eSpeed, a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, has launched a wireless electronic data and trading platform for US Treasury bonds and foreign exchange. Aimed at the institutional market, the trading solution is based on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 and will be available on devices like the Treo 700w and the Motorola Q. eSpeed had launched a wireless market data service last year on Windows but it offered trading only on a Blackberry.

When The Charles Schwab Corporation bought CyberTrader, the direct access, high-tech trading brokerage, in March 2000, it acquired much more than a broker-dealer for very active traders. Schwab obtained a leading-edge technology firm that was profitable in its own business of supporting sophisticated strategic traders. CyberTrader was also fully capable of providing Schwab with cutting-edge, money saving Microsoft-based technology that transformed its brokerage business.

How do investment managers differentiate between all the different OMS vendors on the market?

We looked through out past issues, email newsletters and online content to cull together what customers have said about the decision, in their own words.

When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer came to New York in mid-March with Microsoft’s new “People-Ready” marketing campaign, he was making a case for the importance of people to a company’s success, and the importance of software in making people productive.

Taking control of research at buy-side firms used to mean finding a better way to store fat paper reports than stacking them on the floor or the desk until they toppled over. Nowadays those reports are electronic, and regulators want to know how firms are using them, and how they are deciding which broker dealers are sending good research and how they are allocating their commissions as payment.

CRM’s Rebirth

Initially, CRM was viewed as a four-letter-word by some users who thought it would solve complex problems out-of-the-box. But the industry is now on a second or third generation of CRM. Companies, as the following examples show, have learned from experience. They are approaching the challenges more holistically, combining new technology with changes to business processes, and they are extending their approach to reach into a wider array of back-office systems while also creating more intuitive interfaces for users.

As the number and severity of security incidents have risen over the past few years, so has the importance of security management. Add to that regulatory pressures that are forcing firms to demonstrate operational risk controls and report the effectiveness and weaknesses of their control frameworks, and financial firms are facing security challenges like never before.

Not just another pretty interface:

Market data, historical records, customer information. These are just a few of the ways that information is at the center of the investment banking business. Building new derivatives, creating innovative structured products, compliance, sales, decision support for traders, risk management – these are just a few of the ways that technology collects, stores, analyzes, structures and delivers data to the people and computers using it to conduct business. Technology management is becoming ever more crucial in controlling risks and garnering rewards in this highly competitive arena.

With its strange mix of new luxury condo buildings, nondescript offices and auto repair shops, the Morton Street area in the West Village looks like just one more New York neighborhood that is pushing the geographical envelope of gentrification. It does not look like home to a major power in equities trading.

This is where Lava, an independent subsidiary of Citigroup, which accounts for slightly over seven percent of the equities volume in the U.S. markets, is headquartered, a spot chosen some months after a successful evacuation of all 35 employees from the 83rd floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower.

The International Securities Exchange, which is already the world's largest equity options exchange, is moving into electronic stock trading in the third quarter with a platform designed for high-speed electronic and algorithmic trading.

Brokerage firms that are looking for ways to attract and retain their most profitable active traders can now offer them real-time market data and dynamic updates to their portfolios and watch lists at a modest cost, while reinforcing their own brand through private labeling the service from Stockgroup.

Excel spreadsheets are so flexible and powerful that companies, especially financial firms, have greatly expanded their use across the enterprise.

In financial services, Excel is widely employed to develop new trading products, to fill the gaps between applications and help banks close their books at the end of a reporting period, and to meet regulatory reporting requirements. Industries of all kinds use spreadsheets to support critical business functions; estimates are that over half of financial management reporting is performed through spreadsheets.

Mike Gilkey joined Avanade from Accenture five and a half years ago, when the company was formed through a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft aimed at providing consulting and implementation services for applications running on the Microsoft platform. Avanade, which launched in 2000 just after the peak of the technology boom, struggled with the economy in its early years but in fiscal year 2005 recorded over $380 million in annual revenue and had more than 4,000 professionals worldwide. Gilkey, vice president and general manager, runs the West region for Avanade and also has responsibility for market development in North America, including the verticals such as financial services.

The speed and volume of financial information is exceeding all forecasts. Investment institutions are facing the need to significantly invest in their trading and processing infrastructures with ever dwindling budgets. Firms will not only need to find the right speed, size, and price fit to remain financially viable, but they will need innovative solutions that add more value to each trade. We ask the experts their POV on the necessary steps for gaining that crucial competitive advantage.

Without a doubt, the online channel is the most cost-effective way for financial institutions of all sizes to deliver their services.

It also delivers a strong ROI: research from The Boston Consulting Group and other research firms has shown that online banking users are over 30% more profitable than offline users, while bill payers are nearly 100% more profitable.

These kinds of numbers show the real value of promoting and securing the online banking channel. The question is how to securely deliver services over the Internet while striking a balance between effectiveness and convenience for the online banker.

Our industry leaders provide insight into how this delicate goal can be achieved.