ON THE MONITOR
Why the Back Office Avoids The Cloud. Hint: It’s Not Technical.
March 29, 2010
Cloud computing may be taking some industries by storm, but it’s not making much of a dent in core trading systems or brokerage back offices. Nor will it any time, soon.
That’s the key finding of a cloud computing study done the by the Tabb Group in December. The report’s chief author is Tabb Group senior analyst Kevin McPartland, who spoke last week at the International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication (ISITC) in Boston.
As for trading systems, relying on computers somewhere in the cloud extends the latency of executing a transaction, which in today’s environment of millisecond competition would put traders at a distinct disadvantage.
But the reason is not technical in the back office. There, regulation means cloud computing is not a real option, yet.
“Technologically, it’s ready, but from both cultural and regulatory [perspectives], financial services are not ready for cloud computing,” he said.
THE WEEK AHEAD:
MONDAY, MARCH 29
EVENT: SEC’s New Short Sale Rule: Implications and Ambiguities
7:15 a.m., Bayard’s, Hanover Square, New York, Capital Markets Consortium
TUESDAY, MARCH 30
DATA: 20-City Home Price Index
9 a.m., Case-Shiller
Webcast: The Mobilized Enterprise - What's the ROI?
11:00 AM EDT, The 451 Group
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31
WEBCAST: Business Critical Virtualization
10:30 a.m., WindowsIT Pro
EVENT: Time for a Visible Hand: Lessons from the 2008 World Financial Crisis
11 a.m., The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC
FRIDAY, APRIL 2
Observation of Good Friday.
THE WEEK THAT WAS:
SEC Evaluating Whether Funds Can Invest in Derivatives
Sorting Out Email: How SEC Decoded Insider Trading Ring
‘Several Competing’ Clearing Houses Needed for Swap
Calastone Starts UK Funds Settlement Service
Lime Brokerage Launches Sponsored Access Solution
Fund Operations Execs Concerned about Data Accuracy
S.E.C. Reviews Derivative Use by Some Funds
SEC probing trades by Appaloosa, WSJ says
