SIX, a global data aggregator and operator of exchanges in its native Switzerland, as well as in Spain, has released a flurry of new data products since January, including a suite of ESG tools and two global equities index families that herald a plan to become a one-stop-shop for ETFs.

According to Leslie, the frenetic pace of partnerships, product releases and enhancements this year is just the tip of the iceberg. The Zurich-based, bank-owned organisation has more to come, all built around a trove of data and data capabilities it has built up over more than 90 years of operations.

At heart, it remains a global pricing reference data provider – that’s the “base data” that SIX “is built on”, says Leslie. But the company is putting in place ambitious plans to leverage that core data competency to meet the increasingly complex demands and use cases of financial institutions.

“I believe that the fundamental data set – having really good-quality reference data and pricing data – allows us to create new value-added services and insights to our clients, and that remains the same whether we’re talking about GenAI or good old fashioned master reference,” Leslie tells Data Management Insight from SIX’s offices in London. “Unless you’ve got those basics you can’t really make sensible decisions, let alone produce reliable analytics.”

Expansion Plans

Leslie says SIX sees its USP as the ability to leverage that core data product to create applications for a multiplicity of use cases. Already it is using its fundamental datasets as the backbone of regulatory, corporate actions, tax, sanctions and ESG products for its banking clients.

A slew of recent acquisitions, investments and partnerships have been similarly guided by SIX’s programme of creating services that can tap into its core offering. The purchase of ULTUMUS in 2021 and the deepening of a long-standing association with BITA earlier this year were part of a plan to forge the company’s ETF-servicing business, each deal enhancing SIX’s indexing capabilities.

In ESG too, it has been aggressively striking deals to help burnish a slate of new sustainability offerings. Products unveiled in the past year by ESG product strategy and management head Martina MacPherson all benefit from supply deals struck with vendors including Sustainalytics, MSCI, Inrate and the CDP, as well as new partnerships with companies including Greenomy. Among the ESG products launched recently is an SME assessment tool, which MacPherson said will bring thousands of smaller companies into the ESG data ecosystem, into which banks and investors might otherwise have had no visibility.

Working Data

SIX’s ESG provisions illustrate what Leslie describes as the company’s dedication to making data work for companies.

“Organisations need to figure out how they’re going to incorporate data and how they’re going to make it relevant,” she says. “Well, the only way you can make it relevant is if it’s got something to hook on to, and that’s where you get back to those fundamental data sets.”

Leslie explains that one of the driving forces behind the company’s vigorous expansion plans is the changing demands for data among banks. No longer can any part of the industry rely on end-of-day pricing data, or monthly and quarterly reports. Ditto for risk managers and compliance teams.

The consequence has been a shift in the workloads of the front-, middle- and back-offices. No longer is research the premise of middle-office teams, Leslie offers as an example; the front office needs those insights quicker and so it has made sense for banks to embed data access and functionality within asset managers own analytical workflows.

“Asset managers see that the speed of data is increasing all the time and so the buy side, which was perhaps in the past much more built around end-of-day or less immediate requirements, is moving much more into real-time and intraday needs,” she says. “That requires, therefore, real-time market data, and that is expected by regulators, it’s expected by customers, and its therefore expected by market participants.”

AI Challenge

Jokingly, Leslie likens data operations to raising a child: it needs constant attention and feeding to grow and thrive. The simile is just as true for banks’ data management needs too; they are constantly changing and growing, influenced by internal needs and external innovations. That’s exemplified by the race to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into processes and workflows.

Recent SIX research found that more than nine out of 10 asset managers expect to be using AI within the next three years and that half already do. Driven by its own clients’ need to understand what AI will mean to them, SIX has begun looking at how it can enhance its products with the various forms of AI available.

It has taken a structured approach to the programme and is looking at where AI can help clients improve efficiency and productivity; examining how it can improve customer experience and support; and, testing how it can be incorporated into products. For the latter, SIX is experimenting with off-the-shelf GenAI technology to identify aberrations in trading patterns within a market abuse solution.

