The new business, which will be known as Gresham, will be based in London with former Gresham Technologies chief executive Ian Manocha continuing the role at the company and Mark Hepsworth, who headed Alveo, taking the chair’s position.

The combined companies marry Gresham Technologies’’ transaction control and reconciliations, data aggregation, connectivity solutions and regulatory reporting capabilities with Alveo’s enterprise data management for market, reference and ESG data.

The range of data automation and process solutions it can offer will reduce the total cost of ownership of clients’ data, Gresham said.

“The combination of the two firms accelerates our journey to bring digital integrity, agility, operational efficiency and data confidence to financial markets globally,” said Manocha. “It creates a comprehensive set of solutions for data automation, operational efficiency, data management, analytics and risk mitigation for financial and corporate clients globally.”

The terms of the deal were not disclosed but Alveo’s majority owner, technology-focused private equity firm STG, backed the merger.

London-based Alveo was founded in 1991 as Asset Control, one of the first third-party enterprise data management service providers. It changed its name in 2020 after becoming a cloud-native, managed-service provider.

Gresham Technologies began life as Gresham Computing offering real-time transaction control and enterprise data integrity solutions.

Hepsworth said the newly enlarged company will be able to meet the increasing data demands of clients.

“We can now offer clients greater scale and a wider range of solutions that will simplify their operations and enable them to manage data more effectively,” he said.

The post Alveo and Gresham Merge to Offer Data Services at ‘Significant’ Scale appeared first on A-Team.

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.”

The post Building Future Growth Around a Foundational Data Core: SIX’s Marion Leslie appeared first on A-Team.

The creator of data quality and management systems for HSBC’s European operations and the Bank of England, among others, has built a free-to-use data maturity model to give firms insight into where they are putting their data to good use and where they can make improvements. He’s also released An AI Ethics Policy template that organisations can embed into their data policies manifest.

Choueiri released both offerings through his Data for Purpose company. They ate the first products in a planned suite of free services that he says will let companies embed the data management best practices he has learned during a career focused on financial services. Longer-term, he hopes to create a self-supporting community of users of his tools.

“With the advent of technology people can do a lot with data so everybody needs good maturity models, ethical policies, data quality standards and so on,” Choueiri told Data Management Insight. “Sometimes they struggle to get that resource. So I want to give it to them.”

Know Your Data

Understanding how well they are using their data is essential for a financial institutions to unlock the full value of that information. But making those assessments can been expensive. UK-based Choueiri was driven to act after noticing that the British government offers an excellent free data maturity assessment service to public organisations, but that nothing similar exists for private companies.

Importantly, this means there is no standard industry model for companies to measure themselves against.

“At every organisation I’ve worked, they strive to benchmark themselves because when new technology is introduced, boards ask how good they are at using it – do they have the expertise and the frameworks, and so on,” Choueiri said. “They want to be able to say, ‘here’s an industry standard model that we benchmark ourselves against – it’s not us just saying we’re great’.”

Choueiri sees his data maturity model as a driver for change within organisations. He envisages the assessments it offers will be used to justify investment in data areas where companies are failing. As well, they could add weight to pitches for project proposals in domains where the model shows the company has strong data capabilities.

“It’s a simple framework to assess how good companies are in the data domain – do they have the strategy; do they have the education?” Choueiri said. “Most of these maturity models have to be paid for, so by publishing something that’s free to use I can hopefully be beneficial to a large number of stakeholders and industries.”

Best Practices

Data for Purpose was created as a vehicle for Choueiri to crystalise his years of data expertise into a single venture. He brings a wealth of skills from a career that’s seen him build everything from clients’ data policies and data security strategies to their glossaries and dictionaries.

Over the years “I’ve picked roles that gave me the full breadth of experience”, he said. “It has armed with a huge amount of experience because I’ve done consultancy as well as held permanent roles – I’ve seen it in so many organisations and everybody does something different. That way you find pockets of excellence.”

Since forming Data for Purpose Choueiri has been busy building systems for high-end clients while fulfilling board and trustee roles at the GLEIF (Global Legal Entity Foundation) and the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Fortunately, he also found himself with a little spare time in the past year, offering him a “golden opportunity” to begin building out this social purpose vehicle.

