Leveraging technology paramount in today's financial environment

Emerging economies to lead global economic development

Delegate numbers remain strong despite Icelandic volcano crisis

TradeTech Europe, the World's largest equity trading and technology summit, defeated the Icelandic volcano crisis to showcase the latest trends and developments across the financial industry. WBR, the organisers of TradeTech, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, worked around the clock to ensure that speakers, delegates and exhibitors were able to access the various discussions and presentations, on the importance of leveraging technology to retain a competitive edge in a changing global economy. Cognito was managing the PR for the show and reports on its conversations with several of the attendees.

Presenting his opinions on the European and US economies, Peter Hooper, managing director and chief economist, Deutsche Bank, commented: "For the time being, the Eurozone will remain subdued in its recovery, having been hampered by the Greek debt crisis and a reduced domestic consumer demand in the periphery. In the US, moderate growth is being sustained but is behind the historical average, with continued stagnation of the housing market as a key contributory factor. It is possible to maintain growth in this region, although several criteria must be met, including ongoing increases in employment and household spending, a normalization of credit conditions, and an easing of home foreclosures."

Jim O'Neill, head of global economics, Goldman Sachs, added: "The global economy is improving, as indicated by several varying factors. This change has been driven, not by the Western consumer states, but by the emerging BRIC nations. Chinese consumer behaviour has risen sharply over the past two years, a polar opposite to the same behaviour in the US, which has seen a sharp decline. Moreover, Chinese imports have now exceeded their exports for the first time, indicating that we are moving into a different world post-crisis than before."

Reflecting on the unfamiliar environment that banks now find themselves in, Justin Bull, COO Global Markets, Barclays Capital, said: "Banks will now be operating with more capital, less leverage and greater liquidity, resulting in corporate lending being more strategic and relationship-based. We will see businesses that in the past have traditionally required high risk investment, or large amounts of capital, either adapt or disappear. Therefore clients must be central to business strategy, technology needs to be leveraged and the quality of execution is paramount."

Many exhibitors went to extraordinary lengths to attend the event. Daniel Somuano, managing director, Interacciones, a brokerage firm which provides access to Mexican markets, who travelled from Mexico via Dallas, Kentucky, Atlanta, Boston, New York, Amsterdam and Brussels, explained: "Ensuring we could get to TradeTech was not just important to us as a company, but for the Mexican financial industry as a whole. We have already found some new and interesting business leads since our arrival."

Similar stories transpired from other exhibiting firms. Maxim Ryabov, stock market department analyst, RTS, the first regulated stock market in Russia, which recently built its presence in Europe, revealed: "After four days of waiting, we managed to board the first London-bound flight from Moscow on Tuesday. It was very important for us to attend TradeTech in order to show our presence and honour our pre-scheduled meetings. You could say this experience has been similar to trading on the stock market. After analysing the various airline companies, routes and schedules, we made the right choice. We were adamant to attend and our perseverance will pay dividends in the long run."

Deborah Tristao, part of the StreamBase business development team, mentioned:  "After five days of travelling from Boston to Barcelona, by coach, car and train, we managed to arrive in London on time. TradeTech has successfully brought together some very influential speakers and important delegates from around the world, and it would have been unthinkable to miss out on this occasion."

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Capital set to enter an increasingly competitive marketplace

Buy-side urged to coordinate activities

TradeTech Europe, the World's largest equity trading and technology summit, is due to be held this year between 20th-22nd April at the ExCeL London. Cognito is the official PR agency. Now in its tenth year, the event is set to bring together the largest international players as they review the main challenges that have beset the financial industry and address the measures that should be adopted to sustain growth in the wake of the crisis.

The buy-side conference, which this year will incorporate an insightful ‘sell-side only' day, will include high-level discussions on key themes that have shaped the economy and which continue to play an important role in how the financial industry will evolve. Among the speakers at the 2010 event are Paul Donovan, Managing Director & Global Economist, UBS; Betsy Anderson, Head of Trading, Ignis and Clive Williams, Head of European Equity Trading, T Rowe Price. Cognito spoke to them exactly two weeks before the event.

Speaking on the impact of the downturn and market changes in equities trading, Mr Donovan, UBS, said: "There is no question that we are entering into a more regulated environment. With government playing a larger role in the activities of the banks and global trade, the result is a slower trend growth rate than we have seen in the past 15-20 years. Furthermore, the heightened regulatory era that we are now entering will significantly affect the cost of capital. Increased banking regulation is likely to constrain the available supply of capital. As traditionally wealthy countries seek to upgrade their physical infrastructure to cope with growing environmental constraints, and emerging economies seek to build physical infrastructure in order to raise their living standards,  the global economy will also experience a significant increase in investment demand. This supply and demand shift will inevitably force a higher price. As a result, we can expect to see an increased competition for capital over the next few years."

"It's all very well to standardise, regulate and re-aggregate what we now have, but it is important to remember that when this happens, we lose the commercial reality - competition," added Ms Anderson, Ignis. "We need to be able to retain a competitive edge, a differentiator. With our technology spend, it is vital to be aware what is out there and to spend wisely to retain that edge. Importantly, it is the ability to implement and maintain an infrastructure that can adapt and take advantage of commercial and competitive opportunities, that will make a real difference as the new waves of regulation gather momentum."

Many of the streams, debates and discussions at the event will also examine the role of the buy-side trader, and how it is likely to change as the economy recovers. Mr Williams, T Rowe Price, highlighted: "Traditionally, the challenge has been the lack of coordination between the various asset class trading teams. Business is now starting to become better at connecting their results and working as one unit rather than several, and this is a trend we will continue to see. In addition, the use of electronic trading and how we trade is very topical. The debate is now about what technology you have on your desk, as opposed to pre-Lehman Brothers when much of the work was outsourced to brokerages and this wasn't as relevant."