On this subject, too, Leslie stresses that SIX can only think about such an evolution because it is confident that it has a solid foundational data offering.

“Our role is to make sure that we’re providing data that is fit for purpose and enables our clients to do business in a competitive way,” she says. “So that will include, as it always has, providing trusted, reliable data that the client knows is fit for purpose and on which they can make decisions. And that’s as true if it’s going to an AI model as if it’s going into a client digital wealth platform or portfolio reporting or risk solution.”

Values Align

Leslie took up her latest role at SIX in 2020 and also is a member of the board for the SIX-owned Grupo BME, Spain’s stock exchange, previously holding roles at LSEG and Thomson Reuters.

She is proud to be part of an organisation whose stakeholders are banks – about 120 of them – and not shareholders “trying to race to hit a quarter result”. She feels a very strong alignment with its values, too.

“It’s an organisation whose purpose is to enable the smooth functioning of the economy and has consistency and trust at the very core,” she says. “When half the world is voting this year, this stuff’s important, and when we’re talking about AI, or we’re talking about market failures then the thing that brings trust and progress is the data that sits behind it. To be a trusted provider in this day-and-age is a critical service.”

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The awards were presented during a celebratory drinks reception at the end of A-Team Group’s TradingTech Summit London on 29 February 2024.

This year’s awards included more than 40 categories ranging from Best Machine-Readable News Supplier to Best Overall Market Data Provider, Best Specialist Trading Technology Consultancy, Best Cloud-Based Market Data Delivery Solution, Best eComms Surveillance Solution, Best Desktop Environment for Interoperability, Best FIX Engine Provider, Best High Performance Network Services, and more.

An editor’s recognition award for TradingTech Industry Professional of the Year was presented to Will Winzor Saile, Partner, Execution Analytics & Architecture, at Redburn Atlantic.

Andrew Delaney, President and Chief Content Officer at A-Team Group, said: “Congratulations to the award winners and thank you to all the vendors that entered A-Team Group’s TradingTech Insight Awards Europe 2024, to our TradingTech Insight community that voted for its preferred solutions, and to our independent, expert advisory board that worked in collaboration with our editorial team to select this year’s winners.”

A complete list of winners and their solutions can be found in the TradingTech Insight Awards Europe 2024.

You can find out more about A-Team Group awards, which also cover RegTech, Data Management and ESG here.

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Chin joins Duco with an impressive track record. He previously served as CEO of Broadway Technology and led the company through two years of revenue and profitability growth culminating in the sale of Broadway to Bloomberg. Prior to Broadway, Chin served as managing director, global head of trading at Refinitiv, where he oversaw the company’s pre-trade desktop, execution platforms, real-time data, and analytics.

He says: “Duco is strongly positioned at the intersection of data, automation and AI, all major growth areas particularly in financial services and insurance. With strong backing from Nordic Capital, a great team, a well-liked platform, first-class products and a stellar customer base, Duco’s future is bright. I am looking forward to seeing the company reach its full potential.”

On handing over the Duco CEO role to Chin, Nentwich, said in a post on LinkedIn: “After more than 10 years in the CEO seat, it is time. I am handing over as CEO of Duco to Michael Chin. It has taken us a while to find a great person who shares our values, and in Michael we have found an amazing operator with a great track record. I’m not going anywhere – I am staying in the company working on some top secret stuff with our customers.”

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The company has appointed Ben Tyas to head up the region. Tyas comes with considerable expertise in low-latency trading technology and customer support, having previously held senior roles at ASX, Deutsche Bank and UBS.

Claiming to offer the fastest, most deterministic trading and market data solutions with the lowest footprint, Celoxica has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven by demand for both its high throughput, low latency market data feed and for its low latency, high performance risk management and execution Market Access Gateway (MAG).

“We’re seeing growing demand across the region,” Tyas tells TradingTech Insight. “Here in Asia Pacific, we contract directly with various regional sell-side brokers, hedge funds, and proprietary trading firms. Together with Celoxica’s London and New York centres, we support a number of global tier one brokers and buy-side clients through our ‘follow-the-sun’ model. We onboard their own customers – prop firms and quantitative hedge funds who want exposure to APAC markets.”