With the data maturity model finished earlier this year, Choueiri began working AI ethics policy tool. This was created in response to the growth in interest around Generative AI adoption, although it applies to the use of any AI platform. The policy template can be downloaded and then tweaked to suit individual company needs, saving them time and cost in writing their own policy from scratch.

While he has considered monetising the services he creates, Data for Purpose remains an altruistic pursuit to provide help where it is most needed.

“This is about sharing data best practice for the benefit, particularly, of those smaller and medium-sized organisations that don’t have the money to invest or to go to a consultancy,” he said.

The post Data Veteran Puts his Expertise to Use in Altruistic Venture appeared first on A-Team.

Discussing ‘How to deliver a successful data strategy – show me the value!’ during a panel session at last week’s A-Team Group Data Management Summit London, Lorraine Waters, board advisor and CDO, adopted the role of a sceptical CEO to ask panel members questions about data strategy today. The C-level user panel included Elaine Priest, global head of data risk at HSBC; Steve Green, chief data and analytics officer at SMBC Corporation; Kate Platonova, senior vice president and CIO for downstream and renewables at Shell; Ayaz Haji, managing director at BNY Mellon; and Diane Berry, chief data and analytics officer at Phoenix Group.

The panel went on to discuss whether technologies introduced over the past 10 years or so and requiring huge investment have created real value for the enterprise. The answer was yes and no, with one panel member noting: “Using any of those technologies in isolation isn’t really a strategy to success. The strategy to success is a coordinated transformation of the organisation, and that needs to encompass data, but it also needs to encompass the way of working and a product mindset.”

With technology per se identified as a minor player in business transformation, the panel turned its attention to more human aspects of success including understanding the business and what’s on the minds of its executives, executing short-term wins on the longer-term strategy journey, making sure you have the right people in the right places, and creating meaningful metrics in line with business aims.

That said, value metrics cannot be bought off the shelf. As one speaker explained: “Don’t make a metric that you can’t reliably measure. It might sound really simple, but a lot of people make up a metric and then they go, oh dear, we don’t really have any way of measuring this stuff, we don’t have a baseline. Also, don’t go for some mega group level metrics with some huge denominator because they’re not relatable. Metrics have to be appealing, simple and clean.”

Moving on, the panel shared its views on the role of the CDO in the success of data strategy and delivery of value. One panel speaker noted: “The most successful CDOs that I’ve come across are the ones who have had the support and sponsorship of the executives.” Another said: “If you’re only set up to be a CDO that’s behind the curtain managing the governance and the regulation stuff and not really at the table with the transformation activity, then no one’s going to care eventually. And you are swappable at that point because you are just another faceless person. You have to focus increasingly on the transformation activity, on why your data is important and what it’s able to deliver, as opposed to just the fact that the data is amazing because it’s means measured and monitored.”

As well as an active business-minded role for the CDO, the panel suggested the need for change in the CDO office. “Don’t just hire the cleverest people you can’t talk to. When you are building a data office you need data analysts, scientists, comms people, business change experts – a blended team that is able to stand in front of stakeholders.”

Moving on to the thorny issue of ownership, Waters said: “I’ve spent about 20 years running up and down that rabbit hole. Legacy organisations seem to be operating in a system-based mode, so they are defining owners for data in a system that doesn’t help with end-to-end accountability of data concepts. Don’t get too hung up on deciding and defining who the data owner is. Organisations change on this, it could be the most senior person, the most accountable person, the system owner, whatever. Pick one and run with it. But ultimately, everybody in the organisation, as everybody has said on this panel, is responsible for the quality and the provenance of the data as well. “

The focus on data was highlighted by another speaker: “We are in a system focused world but all of our businesses understand data way more than they understand systems. But because of the way things have evolved, people talk about systems. By not talking about systems, people are encouraged to want to own data sets because they can talk about data sets, but they can’t talk about systems. That’s what we need to do because the systems change, technology changes, but data doesn’t change.”

