This week, Matt Smith, CEO of compliance technology and data analytics firm SteelEye, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast to discuss the evolution of compliance solutions for electronic and voice communications and the regulatory landscape.

1:30 – Matt joins the podcast and talks through some of the points in a report SteelEye released at the end of 2022.

6:30 – He explains the nuances between how the regulators in the UK and the US approach how firms meet systematic and control obligations.

13:30 – They talk about the prevalent communication mechanisms.

16:30 – Matt details some of the creative loopholes.

19:00 – Are there examples of the regulators being too invasive?

22:30 – Matt discusses what’s in the pipeline for SteelEye.

30:00 – What is the future of compliance for e-comms and voice?

Andrea Gentilini, head of SEI Novus, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast. Together, they talk about using the term ‘target operating model’, and how the buy side should use data to evaluate managers’ skillsets better.

3:00 – Andrea joins the podcast and gives an overview of his career and how he landed at SEI Novus.

6:30 – He gives an analogy about how asset allocators and managers only treat their fever symptoms.

10:00 – They talk about how asset allocators want more context from their data and how technology can help.

16:00 – Then, they get into the target operating model. What does it mean, and why is it needed?

18:00 – Sometimes, the problem is the infinite investment horizon.

21:00 – How do asset managers approach the Tom now, especially when looking to incorporate new technologies?

26:00 – Why don’t allocators, and asset managers use behavioral analysis tools more?

It’s just Shen and Tony on this week’s podcast. To start, they chat about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday in the US and Rebecca Natale’s undying love for Taylor Swift.

Then, they get into the nitty-gritty of the recent announcement by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to scrap the replacement of its clearing and settlements system using distributed ledger technology (DLT), and the lessons capital markets firms can learn from this case.

Read: https://www.waterstechnology.com/emerging-technologies/7950308/waterswrap-asxs-chess-dlt-meets-calamitous-fate-what-can-be-learned

Joining Tony on the podcast this week is Spencer Lee, chief markets officer at TS Imagine, a trading, portfolio, and risk analytics solutions provider. They talk about the needs of buy-side fixed income traders, innovation in the space, and how traders deal with the various trading protocols.

(2:30) – Spencer Lee joins Tony on the podcast and gives an overview of his 20-odd years at the buy side before he joined TS Imagine.

(9:00) – They talk about innovation within the capital markets and how fixed income uses those tools.

(13:00) – What are the needs of a buy-side fixed income trader?

(17:00) – Trading platforms need to cast a wide net to liquidity providers and distill the information into a single view relevant to the trader.

(20:00) – A “fancy sports car” for the buy side.

(21:30) – What is the impetus to get everyone working together?

(26:30) – How is TS Imagine fulfilling the needs and analytics for fixed income trading?

(31:30) – They wrap up by discussing the direct dealer connectivity protocol.

This week, Wei-Shen speaks with Josephine about her experience attending the World Financial Information Conference (WFic) in Prague in mid-October. She also recounts some of the engineering streams and panels that discussed challenges with delivering and consuming data on the cloud.

Do check out her story covering the cooperation between JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. (https://www.waterstechnology.com/data-management/7950180/goldman-sachs-jp-morgan-join-forces-to-explore-market-data-in-the-cloud)

This week, with no guest in tow, Tony and Shen go off the rails discussing how firms are migrating more workflows and processes to the cloud. They then touch on interoperability, blockchain, APIs, and open source before circling back to the cloud.

This week, Andy Volz, chief operating officer at Clear Street, joins Tony on the podcast. They discuss the challenges existing technology infrastructures pose to the capital markets, the growing necessity of the cloud, and some trends in the market.

9:00 – Andy joins Tony on the podcast and gives an overview of his career and what Clear Street does.

12:00 – They discuss the bottlenecks in capital markets tech infrastructure.

14:00 – Where does the broker community struggle to provide additional insights?

18:30 – The advantage of being “cloud-born.”

20:30 – The lack of innovation in technology and regulation are systemic threats to liquidity within public equity markets.

22:00 – Andy explains how legacy infrastructure adds cost to end-users.

24:30 – Is there something fundamentally changing the markets?

28:00 – They discuss using blockchain in equity clearing and the risk of vendor lock-in.

33:00 – Andy gives an insight into Clear Street’s next growth stages.

James Crosby, founder and CEO of data management firm Fencore based out of Singapore, joins Wei-Shen on the podcast this week. They talk about the risks of vendor lock-in and how firms—both end-users and service providers—are working towards interoperability.

4:30 – James joins the podcast and gives an overview of what Fencore does.

8:30 – They discuss if there’s a balance between creating product stickiness and true openness.

12:30 – What are the biggest risks of vendor lock-in?

15:00 – How should firms balance consolidation of system providers versus spreading across different providers?

17:30 – James talks about how having a single approach to systems is a utopian ideal.

19:00 – What needs to happen to achieve true interoperability between different systems?

21:30 – James walks through the work required in implementing and configuring a new platform.

23:30 – How does providing flexibility to the end-user work from a contracting perspective?

28:00 – They discuss what the end state of interoperability may look like.

Bill Dauge, head of alternative data at Nasdaq, joins Tony on the podcast this week. They talk about Nasdaq’s partnership with AWS and what it entails, and the trends that are driving this.

4:30 – Bill joins the podcast and gives an overview of his role at Nasdaq.

7:30 – He goes into Nasdaq’s partnership with AWS and the exchange’s overall cloud strategy.

9:30 – Bill outlines the journey to becoming a fully cloud-native exchange and the current challenges, such as speed and security.

15:00 – They assess the cloud landscape and scalability.

18:30 – There is another layer coming: data as a product.

21:00 – The next shift is data delivery mechanism, better query interfaces, tools, and dashboards.

25:00 – Bill addresses the main challenges in deploying cloud infrastructure at scale.

Joining Wei-Shen on the podcast is Enrico Bruni, managing director and head of Europe and Asia at Tradeweb. They discuss electronification in the repo markets, particularly in the dealer-to-client space, and Tradeweb’s “reverse onion” approach. As Bruni puts it, there’s nothing simple in repo land.

7:00 – Enrico joins the podcast and gives an overview of his time at Tradeweb.

8:30 – Then, they discuss the current state of electronification in repo markets in the dealer-to-client space.

12:00 – He walks through Tradeweb’s “reverse onion” approach to automating some repo workflows.

15:00 – What are the existing barriers to further additional electronification of repos?

17:00 – What role do OMS providers play here?

20:00 – The element of bilateral execution can make workflows more complex.

21:30 – Enrico talks about the ongoing initiatives the industry is working on.

22:30 – Then, he discusses the difference between electronification of repos in the US, Europe, and Asia.

28:00 – Enrico walks through Tradeweb’s roadmap for 2022.

35:00 – They close the podcast talking about their shared love for durian.