Guest Contributor: James Pasmantier, Vice President of Professional Services at Brightidea Innovation is never easy, and the Financial Services industry is far from a safe haven for the common challenges faced by all organizations. These days, the concept of ‘financial innovation’ has come under scrutiny, see one example in an Economist debate on the subject
Fun Friday
Movie Review Friday – Too Big To Fail
Too Big to Fail – Everyone working from Wall Street to Main Street has most likely heard about, if not read this best-selling piece of literature by Andrew Ross Sorkin which details the financial crisis of 2008. Recently HBO decided to take this best-seller and turn it into a film. Prior to working here at
Compliance
Good Risk Management = Good Business Management
Guest Contributor: Todd Cooper, Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Risk Compliance, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services The financial services industry is definitely at a crossroads when it comes to compliance and risk management. One road leads to growth, but requires taking calculated business risks in order to achieve success. The other path involves avoiding
Hedge Funds
Following Tweets Could Make You Rich
OK. It’s no secret how I feel about Tweeting (see my earlier, and maybe a little too honest, post about being a Twit); it’s a lot of work but it does serve a purpose and I am not the only one that feels this way. Last month, Derwent Capital Markets, a London-based investment firm, launched
Financial Technologies Forum (FTF)
Happy Birthday to Us!
In case you were unaware, Financial Technologies Forum celebrated its 5th birthday this past week on June 1st! In reaching this milestone occasion, we here at FTF have been reflecting on all that has been accomplished over the past five years. We wanted to share these ‘Fun FTF Facts’ with you, our readers, and thank
Derivatives
A Derivatives Delay? What to Do for the Next 15 Months
Guest Contributor: Tony Scianna, deputy head of strategy, SunGard Last week we read that U.S. House Republicans voted to delay new derivatives rules by 15 months. Before we go into what this means for the derivatives industry, let’s take a look at how long 15 months really is: * 5 seasons will pass * We’ll
Back-Office
Attention Vendors: Clients Need New Ways to Manage Risk
Quantifi recently released survey results concerning how financial firms plan on implementing new solutions in order to manage and measure their counterparty risk. According to the survey results, 100 percent of respondents either have already or plan on implementing major changes in their counterparty risk systems, but what is the need behind this sudden system
Conference and Event Planning
Food Truck Friday!
As our blogger fans know, we here at FTF love a good food truck. So we recently decided to try out the new Gorilla Cheese Truck, which specializes in making grilled cheese sandwiches. You’re probably thinking what’s so special about a grilled cheese sandwich and how can a food truck base its entire menu off
Clearing and Settlement
A Truly Canadian Solution?
Guest Contributor: Steven Grob, Director Group Strategy, Fidessa The merger mania in the exchange space took another twist last week when a consortium of Canada’s largest banks and pension funds put forward an alternative offer for TMX in an attempt to scupper the LSE Group’s own merger proposals with the Canadian exchange. There’s a clue
Compliance
Too Big to Fail?
While watching Too Big to Fail last night on HBO I was reminded of an article I read last week titled “Clearing Houses ‘Would Not Have Prevented Financial Crisis’”. Basically, the article’s point was that while there have been efforts made since the financial crisis to prevent future ordeals there hasn’t been enough focus on