Coming close to the end of the session, Waters asked the experts for some comments on how to deliver a successful data strategy and value to the business. “Be very brave and very bold and be creative.” “Minimising ego is absolutely critical. Be bold. If you think, I’ve come in and I’ve got this team and I don’t like the look of them, you’ve got people, use them.”  “Don’t think about data in isolation, really build partnerships. Understand the priorities of the whole organisation and figure out what the partnerships are like.”

Finally, “Don’t just hire the best data people you can find. Think about the broader conversation you need to have with your business. And when we talk about quick wins, try and make them as end-to-end as possible so that you’re showing the value of everything you do rather than just one aspect of it, and make it real to the business.”

The post How to Deliver a Successful Data Strategy – And Show Value appeared first on A-Team.

Kech has experience in finance, infrastructure, blockchain, and standardisation gained through a variety of leadership positions held over the past 25 years. In his role as GLEIF CEO, he will be pivotal in driving further adoption of the LEI and verifiable LEI (vLEI).

Dessa Glasser, chair of the GLEIF board of directors, says: “Alexandre Kech’s mission is clear, to enable GLEIF to realise its full potential and create sustainable value for the whole Global LEI System, including partners, employees, and LEI stakeholders everywhere.”

Paying tribute to GLEIF’s outgoing CEO, Stephan Wolf, she adds: “On behalf of the GLEIF board of directors, I would like to sincerely thank Stephan Wolf for his ten years of dedicated service as CEO. Under his leadership, GLEIF has established a global trust network that enables legal entities and their business partners to demonstrate ownership and relationships transparently. It has also made enormous strides while continuing to innovate fearlessly, particularly in the digital space with the introduction of the vLEI.”

Commenting on his upcoming role at GLEIF, Kech says: “The potential of the LEI to enhance private and public sector efficiencies, strengthen regulatory oversight, and expand economic inclusion increases exponentially with the integration of digital technologies. I look forward to enhancing both the reach and the impact of the LEI and vLEI.”

Prior to joining GLEIF, Kech was executive board member and business head of digital securities at SDX, a SIX company, where he was instrumental in driving growth and implementing strategic initiatives that enhanced business performance. He has specialised in finance at BNY Mellon, payments and securities infrastructure and standards at SWIFT, blockchain and digital assets at Onchain Custodian (ONC), and most recently, at Citi Ventures.

He is also involved in industry and standardisation initiatives as the convenor of ISO TC 68 / SC8 / WG3, which produced the ISO 24165 Digital Token Identifier (DTI) and is a member of the DTI Foundation Product Advisory Committee. He also recently served as co-chair of the Global Digital Finance (GDF) custody working group.

The post Alexandre Kech Steps Up to Role of GLEIF CEO as Stephan Wolf Steps Down appeared first on A-Team.

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.”

The post Duco Names Michael Chin as CEO, Former CEO Christian Nentwich Remains as Board Member appeared first on A-Team.

In a post on LinkedIn, Wolf writes: “After a decade of incredible experiences and achievements, I have decided not to seek another term as CEO. The decision to step down comes with a sense of fulfillment and confidence in the exceptional team we’ve built. Our board of directors and I have carefully considered this transition, and we believe it aligns with the successful maturation of GLEIF.” He adds: “Rest assured, my commitment to the cause of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) remains unwavering.”

The selection of a new CEO is the sole responsibility of the board of directors, which has started the process of identifying and engaging a new CEO. The board expects the process will be concluded within the next few months.

Its adoption and use have been eased by the implementation of validation agents, essentially banks and financial institutions that obtain an LEI for clients as they are onboarded or during a client refresh, and an ongoing programme of collaboration with data vendors that include the LEI in their feeds, and mapping services to other widely used identifiers such as the ISIN, BIC and MIC.

As well as these and more initiatives to encourage use of the LEI, Wolf notes the potential of the digital or verifiable LEI (vLEI) to open new possibilities and avenues for growth.

He concludes: “As we enter 2024, GLEIF stands strong, and our teams are fully committed to navigating the exciting opportunities ahead. Looking forward, we see tremendous potential in the upcoming phases of LEI adoption. Initiatives such as LEIs in cross-border payments, the US Financial Data Transparency Act, and the integration of LEIs/vLEIs in international trade and supply chains present exciting prospects. The team is steadfast in its commitment to capitalise on these opportunities and drive further success.”