Celoxica’s feed handlers and MAG are available in various configurations, including software-only and with hardware acceleration using FPGA-based technology, which offers the lowest, most deterministic latency.

“The product suite is incredibly flexible, giving you so many options,” says Tyas. “You can have an FPGA-accelerated hardware solution, a software solution, or an hybrid solution where you use both hardware and software. Basically, you can tailor both our Risk DMA ‘MAG’ platform and our feed handlers to be as fast and deterministic as you need them to be in order to meet your business requirements across equities, fixed income, cash and derivatives products.”

The MAG now provides in-line risk management and low latency access to multiple equity and derivatives exchanges and trading venues across APAC, including SGX, Taifex, ASX, Cboe Australia and OSE, with new venues in the region scheduled to be added within the next 12 months.

The establishment of Celoxica’s Sydney office follows the company’s recently announced partnership with IPC Systems to provide a Tier 1 global investment bank in Taiwan with a fully managed ultra-low latency trading solution, including direct market access (DMA) and pre-trade risk management. This fully managed service approach is proving popular, says Tyas. “We pride ourselves in the way we support our clients across a full service model which includes hardware, networking, and connectivity, which is almost always colocated in order to get the best performance, in addition to using the Celoxica products.“

Jean Marc Bouhelier, CEO of Celoxica, commented: “Expanding our presence in the APAC region is a critical component of our global expansion strategy. Working in close partnership with infrastructure partners in the region, and our growing global customer base, we believe it is the right time to bolster our physical presence in the region, starting with our offices in Sydney. We are very excited about the potential for growth and delighted to have Ben at the helm in this region.”

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From a trading technology perspective, here are some of the report’s highlights:

Software Engineering

There has been little change in software engineering salaries between 2022 and 2023, with slightly fewer higher-paying roles available. However, this trend may well be a reflection of higher company retention rates, indicating a stable workforce and less turnover. On the other hand, it may indicate a level of stagnation.

With the market currently saturated with talent due to significant layoffs, some software engineers are accepting lower salaries than in previous roles – particularly in the US – and there is fierce competition for the top positions. For firms who are hiring, this situation works in their favour, as they have a strong pipeline of candidates to choose from when filling their roles.

On the other hand, the competitive market also benefits top candidates, as firms looking to attract and retain the best talent are compelled to increase salary offers. The current average salary for a Software Engineer in the financial technology sector is £66.1k in London, $152.6k in US.

Infrastructure Support

The Infrastructure Support job market is looking a little more buoyant, with technology teams expanding their headcount in this area

While salaries have largely remained similar to 2022, increased competition for exceptional technologists in the infrastructure support space has given candidates greater leverage when negotiating salaries and packages. For example, many candidates are still pushing for flexible or hybrid working arrangements as part of their packages, as well as other benefits.

Engineers with skills and experience in Powershell Scripting are in particularly high demand. The current average salary for Infrastructure Support roles in London is £54.6k.

Sales and Marketing

The Sales and Marketing segment is particularly strong and growing, on both sides of the pond. There is a consistent demand for skilled sales professionals and job vacancies are outpacing the number of suitable candidates, which is driving starting salaries up. In fact, 2022 saw the highest salary budget increases in nearly 20 years, and this trend is expected to continue through 2023.

To compete for sales talent, firms are offering both higher base salaries and commissions, as well as more attractive benefits and perks, even for those with just 3 to 5 years experience. It’s interesting to note however, that companies enforcing strict in-office policies are experiencing higher turnover rates than those with more flexible/hybrid working arrangements. The survey suggests that the need for talent in this field is so great that many candidates receive 3-5 offers during their job search. Average salary in the US is $115.7k, in London £75.4k.

