Introducing the Alphacution Podcast Series – Articulate Communications Interviews Paul Rowady
Our first podcast! Originally published on the Articulate Communications blog, August 16, 2018... Many thanks to Clare Rhodes, Managing Director for hosting this discussion.
Forbes Loves Alphacution: “Software is Eating the World, Starting With Finance”
< Originally published by Tom Groenfeldt, Contributor, Forbes - July 31, 2018 > On its way to eating the world, software is eating up bank IT budgets, according to Paul Rowady, CEO of the consultancy Alphacution. Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist, is the author of the famous quote about the general rise of software. Rowady, who is developing sophisticated models around finance and technology, sees software eating up IT budgets and crimping spending on hardware at banks. He thinks [...]
Exposing Franklin Templeton’s Greatest Challenge: #ETFs
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have their critics, but with nearly $3.5 trillion in total value represented by over 1,900 unique funds as of June 2018 (according to the Investment Company Institute - ICI), this segment of the market has grown faster and is now larger than total assets under management (AUM) of hedge funds (which BarclayHedge estimated at nearly $3.0 trillion for Q1 2018). Success is always the sweetest revenge... Sure, the naysayers point to numerous complexity factors [...]
A Game of Thrones Breaks Out in #BigFinTech
The incumbency of incumbents continues... This play has been well-established in the hardware and technical infrastructure arena for banks. And, for students of this game, the drumbeat of clues has been steady in the software solution arena for all types of financial asset-handlers, as well. However, with the $1.45 billion acquisition announcement of Eze Software Group by SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (SSNC) on July 31, 2018 - an event that comes a mere 11 days after State Street [...]
When Market Makers Ate Their Own…
Right out of the gate, this story might emit a whiff of last year's news. Maybe. But, that sense would only last until you realize that this is also a template for improving predictions about future events. And, that kind of predictive power relies upon the bet that more markets and opportunities are becoming winner-take-all in the digital era... (Hint: As the functioning of markets - and other economic opportunities - become more "digital," a single leader can [...]
Rise of the Platform
William Shakespeare wrote: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." It turns out - more so now than ever before - that there is a business equivalent to this famous line from Act 2 Scene 7 of Shakespeare's play, "As You Like It." The difference, however, is that the "stage" in the current context is known as a platform. And, with each passing day, the strength, agility, intelligence and speed requirements of [...]
@DeutscheBank + @HPE: Case Study on Impacts
"Pay attention to what I say, not what I do..." Let's return to the bonus chart slipped in at the end of the recent post @DeutscheBank: Three-Card Monte and Other Confidence Games (For maximum context and extra credit, you can pick up the thread about Deutsche Bank from the beginning in March 2016 here). Bottom line: We are fascinated with the idea of detecting the impacts of the IT outsourcing deal that DB and HPE entered into in [...]
@DeutscheBank: Three-Card Monte and Other Confidence Games
"Pay attention to what I say, not what I do..." More and more - over decades of practice - this opening statement has become the golden rule of marketing and communications, no matter if that "marcom" strategy is being applied in the context of finance, economics, politics - or, any other blood sport. Reason being: If you believe that perception is reality, then perception can have real economic consequences. However, with today's data ubiquity and resulting overload, we [...]
@Crypto Blah Blah and the Birth of Markets
Disintermediation. And, desperation. That's what this is really all about. Together, these drivers produce an enormous amount of hype; a mixed wave of cryptocurrency insanity (and some blockchain legitimacy) washing over the global financial landscape... These days, it seems possible to transform any topic, no matter how dry or serious, into an all-out circus. And, it can be difficult - even for those most disciplined at rationing their limited attention - to look away as the spectacle unfolds. [...]
Virtu: Q1-2018 Update on Extremes
With volatility spiking in Q1 of 2018 - and the successful porting of KCG's intellectual property (IP) prior to that in late 2017 - VIRT earned a welcomed reprieve from the conditions of recent quarters, as we predicted here (and elsewhere prior to that). In the exhibit below, Alphacution's as-if modeling of the combined entity - Virtu + KCG pre-Q3 2017 - yields a level of net trading income that would not have been seen since Q1-2016. Meanwhile, [...]