The post Stephan Wolf Steps Down from Role of GLEIF CEO in June 2024 appeared first on A-Team.

An Editor’s Recognition Award for European Data Management Industry Professional of the Year was given to Niresh Rajah, Group Chief Data Officer at Danske Bank.

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 Data Management Insight Awards Europe 2023, to our Data Management 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 Data Management Insight Awards Europe 2023 report.

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

The post A-Team Group Announces Winners of its Data Management Insight Awards Europe 2023 appeared first on A-Team.

Edmonds has held several roles at ICE since joining the firm in 2010. He oversaw the company’s credit default swap clearing service during implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, and from 2013 to 2019, led ICE product sales teams in fixed income, commodities, and financial futures. Since 2019, he has overseen the clearing and risk teams supporting the company’s six derivatives clearing organisations. Based in Chicago, Edmonds will relocate to Atlanta, joining a growing presence of ICE fixed income and data services teams.

“During the past 13 years, I’ve watched how ICE has become indispensable in connecting people to opportunity,” says Edmonds. “Going forward, while we have long applied large language models to our user offerings, their broad adoption will accelerate our ability to deliver customers an unparalleled user experience.”

As Edmonds assumes his new role, Elizabeth King, who joined ICE in 2014 following its acquisition of NYSE and is currently chief regulatory officer and president of the sustainable finance business, will add leadership of ICE’s six clearing houses and its global risk management team, both part of Edmonds’ prior portfolio. As part of the transition, the ICE sustainable finance team will report to Edmonds.

Edmonds and King will take up their new roles on 1 January 2024 and continue to report directly to ICE founder, chair and CEO, Jeffrey Sprecher.

The post ICE Chief Development Officer Chris Edmonds Steps Up to Lead Fixed Income and Data Services Business appeared first on A-Team.

By Michael Walford-Grant

They say that in life timing is everything.

And so it was that in February 2020, after more than 30 years’ working in sales for financial data management and technology companies, including PolarLake, AIM Software, SunGard and FIS, I decided to start my own sales consultancy.

Within a month, the UK was in lockdown, and consumed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But out of adversity comes opportunity. I was able to use the downtime to come up with the idea for a ‘dip in, dip out’ guide to remind me of the best practices and tips on any particular sales topic; for example, a contract negotiation, or a morning of lead generation activities.

It got me thinking: There’s potential for a book here! And last November, I signed a book deal with Morgan James, an international publisher based in New York.

The result of my endeavours is Sales Unplugged. Designed primarily for B2B salespeople, both experienced and those early in their careers, it is an easy-to-read aide memoire of sales best practices. The book is also well suited for business owners, and practicing consultants, that are required to sell, but do so instinctively having never been formally trained.

Sales Unplugged draws on the ‘best practice guides’ I created for my early consulting assignments, themselves based on my experiences over my three decades as a sales executive. In pulling these together, three things struck me:

• How much of what I do, I do instinctively, without thinking.
• There were valuable skills and techniques I had completely forgotten, or had never come across.
• There are things I know, but don’t always do.

The materials in the book are a stripped-down collection of curated best practices of what I consider are the necessary foundations and disciplines for consistent high performance in sales.

To supplement these, Part 2 of the book – Stories From the Front Line – is a collection of anecdotes, capturing my more memorable experiences from the coal face, ranging from the dramatic to the funny to the deeply personal.

It includes winning deals, losing deals, people conflicts, being sacked, ambulances, terrorist attacks, the day Lehman Brothers went down, and enduring a formal performance improvement process. Some of the highlights will be published by Data Management Insight in a mini-serialisation for the benefit of readers.

If there are a couple of conclusions I have been reminded of, both because of compiling the book and operating as a sales consultant, they are these:

• Keep everything you do as simple as possible, and
• Be proud of the sheer breadth of knowledge and skills you have acquired, to operate as a B2B salesperson.

You can pre order a copy of Sales Unplugged through your on-line favorite book store, or if you cannot wait until the publication date in December, then you can order a signed copy directly from me; just message me on LinkedIn.

Enjoy, and good selling!

The post Sales Unplugged: Everything You Need to Know About FinTech Sales – and More appeared first on A-Team.