VitalVest launches hedge fund middle-office solutions

VitalVest has unveiled Hedge Fund Middle Office, a suite of operational solutions for hedge funds operating in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Hedge Fund Middle Office includes a range of scalable, modular post-trade and pre-settlement services. The services are global and include technology solutions that help manage daily trade processing and profit-and-loss reporting, over-the-counter confirmation and valuation, collateral management, corporate action processing and cash management.

In addition, the solution allows hedge funds to move to a more variable operational cost model, which VitalVest said is an attractive feature in the current cost-constrained environment.

If you are interested in learning more about middle-office solutions offered by VitalVest, please feel free to email us for more info at info@vitalvest.com

 

GPU (CUDA) supercomputing technologies for real-time financial trading and risk

First it was FPGA technology now its time for (GPU programming / high performance computing HPC) Graphical Processing Unit  supercomputing technologies. GPU supercomputing is perfect for Trading Systems for its ability to speed up many types of financial calculations. GPU (CUDA) supercomputing technologies has  made significant inroads into financial analytics and risk arena what looks like a silent revolution on Wall Street. Only Institutional  Banks / Hedge Funds with financial capability and  technology knowhow are currently using GPU (CUDA) supercomputing technologies for real-time financial trading and risk.

The power of high speed GPU programming gives traders ability to  trades almost in real-time, thus it pays to be there first and ahead of the trading game. For more info on GPU/CUDA computing please visit Nvidia’s developer zone

Will FPGA & GPU technologies live the hype in finance? So, what can GPUs do now and in future as a trading technology? And where do we go from here?

Oracle’s Java for Trading Systems Development, Speed and Performance?

After Sun its Oracle turn to try out novel development using Java.

Oracle is focusing on building a Java-based pre-engineered trading bundle this year in order to facilitate fast deployment and “fewer moving parts” to deal with for its customers. This development is aimed at tackling the challenge of performance versus time to market in the low latency trading architecture space. It would be based on Java enabled data grids and architectures on which trading infrastructures can be built could therefore provide more robust capabilities.

We will find our more about core Java-based pre-engineered trading bundle within months to come. Will be easier to implement and will it save time and money for both the software company/consultants and the users (Trading firms and its Customers, Capital Markets & Investment Banks).???

Java is HOT again!

Future trends and technology investment for High Speed and Secure Trading System!

The financial services industry has changed drastically and evolved greatly owing to the economic crisis,
regulatory issues, competitive pressures and increasing customer needs. Today, IT plays a significant role
as a major operative and competitive requirement for financial institutions. Thus changing the future trends
and technology investment in Mobile Trading applications and High frequency trading (HFT)/ Algorithmic trading
(Algo trading)
Here are few technology trends or recommended improvements every investment bank must take note of :

Faster and better and mobile electronic trading systems will continue increased IT spending
Increased focus on electronic trading, including Ultra lower latency, co-location and access to new electronic
trading venues like mobile trading and direct data feeds from exchanges
Increased spending on derivative trading systems, both for ETD and OTC :
Both ETD and OTC derivatives will see an increase in volume; and with new rules (dodd frank bill) requiring
OTC products to move onto exchanges, with CCPs acting as clearers, new systems will have to be put
into place to manage the required collateral and margin.
Firms will have to invest in upgrading their risk management system :
Increased trading volumes, faster trading, more diverse types of securities traded, and new margining
and collateral rules will require that firms have capable risk management systems
Improving front-office, middle office and back office system capabilities
Firms will continue their perennial struggle to improve their middle and back office systems in order to
keep up with the ever increasing amount of trade volume – driven higher more quickly by the increase in
electronic trading systems. Wealth management firms will focus on upgrading advisor workstations and facilitating
customer communication
A focus on integration of multi-platform
New trend is to work off a single platform across the enterprise. Wealth management firms will continue to
focus on process and data integration.

VitalVest specializes in Secondary Private Market Technology Advisory, Execution and Processing

Secondary liquidity is critical to driving a fast moving enterprise’s growth. There are many Secondary Private Markets or Marketplace for Alternative Investments that provide liquidity if needed by offering secondary placement, to name a few are GATE Technologies, SecondMarket, SharesPost, Xpert Financial, MissionMarkets, NYPPEX etc. These so called Secondary Private Markets or Second Markets suffer from lack of a centralized marketplace or electronic access, making it difficult for participants to buy or sell alternative assets from Central location or well structured. With plenty of  Alternative Asset Classes (Private Stock Placement, Structured Products, Bankruptcy Claims, Foreclosure, Environmental Credits, Credit Card Debt, Public Equity) and lack of electronic market data and content to pre trade and post trade analytics it will be difficult for buyer or seller to judge the products strength or weakness. If you visit their websites most of these market places are registered with or member of  FINRA, MSRB and SIPC.