Product Management

With tougher market conditions and a flattening of the hiring curve following two years of salary increases, Product Management salaries are generally at the same level as the all-time highs of 2022. Packages do vary significantly from firm to firm however, with financial institutions offering benefits that vendors and tech firms find difficult to match.

With the balance having shifted slightly from the very candidate-driven market of last year, there is more now more competition amongst candidates for each new role.

Download the report for free here.

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Tokuyama brings a rich pedigree in FX trading, most recently serving as the Head of Trading at multibillion-dollar quantitative fund manager First Quadrant. His responsibilities at TT FX will initially focus on recruiting FX industry product and technology specialists, establishing connectivity with significant electronic communication networks (ECNs) and liquidity providers, and delivering advanced FX trading functionalities via TT’s execution management system (EMS).

TT FX is part of TT’s ongoing expansion into new asset classes, following its March acquisition of AxeTrading, a global provider of fixed income trading solutions. The first phase of TT FX’s implementation, planned for late 2023, will offer TT’s buy-side clients the option to trade spot FX through a selection of curated ECNs. The company plans to expand its offerings in early 2024 to include liquidity from major banks and broaden the product suite to encompass forwards, non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), and swaps.

Speaking to TradingTech Insight at the IDX event, TT CEO Keith Todd shares an analogy regarding TT’s strategy: “I often liken our approach to the Sky TV model. As a customer, you start with a base package and then have the flexibility to add additional channels, such as movies or sports, based on your preference. That’s the direction we’re taking with our platform and business. We announced our move into fixed income in March, which is progressing well. FX is a logical next step for us, given that it’s several times larger than the futures and options market.”

Nick Garrow, EVP at Trading Technologies, elaborates on the advantages of expanding into different asset classes: “It brings significant benefits due to the existing base of traders already engaged in trading those asset classes,” he says. “We’ve spent several months speaking with our diverse range of clients, including CTAs, hedge funds, global macro funds, and prop trading groups. It became apparent that all of them, in some way or another, are involved in FX trading.

“Our strategy was therefore to understand what our clients were trading, how they were trading it, and then work out how we could deliver these same capabilities on the TT platform. Crucially, we wanted to do this without the need for our clients to undertake any installations or upgrades,” he adds. “What really sets TT apart is that the platform traders use to trade listed derivatives – the TT EMS, the TT APIs – boasts a rich array of trading tools, capabilities, algos, and other functionalities that traders find incredibly valuable. Our aim was to deliver FX on this same platform, allowing traders to trade FX in a manner very similar to how they trade futures today. It’s something our clients have shown a real appetite for.”

Discussing the appointment of Tokuyama, Todd is enthusiastic: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have Tomo join us to spearhead this initiative at TT. His depth of knowledge and expertise, gained from both buy-side and sell-side perspectives, is invaluable. Tomo’s proven track record, particularly in building the First Quadrant FX hedge fund, provides him with a deep understanding of what truly works and what doesn’t in trading. Coupled with his exceptional grasp of technology, we believe he’s the ideal person for this role.”

Tokuyama has over a decade of experience with Los Angeles-based First Quadrant, LLC, a quantitative fund that managed over $25 billion in assets at its peak. He transformed the firm’s FX trading from predominantly voice execution to primarily electronic, positioning First Quadrant at the forefront of FX algorithms and automation. He has also worked at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Hong Kong, where he played a crucial role in launching electronic NDFs and first-generation FX algorithms. He also expressed his enthusiasm about the opportunity, stating, “FX is in high demand by TT clients, and I’m excited about the opportunity to further shape the FX strategy and deliver a product that TT clients will be proud to use.”

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Neil Ryan, who has over three decades of experience in the fixed income space and a history of senior positions across both public and private sectors, has been appointed to spearhead the CTP initiative. His primary focus will be the development of a comprehensive prototype that harnesses the three parties’ fixed income markets and trade reporting expertise to deliver a high-quality consolidated tape (CT) providing enhanced transparency and access to robust, reliable data.

Following a rigorous evaluation process, considering compliance, operational, technical, and security aspects, the joint venture has selected cloud-native financial data management firm FINBOURNE Technology as the technology infrastructure provider that will build and operate the CT for the joint venture company.

