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More and more people are talking about the impact of electronic trading. When a machine can execute an action in a fraction of a second, do human workers have a place any more? A recent BBC report on 'lightning fast' trading technology identifies a clear role for human decision-making. A new microchip can process a financial trade in 740 nanoseconds, but it can't look a customer in the eye and give advice based on experience and, perhaps, a dash of gut feel.
What we are seeing at BT is that transactions the actual trades are tending to happen electronically. But the need for human conversations across multiple channels using web-based services voice, IM and SMS is more intense than ever, and this is complementing the drive towards electronic transactions.
Times will undoubtedly continue to be tough in 2012, and success will come from combining the human touch with the best of ultra low latency technologies.
I have appreciated meeting so many of you and exchanging ideas at our roadshows and workshops over the past year and look forward to meeting many more of you next year. Why not make it your New Year's resolution to talk to us about bringing some people power to your trading room in 2012?
On behalf of us all here at BT, I wish you the best of festive seasons and a peaceful New Year.
Howard Boville, MD Trading Systems and VP Financial Markets, Global Banking and Financial Markets, BT
Visit the BT Unified Trading website or download the BT Unified Trading white paper
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'Lightning fast' future traders working in nanoseconds... |
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...But will developments like algorithmic trading mean people are being increasingly removed from the equation? This was the question put to members of the BT UnIfied Trading team for a recent BBC report on The Technology of Business.
Tim Furmidge, head of trading systems product management BT Global Banking & Financial Markets was clear that it is people who ultimately have the knowledge to make the decisions about strategy, and who can advise clients on maximising the value of their portfolios or minimising their losses in response to changing markets.
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Tim Furmidge on risk: "Clearly there is a huge demand, especially in these volatile markets, to grasp opportunity and make more money, but it's really about the management controls that are in place to allow that to happen in a controlled way". |
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Senior product manager BT GB&FM Simon Pritchard on the cloud: "What it gives our clients is the ability to go into new regions and set up new trading floors very quickly... It also means they can come out of those locations in the event that they find there isn't the business opportunity or they need to change business strategy." |
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Business development director BT GB&FM Jappy Takhar on video: "Traders use the BT turret for voice communications between London, Singapore and New York
but when something happens they can use video as well as voice to decide on their next trade or next deal." |
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First customers now live on BT / TeleWare mobile device recording service |
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The deadline for financial services to comply with the new FSA mobile call recording regulations has now passed and numerous financial institutions are already benefiting from a network-based recording service for mobile devices delivered by BT and TeleWare.
The managed, cloud-based service records and stores mobile voice and text traffic and users simply replace their SIM with a TeleWare SIM to make the service instantly available. Compliance officers can then use BT's secure, cloud-based delivery service and web interface to store, search and retrieve recorded calls.
"We have successfully integrated the solution in environments that have a mix of BlackBerry, Android and iPhone users without any technical issues," explains Andy Nicholson, president at BT GB&FM, "Feedback from customers who have taken up the BT/TeleWare solution has been extremely positive. They love the fact that it works first time, is easy to implement and involves no call delays."
A complete trading unit is typically taking only hours to go live once numbers are ported and there is zero down time for any staff and no user training is required, reports Steve Haworth, CEO, TeleWare Plc. One firm had even been migrated to the service in a single morning, he said...read more
BT Unified Trading compliance FSA guidance on mobile phone recording
Finextra: "To avoid any frights, make sure your IT team selects a vendor with the credentials and capability to deliver a complete solution today"
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BT launches cloud videoconferencing system with iPad and iPhone support |
BT has expanded its cloud-based videoconferencing service to offer interoperable support for mobile devices, enterprise desktop units and webcams as well as telepresence suites...read more |
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Gartner MarketScope commendation for BT's Managed Security Services portfolio
BT is one of only three providers ranked as 'strong positive' the top ranking in the MarketScope for Managed Security Services in Europe, 2011 report, which surveyed 17 European managed security service providers.
The report commends BT for improved customer feedback in Europe, an extensive security service portfolio and key messages that emphasise simplicity, cost reduction, compliance and asset protection.
According to author Carsten Casper, BT's strengths include:
- A resilient operations infrastructure and responsiveness in incident reporting
- The quality of its internal operational processes (for example, quality assurance)
- The skills of its engineers and the ability to listen, respond and adjust to client requirements.
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AsiaPacific |
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The Future Delivered comes to Japan and Australia
The Future Delivered continued its whistlestop roadshow calling in at Tokyo and Sydney on 19 and 20 October.
BT's Unified Trading voice service is now available in 14 global financial centres including the two cities, following an initial deployment in NY and London.