Organised by Worldwide Business Research (WBR), TradeTech Europe will deliver over 75 speakers from across the industry and academic institutions, including the Barclays Capital, London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank, State Street Global Advisors, Goldman Sachs, Gartmore Investment Management, Schroders Investment Management, RCM Allianz, the University of Bristol and University College London.

We look forward to seeing you there! Cognito will be at Stand #130 and in the Press Room.

For more information or to enquire about a free press pass, email adam.honeysett-watts@cognitomedia.com

This year's TSAM focused on the increasingly important topics of data management, outsourcing and client-servicing technology. Delegates, speakers and exhibitors gathered to share their thoughts on identifying the key developments, trends and challenges for 2010. Cognito spoke to some of the attendees after the show.

Speaking on behalf of Citisoft, a leading investment management consultancy, David Roy, management consultant told Cognito: "There is high demand among the investment management community for domain expertise with the continuation of operational re-design and platform rationalisation throughout the middle and back offices. We see more businesses increasing their expenditure on new technology, primarily in the alpha generation, distribution and client servicing functions." Specifically, Mr Roy noted data management's prominent role in all these improvement areas. "These projects can be a real challenge unless approached and managed appropriately. Data must be seen as an enabler not a disabler.  It was encouraging to see evidence at the event of how this universally challenging area is being tackled."

Building on this, Peter van Kleef, president & CEO, Lakeview Capital Market Services highlighted: "Every business has its core expertise. Many companies now realise that it is proving successful to recruit the know-how actively and outsource important aspects of business operations. Fundamentally, this saves time and reduces costs. In addition, the overall risk is reduced because the supporting infrastructure is kept to a minimum, which is also very attractive."

"Data management outsourcing and application hosting were very popular cost cutting measures even before the financial crisis" added Danielle Newland, product manager, Eagle Investment Systems. "Despite this, those who buy into data management projects are still largely concerned that they might lose control of their data during the process. People are now talking about how to get the most out of their solution, both from a financial and control point of view. We are yet to see the ‘wave' of regulation anticipated in the wake of the financial crisis, and as a result there is an air of hesitancy in terms of institutions bankrolling data management projects. However, with GIPS 2010 and other regulatory developments just around the corner, people should be looking forward and anticipating what measures would be best to implement before this occurs."

The schedule of presentations, panel discussions and roundtables covered further topics of interest to the buy-side such as systematic trading strategies, portfolio management and OTC derivatives. TSAM annually hosts over 500 delegates and up to 40 exhibitors in London. TSAM North America is scheduled to be held in New York in September 2010.

Uday Singh, CEO, Osney Media, said: "TSAM is well positioned to provide a stimulating environment for the biggest names in the buy-side to get together and reflect on the past 12 months and, importantly, to plan for the future. Given the topics that have been at the forefront of this year's event, it will be interesting to see the changes and developments in this industry throughout 2010."

Another great event!

Asset managers remain cautious despite markets rebounding

TSAM, Europe's largest buy-side technology and operations event, is due to be held this year on 9th March at the Brewery in the City of London. Cognito is the official PR agency. The conference will bring together high profile players as they overview how they have ridden out the worst of the recent financial crisis; emerging stronger, better and wiser. Attention will also be drawn to where the buy-side should focus its efforts in order to stay afloat and sustain growth.

Among this year's 65 speakers are Mark Holt, head of technology for Systemic Trading at BlueCrest Capital; Colin Close, president, Netik LLC; and Martyn Cuff, managing director at Allianz Global Investors Europe. Cognito caught up with them before the show.

The event will address how the buy-side will emerge and progress in 2010. Mr Holt, BlueCrest Capital, reflects on his presentation: "Without the developments in electronic trading over the past decade, buy-side trading would not exist at its current output or scale. The progressive disintegration of investment bank proprietary functions and the technology available for market access has created an inevitable momentum to move more trading activity to the buy-side. Indeed, electronic trading is helping to naturally restructure the finance industry; a process that is far from over." During his address on the anatomy of a systematic trading strategy, he will talk delegates through the generation, implementation and execution of various systems and strategies.

Speaking about data management and the implications of outsourcing, Mr Close, Netik, said: "It is important we don't assume the crisis is completely over and that some of its' characteristically complex investment practices are not resurgent. They are. For example, hedge funds are back with the additional twist that multi-strategy funds are emerging as attractive products. Even securitisation is not dead with CDOs and CLOs quietly returning in evolved, lower leveraged form. Therefore, huge complexity remains in the middle and back office at a time when the regulators and money-owners are demanding better operational processes and more transparent reporting. For buy-side firms to satisfy these demands in 2010, they are investing in prerequisite enterprise data management solutions and using these to enhance reporting and enable the outsourcing of investment operations processes in order to achieve the best practice that is expected of them. Their ability to attract assets will increasingly depend on them demonstrating success in such initiatives." 

The conference will also examine the rapidly changing business environment. Speaking about its impact upon risk, Mr Cuff, Allianz Global Investors Europe, added: "Risk and cost management are going to become progressively more important throughout 2010 and beyond, changing the balance of the environment we have grown used to pre the financial crisis. Products are going to retain their importance, although a product push alone is not good enough, with instead, clients also wanting a tailored solution-based approach. In terms of where these products and solutions come from, we can expect to see continued globalisation. This is not just European and US fund management companies going into developing markets but there are early signs that companies in countries such India and China are interested in moving into mature investment management markets."

Organised by Osney Media, the event will showcase speakers throughout ten individual streams and delegates will be able to meet over 40 solution providers who are exhibiting on the day. Come and see for yourself!

For more information or to enquire about a free press pass email adam.honeysett-watts@cognitomedia.com