Data & Analytics


ISDA begins radical overhaul of ISDAFIX swap rates

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has set a date for the first stage of sweeping changes to the ISDAFIX benchmark for annual swap rates, as part of a major global push to clean up rates and make them more accountable.

Cost of KYC too high says Swiss start up

The rising cost of KYC at global banks is threatening to disconnect smaller regional banks and even entire countries, according to Joachim von Hänisch, head of Swiss start-up company KYC Exchange, which plans to launch next Wednesday.

LEIs and CDOs: why aren’t data professionals taking the reins?

With regulators agreeing that “higher expectations” must be met by G-SIFIs for risk data aggregation and reporting by 2016, firms are now under huge pressure to provide data strategies and implementation plans and end denial about any shortcomings.

The joy of Basel III

Basel III has transformed liquidity risk management departments into glorified regulatory functions, according to a new report by analyst firm Celent. As if this good news was not enough to be getting on with, the research house also inevitably concludes that banks will have to change their risk data, models, appetite, organisational and analytics frameworks too.

Mizuho International revisits reference data risk

Wrapping up all of the reference data a large global bank needs and making sure it is standardised, automated and ready for the regulator is a big task. Japanese bank Mizuho International has just installed an EDM service from vendor Golden Source, which it says will help to support trading and satisfy the regulator.

BBVA Asset Management picks Markit for EDM platform

BBVA Asset Management has chosen an enterprise data management platform from Markit, which will act as hub for its securities, portfolio, fund, issuer and position data in several countries, including Spain and Mexico.

Is it safe to trust the machines?

Bank algos may superficially appear to be well-tested – but the process may be open to any number of unexpected flaws, according to Steve Wilcockson, industry manager at big data specialist firm MathWorks.

Big banking is watching you

Online retailers have become sophisticated at observing customer behaviour, and then marketing based on the individual’s inclinations and past actions. Now, banks are starting to do it too. That could lead to some interesting scenarios, according to Charles Radclyffe, chief executive officer at business intelligence consultancy BIPB.

Banks rush to bolster compliance

Firms like JP Morgan and HSBC have taken major measures to improve internal controls so that they can comply with new and changing regulations. It won’t end there.

Bloomberg rolls out ‘actionable’ FX news service

Bloomberg has launched a new information service called First Word Foreign Exchange, which is designed to give FX traders ‘actionable’ news insight that they can quickly process and feed into their trading decisions.

Basel has triggered “infrastructure reset”

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s April 2013 report, Monitoring tools for intraday liquidity management, has provided banks with the “trigger to reset their current infrastructures”, said Detlef Braun, senior consultant at vendor SmartStream.

Accuity rolls out flexible database tool

Two years on from the merger of Accuity and Bankers Almanac, the company has combined its counterparty and payment databases into a new tool that allows users to integrate them into their own workflows.

BAML builds single data repository

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) has completed consolidation of client transaction banking data from multiple systems into a single centralised data repository. The service will provide corporate clients with up to 14 months of data online or in file format.

Data management: Knowledge is power

Standardised data architecture at financial institutions is no longer a ‘nice to have’. Regulatory pressures and headline grabbing fines have rocketed enterprise data management to the top of the boardroom agenda.

Market surveillance: a watching brief

The US Securities & Exchange Commission is often accused of using skateboards to chase Ferraris in its attempts to keep up with trading houses, but less than a year after announcing that it intended to create a new market surveillance system – and six months after going live with it –  its cloud-based approach is […]

Risk data: can it be both efficient and compliant?

With six months before the 4th Capital Requirements Directive comes into force, many will be asking what technological improvements will be necessary to efficiently manage risk going forward. Before they embark on a costly overhaul of their data systems, firms should look at what regulatory trends are likely to require similar changes in the future and adjust their specification accordingly.

The battle for benchmarks: divisions in the ranks?

With lots of different regulatory benchmark efforts now underway, the industry could be forgiven for not taking a common stance. With IOSCO issuing final principles, ESMA and the EBA are simultaneously consulting on a European set of principles. Meanwhile the UK is moving ahead with its own reforms.

Twitter shakes up market: the impact of social media on algos

On 23 April 2013, the markets suffered a brief, sharp drop as algorithms reacted to “news” from the Associated Press’s Twitter handle that President Obama had been injured in a bombing attack at the White House. In a few minutes, the Dow Jones dropped 145 points, Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost $136 billion in […]

Data structures hampering banks’ ability to monitor risk

According to a new white paper from Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, one of the key issues faced by data architects tasked with creating a unified data management infrastructure is the fact that operations in different countries often have different internal systems.

Accounting for the value of (big) data

While the value of data has become increasingly clear to businesses in the wake of the financial crisis and subsequent regulatory and compliance initiatives across Europe, they are not yet reflecting data as a valued asset on their balance sheets.

Joining the dots: Thomas Zeeb, chief executive, Six Securities Services

The post-trade infrastructures behind the world’s securities markets face as much, if not more, regulatory driven change as the trading firms in the face of legislation such as the European Union’s European Market Infrastructure Regulation. While some of the effects will be negative, the regulators are showing a constructive approach and recognising that the infrastructure providers came out of the crisis well, says Thomas Zeeb, chief executive of Six Securities Services.

TriOptima tool targets OTC derivatives reporting business

As new rules governing the central reporting of OTC derivatives take effect across the G20 nations, TriOptima, a subsidiary of broker ICAP, has said it will verify and reconcile OTC derivatives data from US post-trade utility the DTCC’s trade repository – making it the first provider to do so.

Nasdaq OMX to monitor US platform performance with CorvilNet

Nasdaq OMX plans to implement operational performance monitoring across its US trading platforms using software from Corvil. The CorvilNet performance monitoring system will provide the exchange group with the ability to simultaneously analyse activity at the network, application and trading layers. The information that is captured will allow it to alert for anomalies in real […]

Banking on the user-centric experience? Begin with robust data and analytics

The UK retail banking sector is characterised by a continuing lack of competition and resultant limited customer churn between financial services providers. This has made it difficult even for new market entrants to gain market share from long-standing, less popular competitors, due to the inconvenience and complexity involved in switching banks.

Italy’s SIA set to connect to New York as recovery plan bears fruit

Milan-based financial technology firm SIA is expanding its reach to New York later this year in a move that caps the latest-phase of a three-year recovery plan for the firm. The extension of SIA’s Financial Ring to New York follows that activation of a hub in Frankfurt is the third cornerstone, after Milan and London, […]