Capital markets have transformed in the 21st century, with dramatic gains in speed, efficiency and reliability. And the evolution – some might call it revolution – continues apace.
The redrawn landscape presents opportunities, and challenges, for the buy-side investment firms, hedge funds, bank broker-dealers, electronic market makers, global exchange operators, regulatory authorities and alternative trading venues that comprise the market ecosystem.
The commonality in the ongoing secular evolution comes down to one word: technology.
“At Nasdaq, the continued investment in our technology has enabled us to provide a best-in-class experience for all investors throughout some of the most volatile market periods on record,” said Tal Cohen, EVP and Head of North American Markets, Nasdaq. “We are at the forefront of developing, adopting and integrating nascent technologies that maintain the resiliency and integrity of our markets to keep improving this experience for all.”
“Sell-side leaders will have created digitally enabled operating models” by 2025, Accenture said in a report last year. “Buy-side leaders will have become technology-driven and data-enabled…Market infrastructure leaders will have embraced digital transformation—from data monetization to cloud, digital assets to artificial intelligence.”
With that backdrop, Traders Magazine is pleased to introduce Tech Tuesday, a weekly content collaboration with Nasdaq.
Every Tuesday in this space, we will publish content with the common theme of market technology. Specific topics could include artificial intelligence; cloud; connectivity; data; digital assets; market surveillance; equities, ETF, or options trading; or anything else relevant for the range of participants in the market ecosystem.
We’ll share Tech Tuesday content on LinkedIn and we’ll tweet using the hashtag #NasdaqTechTuesday.
Once perceived as the province of start-up fintechs developing the proverbial better mousetrap, technology has been embraced – by necessity – by market participants and market infrastructure operators large and small.
Earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase said it would increase its technology budget to $12 billion, 26% more than it spent in 2020.
“Technology always drives change, but now the waves of technological innovation come in faster and faster,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders. “The science behind them is also increasingly complex as technology (including AI) is ‘embedded’ in more products. In today’s world, I cannot overemphasize the importance of implementing new technology.”
It’s the same story on the buy side. ”In the future, asset managers will have to be as good at using technology as anything else they do – and as good at it as any tech firm,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in his firm’s 2021 letter to shareholders.
As market participants continue to evolve and transform, market infrastructure operators and regulatory authorities must also work toward modernization.
“As a partner and mission-critical technology provider to the world’s market infrastructure operators for the last 20+ years – technology is in our DNA,” said Roland Chai, EVP and Head of Market Infrastructure Technology, Nasdaq. “We are constantly investing in services and new technology that bring value to our clients while enabling them to innovate and evolve their market infrastructure.”
