Articles by Rebecca Natale
Symphony wants to be Wall Street’s phone book—but smarter
As Symphony strays further from its original purpose of being a chat platform, WatersTechnology sat down with Brad Levy at this year’s Innovate conference to discuss his vision for the firm.
LiquidityBook looks to displace Fidessa as sell-side OMS of choice
What began as a small buy-side technology offering, now has ambitions to oust Fidessa in the sell-side OMS space. LiquidityBook, now armed with a handful of ex-Fidessa employees, has secured the product expertise. Can it secure the clients?
Finos will host common domain model for Isda, Isla and Icma
The non-profit will provide a neutral, open-source repository to help the trade associations govern and maintain the CDM.
Firms challenging Cusip file new lawsuit alleging antitrust violations, breach of contract
A broker-dealer and two investment managers have filed a new, joint complaint against the quartet of companies associated with management of the Cusip numbering system.
In finance, all APIs are not created equal
With the rise of APIs, it’s easier than ever for companies to position themselves as open to collaboration and eager to provide access, but some of these access points tell a different story under the hood.
Federal court denies motion for early judgement on Cusip numbers’ copyrightability
A judge for the Southern District of New York has also ordered that two class-action suits brought against Cusip Global Services and its affiliates earlier this year be consolidated.
FDC3 creator sets sights on cloud-based interop with new company
Nicholas Kolba’s new venture aims to provide cloud-based interoperability for financial services apps—free of desktop containers and proprietary implementations.
Symphony brings Web3 to KYC with new ID service pilot
Symphony Communication Services is piloting an experimental ID service that uses Web3 and DeFi concepts to automate and reduce the burden of tasks like know-your-customer, onboarding, and reporting.
When machine learning goes awry, here's how to do better next time
Executives from JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and BNY Mellon discuss the lessons learned through experimenting with machine learning at their firms.
Goodbye datacenters, hello cloud: Fidelity’s asset management arm goes all in on AWS
The firm has migrated nearly 99% of its trading applications to the cloud and is on track to sunset all on-premises datacenters.
How Russia’s war on Ukraine impacts the global IT industry
Businesses with staff based in Ukraine reckon with an unprecedented juggling act.
Plaintiffs in Cusips lawsuit argue the codes aren’t copyrightable
Firms file “aggressive” motion to have legal case resolved early, saying Cusip’s operators and owners have no basis to charge for the codes.
Cboe completes integrations of triple acquisition, turns focus on risk and analytics
In 2020, Cboe Global Markets acquired three businesses in rapid succession. Two years later, the tech stack integrations are complete, and the now-combined entities make up the majority of the exchange’s rebranded Risk and Market Analytics Group.
Finos project seeks fully open-source FDC3 implementations
New initiative aims to provide a free, open-source Electron-based reference implementation of the FDC3 standard.
Bloomberg relaunches corporate actions platform
As a major player exits the corporate actions data vendor arena, Bloomberg is continuing to enhance its data offering while the market braces for a shake-up.
Goldman Sachs, DTCC execs dissect implications of SEC’s ‘ambitious’ settlement timeline
Conflicting time zones, potential re-papering, and weak standards are just some of the hurdles that must be overcome to move trade settlement times to T+1 or even to T+0—all potentially before Q1 2024.
Second class-action lawsuit targets Cusip’s ‘monopoly’ on identifiers
Days after a first class-action suit took aim at Cusip, S&P Global, the American Bankers Association, and FactSet, another plaintiff has filed a complaint alleging that the quartet of companies violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, as well as certain…
Where have all the blockchain startups gone?
Building a startup is hard. Building a blockchain startup is harder. More than 10 current and former financial blockchain builders and users detail their experiences of trying to cut their teeth on a once-darling tech, and the lessons they’re still…
Class-action lawsuit takes aim at Cusip, S&P, FactSet & ABA
A complaint filed March 4 seeks judgement on whether Cusip Global Services, S&P Global, the American Bankers Association, and (now) FactSet have violated copyright laws as well as the Sherman Antitrust Act by charging hefty licensing fees to use the…
The good, the bad, and the ugly of financial democratization
From crypto and Web3 to Robinhood and Reddit, democratization underscores it all. While it’s a largely benign concept that aims to level the playing field between institutions and individuals, it’s also really hard to get right.
Tech vendors rethink risk in era of surging options volume
As options volumes soar, technology vendors are thinking about new risks posed when legacy infrastructure meets increasingly complex markets.
What the hell is Web3, anyway?
The next iteration of the internet is upon us, with the potential to deliver radical shifts to every industry, including banking. The movement, which is currently buoyed by the prospects of blockchain and virtual reality, has implications for computing,…
Cusip finds new home at FactSet as industry watches warily
Though the standard has always been operated by a private entity, industry sources say its new operator could create a perception issue for FactSet. For its part, the vendor says the purchase (for a “stunning” total of nearly $2 billion) is meant to…
Meme stocks, Reddit, and QAnon: A postcard from the origin of the metaverse
Join WatersTechnology for a look back at the most absurd stories of the year—Reddit/GameStop, the advent of meme stocks, and QAnon—and what they mean for you.