Will these Secondary Marketplace  (Second Markets) succeed or end up as a wholesale auction site for Alternative Assets Class like ebay is for goods?  Which company do you think has edge over the other and why? Do you think any of them can successfully navigate and aggregate transaction data and work more as a neutral interdealer broker in this space like  iCAP has done with the debt and equity markets and BondDesk has done with odd lot fixed income.

VitalVest has been instrumental providing technology consulting, suggesting technology and building custom .Net and Java trading System for Second Markets. If you require any help please feel free to consult us.

Investment banks and Hedge fund firms rely on VitalVest for their Financial Services/Computer IT Consulting

Chief information officer (CIO), or information technology (IT) director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals. In Financial Services and Investment Banking, an industry focused on data and financial analysis, technology is as much a part of the business as the traders, portfolio managers and risk managers who develop financial products. In Electronic Financial Markets, algorithmic trading or automated trading, also known as “high-frequency trading” (HFT), Low-latency trading, algo trading, black-box trading or robo trading, is the use of computer programs for entering trading orders with the computer algorithm deciding on aspects of the order such as the timing, price, or quantity of the order, or in many cases initiating the order without human intervention. Effective management of information technology resources that support the business has always been a priority for financial services CIOs. However, now that financial firms are beginning to once again cut staff and expenses as the banking industry faces cost pressures and declining revenues, efficient IT systems management is vital for technology executives.

Without the ability to run an integrated and cost effective IT organization, CIOs risk not being able to respond to business goals and provide technology support to the portions of the enterprise that drive business. Most of the Investment banks and Hedge fund firms rely on VitalVest c/o NHP Consulting LLC., for their Financial Services/Computer IT Consulting. We have been serving Wall Street clients for almost 12 years and know the financial service industry inside out.

The principals at NHP Consulting LLC has been instrumental with designing and architecting several enterprise-wide solutions. We have deep knowledge and experience with implementing Electronic Trading, Connectivity, Middle-office and Regulatory Compliance Reporting solutions. We are equally knowledgeable and Experienced within Java,Open Source and Microsoft technologies. We have worked with several global major firms within Capital Markets segment.

Mobile Investment Banking Applications and Devices a must !

With rise of handheld computing devices, Tablets, Smartphone or web connected mobile phones, Consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to manage and monitor their investment activities. Modern devices like iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Windows 7 Phone, Tablets, Android phone have made it easy for users to check their watch list, view real time quotes, study research and news, manage portfolios, trade live (Stocks, Forex, Commodities), EFT’s or Options from anywhere.

Merrill Lynch is the latest of an increasing number of investment banks to offer account services through mobile device applications. Merrill Edge and MyMerrill joined a host of iOS offerings which includes Chase Bank(JPM), Capital One (COF) and Citibank (C). Bank of America and Chase Bank also offer Android mobile banking apps, and the iPad has additional capability compared to the other devices in the new Merrill Lynch apps. The iPad apps offer more features including personalized dashboards and access to the latest research reports from BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.

Citi announced the launch of Citi Issuer Access, a tablet-based suite of capital markets content designed specifically for issuers involved in the capital formation process. The content will be available on the iPad. Citi said it will be available on all tablets that have Safari browser, such as the iPad. As part of this initiative, issuers will receive dedicated tablet computers pre-loaded with a comprehensive suite of applications, including a real time issuer view into the order book, access to investor profiles, dynamic roadshow travel and meeting schedule, post-pricing investor relations services and support. Each tablet will be delivered pre-loaded with the following Citi Issuer Access suite of applications: An issuer view into the syndicate bookbuilding application to see the order book real time along with offering feedback, as well as a detailed roadshow travel and meeting schedule; and in-depth investor profiles, including portfolio characteristics, holdings, and investment approach. Other features include live access to the Bigdough database of institutional contacts and advanced investor screening tools and real time market intelligence, quotes and news.

Investment Banks Outsourcing to India…. Does it work?

Investment Banks are outsourcing financial analysis and research overseas. Few big names have quietly hired Indian firms or set up their subsidiaries on the subcontinent to handle basic financial modeling and comparable analysis. Two main factors are driving this trend. First, it’s cheaper. Second, banks hope that by freeing senior analysts to concentrate on analysis rather than running numbers, they will produce better—and more—research. Outsourcing, which was once confined to junior and back office processes, has now moved to more business-critical functions such as equity and capital markets research.

Few Investment Banks have stoped sending their critical IT work to India. Their experience of outsourcing IT resources would suggest it does not work, since many of the deliverables are of such poor quality they have required almost total redevelopment ‘onshore’. IT firms in India did not have deep knowledge and experience with implementing Electronic Trading, Connectivity, Middle-office and Regulatory Compliance Reporting requirements. It was waste of time and money!