Expressing his satisfaction with the tender result, Thomas McHugh, CEO and Co-Founder of FINBOURNE Technology, said, “We are pleased to have won the tender to work with these leading firms, who are deeply focused on quality data, and are highly experienced in fixed income markets and running regulated Approved Publication Arrangements (APAs). Importantly, we see this as further validation of our modern, cloud-based, API-first technology, to deliver critical market data access and transparency.”

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These are just some of the questions that were covered during the opening session of last week’s TradingTech Summit at London’s Hilton Canary Wharf, a fascinating and wide-ranging ‘fireside chat’, where Alison Hollingshead, COO, Investment Management at Jupiter Asset Management was interviewed by Cathy Gibson, Global Head of Trading at Ninety One, in front of a standing-room only audience of industry professionals.

Technology & industry trends

The theme of the discussion was “The new world of trading technology – a view from the top”, and it started with Hollingshead outlining some key technology trends in the industry, including: consolidation of diverse systems and collaboration between system providers (e.g. Bloomberg/Aladdin); the growing need for capture, usage and analysis of data; the opening up of trading architecture; the ongoing build/buy conundrum; and investing in people and developing diverse talent.

Hollingshead also highlighted various industry developments, such as the move to T+1 in the US; ICE’s decision to cease CDS clearing in Europe; the moves towards equities and fixed income consolidated tapes in Europe; electronification of bond new issues; and the lack of equivalence between the FCA and Europe – all of which will impact technology decisions.

Innovation

Regarding innovation around trading technology and infrastructure, Hollingshead singled out DLT (distributed ledger technology) as a compelling technology that could potentially change the landscape of the entire industry, once it finds suitable problems to solve.

She suggested that SaaS and cloud are now well-established from a product and design perspective, so vendor implementation is likely to be the key differentiator. However, she also pointed out that one of the downsides of the trend towards SaaS and cloud-based offerings is the danger of firms having to run big migration projects only to stand still from a functionality perspective, stating that customisations that have been built into deployed solutions do not always translate well into multi-tenanted offerings.

Gibson shared her own thoughts on customised versus standardised products, saying that standardised products can be harder to onboard because firms might need to break their internal infrastructure to make them fit. But in the long term, upgrades are generally easier to handle with standardised products.

Hollingshead was then asked about the new world of fintechs, and how to know which horse to back from a trading technology perspective. She responded that the key question is whether the technology will enhance the firm’s trading strategy – how does it relate to the firm’s book of business and help generate and retain Alpha, for example? She noted that one of the barriers to entry for fintechs is the natural risk aversion of firms in potentially making the wrong calls.

Talent, skills & diversity

On the subject of diversity, Hollingshead stated that while things have changed a lot in recent years, there is still a long way to go, especially in the financial technology sector where the lack of diversity in the workforce is particularly acute. Gibson confirmed this, stating that on a recent hiring exercise, the company received over 180 CVs, and none of them were female.

While there are lots of initiatives tackling this issue, both Hollingshead and Gibson stressed the need for the industry to try harder and take more chances to find diverse talent, and then to retain that talent through role modelling, sponsorship, mentoring, and creating space for people to grow and develop, such as having the right conditions and benefits for working parents.

Gibson pointed out that while flexibility around working from home is important, it needs to be balanced with visibility, to ensure that diversity is seen, represented and encouraged.

Audience Questions

The session ended with a number of questions from the audience, the first asking for advice on how to handle the wrong hire. Hollingshead suggested that most people can change and want to improve with the right support, management, and mentorship. However, sometimes there are individuals who can’t improve, in which case you have to move them on, ideally to another role within the firm that would be a better fit. But sometimes hard decisions do have to be made.

Also on the theme of talent and recruitment, an audience member asked if it is better to hire from outside or develop in house. Hollingshead and Gibson agreed that both are important. You need a good strategy for developing and retaining talent internally, but any opportunity to pick up interesting & new skill sets should be welcomed.

