We attended the second day of IDX, with the intention of focussing primarily on clearing.
Some themes we picked up:
- Static data is a problem for everyone
- Everyone is aware of SunGard’s dominance in Middle and Back Office, but no-one knows what to do about it
- It is becoming a real struggle to manage the pace of change, with the regulators and the exchanges being the prime causes now, only followed by the vendors and finally the clients
- How can regional regulators address a global business?
- Interoperability seems a long way off
- Portfolio margining is only going to become more important as collateral becomes scarcer
- Not to mention the move of OTC products to CCPs …
One interesting fact that came out in the break-out sessions was that the number of FCMs has diminished by 50 from the 168 that were around 5 years ago.
We enjoyed a brief look at FFastFill‘s SEALS product – the Carte Blanche feature sounded strangely familiar, and the promise of bi-directional exchange communications means we will definitely be taking a closer look.