Antony Fung

As the financial industry increasingly embraces the cloud, the underlying and often overlooked energy crisis threatens to derail cloud ambitions. SunGard, a hyper-scale data centre and cloud provider, has already fallen victim, and an estimated 16,000 clients are left scrambling in the aftermath. This article explores the underlying cause of rising energy prices, the impact on data centres, the risks to the financial industry, how firms can mitigate risks, and how CJC can help.

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Unlocking Efficiency and Compliance in Market Data Management

In this episode, Alan Ross explains the challenges faced by the market data industry, such as the inefficiencies in market data management and the outdated methods of market data contract management and reporting. He highlights how DRDM (first mentioned in episode 7 [42:30]) addresses these issues by introducing a disruptive technology that digitises and secures contracts for market data across financial institutions. This distributed ledger technology leverages blockchain to ensure compliance, prevent unauthorised data distribution, and streamline operations.

Alan also emphasizes the benefits of DRDM’s Digital Contract Network (DCN), which provides a real-time, tamper-proof compliance framework. This framework helps financial institutions meet stringent regulatory requirements while reducing costs and boosting efficiency. The conversation explores how DRDM’s solutions enable better management of market data contracts, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Overall, Alan Ross explained DRDM’s innovative solution and its impact on the financial services industry, highlighting the significant improvements in compliance, transparency, and operational efficiency.

Key Points:

• Market Data Management:

  • Market data management can report to multiple departments, like IT, procurement, or business operations.
  • The structure and reporting lines will vary based on an organisation’s strategy and leadership.
  • Cost reduction and containment have been a focus for over 20 years.
  • Market data management involves both the commercial side (contracts, terms, conditions) and the system side (data delivery).

• Challenges and Strategies:

  • Market data as a service can be managed end-to-end by individuals who understand technical, commercial, and audit aspects.
  • Strategies for market data management vary, and leadership changes can shift these strategies.
  • Cost containment involves identifying and eliminating inefficiencies while maintaining essential services.

• Technological Evolution:

  • The evolution of market data systems includes transitioning from green screens to modern data distribution systems.
  • Key historical systems mentioned include Triarch, RMDS, TREP, and RTDS.
  • The current state of market data systems involves cloud services, big data, and AI.
  • Cloud service providers like AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle play a significant role in market data distribution.

• Future of Market Data Systems:

  • The integration of cloud services with traditional market data systems is ongoing.
  • There is a debate on whether data providers should also handle data distribution or outsource it to cloud service providers.
  • The market data landscape is evolving with new technologies and changing business models.

You can catch David Anderson’s podcast, “Talking Market Data” on Apple or Spotify.