In conclusion, this was an excellent, insightful discussion, and a great start to the 2023 TradingTech Summit London.

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To continue with its commitment to the open-source Aeron technology, Adaptive will launch the Aeron Open-Source Community in Q1 2023. Additionally, Adaptive has announced the availability of Aeron Premium, which will expand the software by offering premium features and functionalities, helping firms further accelerate the build of bespoke trading systems.

“We’re absolutely committed to supporting the open-source version of Aeron,” Kevin Covington, Chief Commercial Officer at Adaptive, tells TradingTech Insight. “There is a large body of organisations that have built a competitive environment for themselves around Aeron’s open-source technology. By launching and sponsoring the Aeron Open-Source Community, we will continue to support and encourage that.”

As part of the programme, Adaptive has launched Aeron Community MeetUps across North America and Europe, for Aeron users and developers to share knowledge and applications of the technology. “One of the great things about sponsoring the Community is that we’ll learn more about people’s requirements and can then feed those into the product roadmap, accelerating the addition of new features,” says Covington.

Aeron Premium will give financial services firms access to additional features, enterprise-grade SLAs and enhanced technical support to allow them to build highly available trading systems. In future, licensable modules that complement Aeron Premium with additional business feature sets, will also be made available.

“For firms using Aeron in a business-critical production environment who need enterprise-grade support, Aeron Premium will provide bug fixes, enhancements, new features and strict SLAs,” says Covington. “And importantly, the support capability will be for the version and environment that they’re using, rather than just the latest version at the top of the open-source stack. That’s worth its weight in gold.”

There are two key components to the Aeron platform. Aeron Cluster is a framework for high-performance in-memory fault-tolerant services, which enables resilient 24/7 workloads to be created in the cloud, on-prem or both. Aeron Transport is a high-performance low-latency high-bandwidth messaging system supporting unicast, multicast and Inter Process Communication, which comes in particularly useful when getting around the restrictions of multicast, says Covington.

“Aeron enables you to layer multi-destination cast (MDC) on top of UDP-type environments,” he explains. “Because MDC is an emulation of multicast over unicast streams, you can create a market data fan-out structure using MDC for example, with very good latency and high throughput performance, even under the constraints of a cloud-native environment.”

Matt Barrett, Adaptive’s CEO, commented: “Adaptive is at a hugely exciting point in its history following the acquisition of Real Logic a year ago. In addition to our commitment to support Aeron Open-Source, the Aeron community has been asking for ways to further leverage our expertise and developments around the technology. This next phase also presents an exciting opportunity to expand our offering and use our expertise to help firms fulfil Aeron’s incredible potential, while accelerating delivery and reducing delivery risk.”

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MayStreet was founded in 2012 by two market data practitioners, Michael Lehr & Patrick Flannery. After graduating from Rochester University with a degree in computer science in 2001 and receiving his Masters from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005, Lehr was working in computer vision, which involved real time processing using graphics cards. He joined up with Flannery, a Wall Street software engineer, to explore how they could build market data systems for performance-dependent market makers and proprietary trading firms by applying this type of high bandwidth, low latency processing. Seeing a strong opportunity, together they co-founded MayStreet, bootstrapping the company until they received their first series A funding round in 2020.

The company’s first product was a software-based market data feed handler, which now forms the basis of their flagship Bellport Enterprise ultra-low latency solution. Lehr & Flannery also made the decision early on to collect and store all the market data they were processing in raw PCAP (network packet capture) format. This soon became a product in its own right, the Market Data Lake. They then went on to develop the Analytics Workbench, a cloud-enabled orchestration environment for querying and accessing the 20+ petabytes of historical market data held in the Market Data Lake and linking it with real-time data.

Their technology is now used by some of the most prominent names in the industry, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who in 2019 selected MayStreet to power its Market Information Data Analytics System (MIDAS).

