlines/significant dates. (Brexit could throw this all off.)

17:00 Why it might make sense to have the Plato Partnership build the consolidated tape (though this is pure speculation).

20:30 Finally, to wrap things up, Jo tries to explain Brexit and what Boris Johnson is doing to Tony.

[CORRECTION: At the 8:10 mark, Anthony says that full production of the CAT is scheduled for April 2020. That is incorrect: the first phase of the CAT rollout, which will be for simple equities—not options or other complex instruments—is scheduled for April 2020. Full production is scheduled for 2022. We apologize for the error.]

Alison Singer, founder and president of the Autism Science Foundation, and Bryan Harkins, executive vice president at Cboe Global Markets, join the podcast (6:00) to discuss the Wall Street Rides FAR for Autism Research charity event, which was created by Bryan and his wife, Melissa. Alison and Bryan also talk about strides that have been made in the field of autism research and where more progress can be made. Before that, Anthony talks about plans for the podcast going forward and highlights some recent stories that might be of interest.

Wall Street Rides FAR for Autism Research

https://wallstreetridesfar.org/

Hundreds Leave Fidessa After Ion Acquisition

https://www.waterstechnology.com/management-strategy/4477556/hundreds-leave-fidessa-after-ion-acquisition

Plato’s Planned Platform Could Serve as Precursor to European Consolidated Tape

https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/4495891/platos-planned-platform-could-serve-as-precursor-to-european-consolidated-tape

Real Estate as a Tradeable Asset Class Faces Data Hurdles

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4492811/real-estate-as-a-tradeable-asset-class-faces-data-hurdles

The Secret Source: Machine Learning and Open Source Come Together

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4507221/the-secret-source-machine-learning-and-open-source-come-together

Blockchain’s Standards Dilemma

https://www.waterstechnology.com/technology/4506301/blockchains-standards-dilemma

The Future of Cloud Regulation: The Authorities Take Notice

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4515601/the-future-of-cloud-regulation-the-authorities-are-taking-notice

Scotiabank Turns to Cloud GPUs for Risk Calculations

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4465306/scotiabank-turns-to-cloud-gpus-for-risk-calculations

Quandl Uses Algos to Predict a Company's Future Earnings

https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/4515291/quandl-uses-algos-to-predict-a-companys-future-earnings

At the beginning of August, PanXchange launched its industrial hemp exchange. Julie Lerner, founder and CEO of PanXchange, describes the thinking behind the venue and delves into the hemp market, looking at the challenges and opportunities that exist.

1:00 Julie talks about PanXchange and the market it serves.

3:00 She then explains why the 2018 Farm Bill was so important for the hemp industry and what this could mean going forward.

7:00 Then she provides projections for how this market is anticipated to grow.

8:30 What are the challenges when it comes to farming this commodity?

11:00 What are the challenges for trading this largely OTC commodity?

13:00 As the hemp market grows, alternative data providers will (hopefully) enter the market.

15:30 Blockchain has been thrown around as prime for the hemp market, but Julie does not agree.

19:30 What are the challenges that hemp farmers face?

22:00 Julie explains some of the lessons she’s learned after starting PanXchange.

This week’s guest is Keith Lubell, CTO for Berkery Noyes, an M&A investment bank based out of midtown Manhattan. When it comes to talking innovation, Keith is one of my favorites to chat with. While fully invested in the day-to-day issues of technology, he always has an eye on new advancements and techniques. For this conversation, we look at Facebook’s Libra token and how regulators are setting their sights on the so-called Big Tech companies. We also delve into both newer and older programming languages, and how finance firms are using them. And he examines how semantic data and technology are becoming increasingly useful.

Additionally, Keith has worked for the Department of Defense, was an unemployed musician and painter, and now heads tech for an M&A bank. To read about how all of those experiences are connected, click here: https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/2481052/tied-together-keith-lubell-berkery-noyes

2:00 Libra

14:45 Big Tech/Anti-Trust

18:50 AWS/Cloud Providers

29:00 Programming Languages

39:50 Semantic Data and Technology

Brian Lichtenberger, cofounder and CEO of 7Park Data, joins to talk about challenges facing firms as they look to incorporate alternative data into their investment and risk management processes. Topics include where firms go wrong from a data management and strategy perspective, the need to fail fast, consolidation, the company's recent acquisition, and what led him and Alex Nephew to start the data provider in the first place.

After the Soviet Union broke apart, Roman Ginis and his family left Ukraine and came to America. He earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the California Institute of Technology, and then landed engineering jobs at Intel, IBM and BAE Systems. From there, he moved to Wall Street as a junior quant at UBS, developing execution technologies and quantitative analytics for electronic market-making for the investment bank. That led to a job at Cubist Systematic Strategies, the quant trading arm of Point72 Asset Management.

After seven years at the hedge fund, he shipped off to create a startup called Imperative Execution, the parent of IntelligentCross, a dark pool that uses AI to improve match times on a security-by-security basis to reduce market impact. Imperative Execution is backed by a consortium of investors, including Point72.

Ginis talks about his career, the challenges of creating a startup, and how the world of trade execution is evolving.

Anthony Malakian and Jo Wright walk through some of the changes that have taken place at WatersTechnology and what it will mean for the podcast—all good things…we hope!

Tony Amicangioli, founder and CEO of HPR, formerly known as Hyannis Port Research, joins the podcast to chat about his career. Amicangioli has had an interesting ride in the world of technology. A graduate of MIT, he was at BBN Technologies, one of the leading firms behind the development of the internet. Switches, gateways, routers and mobile networks—he was in the vanguard for those, as well. He created his own companies—Zetari and Hyannis Port Research—and worked at cutting-edge tech firms like Juniper Networks and Lime Brokerage.

For the podcast, he talks about the lessons that he’s learned when it comes to building a company. We also talk about how the so-called “Race to Zero” conversation has changed. Additionally, we look at the arms race for cloud supremacy unfolding between Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure, and what that might mean for capital markets firms over the next decade. To that last point, this outtake was very interesting—and it’s something that banks that are fully embracing the public cloud need to consider:

“Just like it was with mainframes and mini-computers, when they used to build those large computers that took up half the floor of a building … nobody ever thought we’d see this little desktop [computer at people’s desks] that would just obliterate that market. … I think there’s a very similar effect coming in cloud computing where people often confuse technology with how they deliver it. … The pendulum will swing back and there will be private clouds—that’s a prediction I make. The technology package has nothing to do with the ability to deliver that technology locally. So for the banks, they need to be really cognizant of this because if I’m right … there will be a downsized version [of what happened] with the desktop computer.”

And Tony is putting his money where his mouth is, as they say: “That private cloud, as it relates to the latency-centric aspects of technology providers in the financial space, this is my second bite at that apple [as it relates to the cloud explosion of] 2000, and I am 100% committed to building out what would be tantamount to a private—we’ll call it, or a financial services-centric—cloud-based infrastructure.”