Technology Round Table: challenges ahead for the future

Investors are now demanding greater operational risk controls and technology can provide the infrastructure needed to allay concerns.

IT Round Table (December 2009)

Other issues covered in the report include:

Funds need to consider carefully which options are best for them and are cost effective: off the shelf, bespoke or outsourced. Experts advise a mixture of all.

The financial crisis has given hedge funds a wake-up call, forcing them to examine their operational risk systems and ensure they have adequate controls in place.

A major challenge that multi-prime funds face is the lack of a single trade reporting standard. Other issues also confront funds looking to grow.

Summary of companies participating

ACTIV Financial
Scott Hall, managing director, North America
ACTIV Financial Systems is a provider of market data content and technologies to market makers, hedge funds, brokers and trading systems. It provides managed low-latency and high-volume market data services and also delivers consolidated, hosted and on-site ticker plant services for exchanges.

Algorithmics
Andrew Aziz, executive vice president, risk solutions
Stuart Petersen, director, buy-side sales
Algorithmics is a provider of enterprise risk solutions. Algorithmics offers solutions for market, credit and operational risk as well as collateral and capital management. It is a member of the Fitch Group.

Asset Control
Rick Enfield, product business owner
Asset Control provides centralised data management solutions for financial institutions worldwide. It is backed by Fidelity Ventures, providers of capital to technology companies.

Cadis
Daniel Simpson, CEO
Cadis delivers enterprise-wide intelligent data management for multiple data management issues, front to back office integration, outsourcing, security and price master management, data governance and compliance, benchmarking and reporting.

Derivix
Carrick Pierce, president
Derivix, a financial services software company providing options pricing, analytics and real-time risk visualization

Eze Castle Integration
Mary Beth West, director of marketing
Eze Castle Integration is a provider of technology, IT services and consulting to the investment industry. Products and services include start-up and relocation, outsourced technology support, professional services, telecommunications, business continuity planning and disaster recovery, archiving, storage, and internet service.

FinAnalytica
David Merrill, CEO
FinAnalytica is a provider of real world portfolio and risk management solutions for quantitative analysts and portfolio managers. Clients include leading fund of funds, hedge funds and asset management companies worldwide.

FINCAD
Bob Park, president and CEO
FINCAD provides software and services supporting the valuation and risk management of cross-asset class derivatives and fixed income securities to banks, corporate treasuries, asset management companies, auditors and governments.

Fiserv
Geoff Harries, vice president of product strategy, investment services
Fiserv provides a solution set of information technology products and services for banks, credit unions, leasing companies, lenders and savings institutions in the US and throughout the world.

FMO
Martin Koopman, CEO
FMO is an online portfolio management system used by hedge funds to report on their global investments and manage their day to day operations. It is focussed on Asia where the majority of its customers are based.

GoldenSource
Neil Edelstein, vice president, client solutions
GoldenSource provides an integrated enterprise data management platform for the securities and investment management industry, making it easy to manage critical reference and market data. It also powers managed data services via its powered by GoldenSource partnership programme.

MIK Fund Solutions
Marshall Saffer, chief operating officer
MIK Fund Solutions is a software and custom development service provider to the alternative investment community offering customised solutions for hedge funds, funds of funds and managed accounts.

MPI Europe
John Cant, managing director
MPI Europe specialises in financial services consulting. The company focuses on business process and technology projects that result from regulatory driven and technology enabled change.

Netage Solutions
Stuart Sheppard, managing director, sales and marketing
Netage Solutions is a provider of customer relationship management software and online reporting systems for the alternative assets industry including hedge funds, funds of funds, private equity companies, real estate investment organisations, prime brokers and institutional investors.

Odyssey Financial Technologies
Jon May, vice president, InvestmentManager
Odyssey Financial Technologies provides asset management and wealth solutions and services to the institutional, fund management, private banking, mass affluent/brokerage and retail banking sectors. It focuses on providing a comprehensive range of modules for portfolio management, advisory and sales processes, customer relationship management, compliance, risk and analytics.

Omgeo
Leigh Walters, head of EMEA
Omgeo is a post trade services provider specialising in automating trade life cycle events in the middle and back office including allocation, confirmation/affirmation, settlement notification, enrichment operational analytics and counterparty risk management. It is a joint venture between the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and Thomson Reuters.

Orange Business Services – Trading Solutions
Olivier Vonet, senior vice president, business development
Orange Business Services provides a combination of messaging, IP voice and mobility expertise. Orange is the key brand of France Telecom.

Portware
Harrell Smith, head of product strategy
Portware is a developer of broker-neutral, automated trading software for global equities, futures, options and foreign exchange. The company’s flagship product, Portware Enterprise, is a fully customisable, FIX (financial information exchange)-compliant trade management and execution system for single-asset, portfolio, basket, automated and algorithmic trading.

Rapid Addition
Kevin Houston, chairman
Rapid Addition is a software solutions provider to the global electronic markets. It works with global financial institutions, including banks, broker-dealers, exchanges, MTFs and investment managers.

SEI
David Morrissey, new business development, Europe and the Middle East (investment manager services division)
SEI provides total operations outsourcing solutions to global investment managers focused on hedge and private equity funds, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, collective trusts, separately managed accounts and institutional and private client services. 

Sophis
Eric Bernstein, chief operating officer, North America
Callum Runcie, head of hedge fund sales, Northern Europe
Sophis is a provider of cross-asset, front-to-back portfolio and risk management solutions.

SunGard
Paul Compton, head of product management for alternative investments
SunGard is a software and IT services company providing front-, middle- and back-office solutions to hedge funds, funds of funds, private equity managers and other asset management companies as well as to third-party administrators and service providers.

Thomson Reuters
Nigel Cheetham, senior vice president, hedge fund services
Thomson Reuters is a source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. It combines industry expertise with technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets.

Transaction Network Services
James Parker, senior vice president, product solutions (financial services division)
Transaction Network Services (TNS) is an international data communications company that enables payments, money and voices to move around the world. It has designed and implemented multiple data networks, each designed specifically for the transport of transaction-oriented data.

Tradar (Europe)
Trevor Headley, general manager
Tradar provides hedge funds with complete portfolio management solutions.

Xenomorph
Naj Alavi, managing director
Xenomorph is a provider of data and analytics management solutions to the financial markets. Its TimeScape technology encompasses the high performance capture, cleansing, storage, integration and analysis of reference, historical, real-time and derived data.