Articles by Max Bowie
All about the integration: Melding tech is key to getting full value from vendor M&A
Recent tech and data M&A deals aren’t just about acquiring clients or 'bolt-on' solutions, but will yield longer-term gains through granular integration of the vendors’ product lines and technologies.
Believe nothing, trust no one: ‘Morgan Freeman’ sends a message to fintech professionals
There’s evidence that deepfakes are being used to commit fraud in the financial markets. And as scam artists become more tech savvy, financial firms will need to quickly employ new tools to protect their assets.
Memx data fees tackle professional vs. non-professional audit risk
The exchange delivers on its promise to reduce the cost of exchange data, but subscribers still face an administrative cost burden associated with the lower user fees.
Whose data is it, anyway?
The issue of data ownership may be obscure, but has important consequences for firms considering alternative data models, or firms looking to commercialize their in-house pricing or other resources. So ask yourself some serious questions: Who owns ‘your’…
Regulators, startups eye transparency efforts for private companies
When it comes to private companies, data transparency still lags its public market equivalents, and a lack of data quality and availability is a barrier to increased investor participation. But an alliance between a startup and niche brokers is aiming to…
Money.Net returns, plans launch of new terminal in early 2022
Last year, the low-cost data vendor filed for—and emerged from—Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection after facing financial woes and a lawsuit from former investors. This new iteration will be led by several execs from broker Gain Capital.
2021: The year when Big Tech ‘Googled’ the financial markets and liked the results
Now that cloud has become widely adopted by financial firms, Big Tech companies are seeking to leverage their other services to become more ingrained in the workflows of the capital markets.
Data Claus is Coming to Town
Max Bowie is once again back with his market-data themed Christmas column.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em: The inexorable march of exchange data fees
Following IEX’s decision to begin charging nominal fees for its market data, Memx is the last one standing not yet charging for data. Max asks whether it will follow suit, or whether any exchange will be brave enough to take a stance on unpopular data…
Slow burn to a big bang: How the new wave of tech is changing market data platforms
For decades, market data platforms have been critical components of financial firms’ trading infrastructures. But with changing user needs and emerging technologies gaining ground, will the platforms of the past be replaced by upstart challengers—or can…
Disrupting data delivery: AWS Data Exchange gains ground with addition of FactSet content
Leveraging AWS’s presence on Wall Street, Data Exchange has the potential to shake up traditional financial data delivery and contracts, if it can add relevant content and overcome challenges like real-time streaming and connectivity in the cloud.
Post-trade in the cloud: Startup RQD aims to reimagine clearing
With the post-trade space poised for major change, startup clearing firm RQD says a new cloud-based platform will help it respond to client needs and new business opportunities.
This Week: Cboe-Neo, Aviva-Macrobond, Iress, BNY Mellon, Options, MT Newswires-Bloomberg, and more
A summary of some of the past week’s financial technology news.
In pursuit of API-ness: Rise of API interfaces hints at data platforms of the future
Nasdaq’s new Data Fabric managed data infrastructure service presents an opportunity for firms to outsource many elements of their market data platforms to the exchange. But making it possible—and also driving innovations at other data providers designed…
ESG asset manager taps Symphony, FinTech Studios for thematic ‘mini-Bloomberg’
Sycomore Asset Management is preparing to roll out an expansion of how it uses the vendors’ combined platforms to be able to create and share targeted thematic investment data across its organization.
Buy one, get one free: Algos learn to multi-task
For years, brokers have offered suites of algorithms, each geared toward a certain strategy and outcome. Now, firms are compressing these into multifaceted algorithms that can switch between different strategies or markets in response to trading…
Google aims AI at corporate actions challenges
The tech giant believes its AI tools have a multitude of applications across some of the complex data challenges of financial markets, and it’s starting with the manual and complicated world of corporate actions. Some believe it will be an uphill battle.
Options snaps up Activ Financial as battle for mid-market data vendors heats up
A once crowded space, the middle market for data technology companies is becoming more valuable as vendors target scale to fend off rivals and take on bigger providers.
Ex-UBS Asset Management CDO takes aim at challenge of data discovery
Suvrat Bansal’s startup aims to make it easier to get data into the hands of those who need it, but who may not know it exists, faster.
From burst to bust: What happens when cloud runs dry?
After years of initial resistance, the capital markets have come to depend heavily on the compute capacity of the public cloud. But increasing market volumes are rapidly outpacing the cloud capacity that organizations thought would be sufficient for…
Cloud: Capital markets’ Swiss Army knife
The best uses of the cloud so far have been as an enabler of performance and innovation. The best uses yet to come could reshape AI. So, Max warns, if you think cloud is about cutting costs, you’re thinking about it all wrong.
Google-Greenwich: Financial firms agree on cloud's ubiquity, but vary widely on use cases
New research highlights predicted growth areas for cloud computing—and the tools it enables, such as AI and machine learning—in the capital markets. Spoiler alert: Google says cloud is becoming as ubiquitous as the search giant itself.
Alt data’s second inning: Brace for a long M&A game
The alternative data sector is still relatively nascent, and as such buy-side firms have struggled with how best to incorporate these non-traditional sources of information. While sources say that there will be continued M&A in the market, how those…
Miax preps ‘Virtual Trading Floor’ of data tools to grow investors, market-makers
The options exchange operator hopes to make it easier for participants to translate data into context and insight, and to broaden participation from new market sectors.