“Back in 2012, Patrick and I had a vision of what we wanted to build,” says Lehr, now Head of Technology, Low Latency at Refinitiv, An LSEG Business. “Ten years later, we haven’t pivoted too far from that vision. We wanted to make it so that large and small trading firms could compete with the smart guys on Wall Street, and to level the playing field for all participants.”

Synergies

LSEG could clearly see some strong synergies between MayStreet and Refinitiv. Together, their products cover the entire latency spectrum, as Rob Lane, Global Head of Business Execution, Low Latency at Refinitiv, An LSEG Business, explains.

“When we were looking for an acquisition partner, having cutting-edge technology around low latency was absolutely the number one priority for us, and MayStreet certainly ticked that box,” he says. “We also wanted to be able to offer our clients capture and storage of PCAP data. MayStreet have filled both of those gaps from a product perspective.”

“MayStreet has the fastest software-based feed handler on the market,” claims Lehr. “We also have our high-quality tick database, and an environment for being able to use that tick data through our Workbench. Refinitiv didn’t have that. But what they do have is an enterprise real time service, which we didn’t have.”

This is a powerful combination, says Lehr. “If a customer wants to be able to start with an easy real time service and then move towards something that’s lower latency, and then integrate it directly into a feed handler, they can decide at the time where they want to go along that latency spectrum. MayStreet fills in some of those gaps, Refinitiv fills in the others. Together, one plus one equals three.”

Accessibility & Flexibility

In a sector where volumes of data are rising exponentially, MayStreet’s product set aims to make market data more accessible, as well as easier to use, store and analyse for customers.

Bellport is an ultra-low latency in-process feed handler that offers a suite of easy-to-use and highly accessible tools for capture, normalization and book-building, explains Lehr. “One core thing with Bellport as a library is that we’ve always been very open with our API,” he says. “Our libraries are C++, our header files are header files, they don’t use opaque pointers where everything is only accessible via functions. It’s very explicit, you can see exactly what’s going on.” This provides more flexibility from an integration perspective, says Lehr. “All of the different components can be taken piecemeal, you can use our data with our orchestration or your own you can use our data with Amazon, you can pick apart lots of our different pieces. The open standards we use make sure that we’re able to fit in with what our customers need, instead of telling them how they should work.”

Market Data Lake is a cloud-based, 20+ petabyte repository of global market data, all of which has been captured directly at PCAP level, timestamped to the nanosecond. For ease of use and analysis, the data can be consumed via the cloud, either in raw PCAP or normalised format. “Historically, clients would have to access this data via an FTP site, which takes time, and then they’d have to buy hardware to store it, and that’s not cheap,” says Lehr. “With the cloud, the timelines and financials are significantly better. Delivery is instantaneous, because we can instantly give clients access and they can start using the data immediately,” says Lehr. “We also provide access to shared storage in AWS, and clients can run their compute there too. Having access to these end-to-end resources in the cloud makes it significantly faster and more cost-efficient for clients to achieve the results that they want.”

Analytics Workbench is MayStreet’s next generation analytics environment for working with both historical and real time market data. The product contains Springboards – pre-configured projects containing interactive examples of code, queries, and other tools – to provide a fast, user-friendly way to query and visualise data.

Pristine Data

What does the future hold as Refinitiv and MayStreet become more integrated?

“Having MayStreet’s cloud expertise and knowledge, and having the ability to run things like BigQuery on the cloud, is amazing,” says Lane. “With the huge amounts of data that we handle, the cloud offers so many opportunities in terms of how we can provide that to customers”.

“Now we can have RICs inside of Bellport, we can stitch everything together, looking at data and usage histories and helping people transition to low latency, not only with the tools that they’re familiar with, but also with the cloud,” says Lehr.

“The reason LSEG acquired MayStreet is that they’re on the right trajectory, they’re doing the right things,” concludes Lane. “If we can build on the combined workflow and accessibility of MayStreet and Refinitiv and make it available to banks, regulators or vendors who are working with archaic infrastructures, we’ll be making things easier and more flexible for them. We want to build on this idea of providing pristine clean data to whoever wants it, in the way that they want it.”

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