"The service is a response to a growing need for human communications technologies alongside the surge in electronic trading," explained Unified Trading product manager, Tim Furmidge, talking to CommsDay. "It is particularly relevant for increasing focus on customer service differentiation amongst financial institutions. As a cloud-based solution, it will also suit Australian clients looking to expand into developing markets within Asia Pacific," he said. "We are seeing huge demand for more flexible, more agile solutions, particularly driven by the need for firms to get into emerging markets (or get out of them) very quickly. But if you have to install physical equipment in every trading operation, if you have to put specialist support staff everywhere, then they are barriers to very quickly getting into those emerging markets."
BT unified trading voice service launched in twelve additional financial centres
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BT Group plans investment, hiring spree in Asia Pacific
Ian Livingston, BT Group's chief executive officer talks to China Daily about BT's expansion plans in China which will focus on the finance, petroleum and retail industries...read more |
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BT opens a new Secure Operations Centre in Sydney
BT opened a Secure Operations Centre in Sydney, Australia on 8 November. "The Sydney facility is a strategically important investment for BT and will enable our customers to transact business in the region with added levels of security and confidence," said Jeff Schmidt, Global Head of BT Assure, BT's global security capability...read more
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BT expands Asia footprint with China NNI agreement
BT global customers will soon be able to connect to approximately 330 locations in China, thanks to its new Reach-in Network to Network Interface (NNI) agreement with mainland operator China Unicom. QoS-enabled MPLS will extend right across China as a result of the agreement...read more
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BT opens its second customer Innovation showcase in mainland China
BT has opened a second Customer Innovation Showcase in Shanghai, making China the only country outside the UK with two BT showcase centres...read more
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Tech in the megacity: Guangzhou, Jakarta and Mumbai
BT Global Services has commissioned stories on four of the world's fastest-growing megacities including Guangzhou, Jakarta and Mumbai. To get a snapshot of life – and digital life in particular – and to learn more about doing business in these cities read the Tech in the megacity white paper...read more
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EMEA |
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BT stands by to advise on business continuity on FSA's "day of disaster"
What would happen to the City if it were hit by a cyberattack? The FSA staged a day of systems meltdown in November to find out...read more |
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Tradition to offer Trad-X via BT Radianz Cloud
BT is to provide the 15,000 members of its cloud community fast, global and secure access to Tradition's award-winning hybrid trading platform, Trad-X via the BT Radianz Cloud. The platform for OTC derivatives and other financial instruments, won Best Industry Infrastructure Initiative at the Banking Technology Awards 2011 in November...read more |
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Qatar exchange joins BT Radianz global community
BT has announced that Qatar Exchange's market data feeds will be accessible by the BT Radianz Cloud community of banks, brokers and investment managers. This will provide investors globally with fast, neutral, cost-effective and secure access to information about investment opportunities in the Middle East...read more |
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North and South America |
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BT accelerates Latin-American growth helping "multilatinas" expand
BT is ramping up its Latin American business after landing major contracts with some of the continent's largest businesses and government agencies. It will extend the coverage of its high performance networks in the region by increasing the number of its MPLS points of presence by around 20% and by launching Ethernet services in 21 new cities...read more |
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Security in securities
It's time for investment firms to carry out deep-dive reviews of how they achieve security and how their communications architecture supports that goal more cost-effectively, before things get even worse, says Chris Pickles, head of industry initiatives, BT GB&FM ...read more |
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There is no ROI for security
Quantifying benefits derived from security investments is difficult, much like quantifying benefits from auto insurance, if you haven't had to file a claim, says Toby Weir-Jones, VP of Product Development, BT Counterpane. But continued spend on maintenance as a ratio of technical capabilities realized is unavoidable...read more
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Mobile app developers make the same old mistake
Lured into a sense of false security, mobile developers are making the same types of weak input validation and excessive trust mistakes as the early days...read more |
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Why you still can't teach a machine to hack
Spotting security loopholes is likely to need the human touch for a while yet, says BT consultant Konstantinos Karagiannis...read more
Visit the Innovation in Financial Services website |
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BT and CLSA strike £45m deal for BT Unified Trading, voice and data services
Asia Pacific Markets, Asia's leading independent brokerage and investment group, has chosen BT to provide a fully managed voice, data and trading systems solution across 14 countries in the Asia Pacific region, the UK and the US.
Under the seven-year agreement, BT is helping CLSA to flex its communication and IT requirements by implementing an innovative, global utility based pricing model for BT's networked IT services and the deployment of BT Unified Trading for trading communications...more
CLSA brings the value of BT's Asia Pacific investments to life: interview with CLSA CIO Thiyagarajah Rajah |
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BT's investment in its global MPLS network enabled customers like leading independent brokerage and investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets to continue doing business through disasters like the Japanese earthquake and tsunami
Download case study |
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If you found this issue interesting then why not send it on to a friend or colleague. Send it here. |
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The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors alone.
This newsletter is published by BT. If you'd like to comment on any of our articles, contribute to future issues or simply get in touch, we'd be delighted to hear from you:
By email:
julie.5.scott@bt.com
Website: www.globalservices.bt.com
British Telecommunications plc 2011
Registered office:
81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ. Registered in England No: 1800000 |
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