News

It was less than half a year ago when the European Commission confirmed that the introduction of MiFID II would be delayed a year, to January 2018. At that time, there was a general feeling of relief from most financial institutions facing a huge upheaval to be compliant with the new directive.

I recently attended the FIA’s IDX conference in London and it was notable how many of the panel sessions centred on one particular topic. 

MiFID II is clearly a hot topic at the moment with ever-increasing column inches given to the delays and confusion surrounding requirements.

Last week I attended a European fintech conference in Amsterdam. I’m no stranger to these events but this one was different, in a number of good and diverse ways.

I saw a news article recently about how high frequency trading firms are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their trading performance and profit. Two large companies were mentioned with each having a slightly different approach.

With the background of recent consolidation and contraction across the listed derivative and cleared swap clearers (plus pressure on capital requirements) it was encouraging to see the recent Basel Committee panel considering a different approach for assessing banks' exposure to derivatives.

I attended the 41st FIA Boca conference last week and, as ever, it provided a great snapshot of the listed derivative and cleared swap industry with some good insights of what is to come.

During a recent magazine interview, I was asked about the fintech start-up industry and it made me consider the following question: when does a start-up actually stop being a start-up?

It’s not every day you get to use the product you’re marketing, to actually improve your marketing.

Being in the reconciliation space, I read Aite Group’s excellent report “Reconciliation Trends in 2016: Regulation and Nervous Recs” with great interest.