Financial Technology Industry Leaders Gather in New York for SIFMA
By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)
Investor transparency, risk management, increased regulation, and “do more with less”: those were the buzz words on everyone’s lips when top executive women and men in financial technology gathered at the SIFMA Technology Management Conference and Exhibit held June 23rd – 25th at the Hilton in Midtown New York.
Over the three days, speakers and attendees alike examined the issues in depth, including:
- Balancing Conflicting Forces of Tighter IT Budgets and Ever-Increasing Demands for Greater Productivity. Noted industry powerhouses such as Anna Ewing, CIO of The NASDAWQ OMX Group, Robert W. Moffat, Jr., SVP and Group Executive of IBM Systems and Technology Group, and Michael Blum of World Wide Financial Services, TSG, all spoke to some degree on lessons learned from the current economic crisis and the effect on IT infrastructure. Don Hopkinds, VP and CIO of SunGard Availability Services gave specific examples of the many ways an IT departments can seek to reduce its costs through the streamlining of application portfolios and the managing the rate supply and demand for tech services, including managing the tiering of network capacity where applicable. The basic message was that companies need to take a long hard look at their IT expenditures and think creatively about their IT needs.
- Personalization and Consolidation as a Growth Area. Clare Hart, EVP of Dow Jones & Company spoke of what she sees as the future of financial technology, reminding the audience “not to forget the ‘I’s’ – information, innovation, and (self) interest. She spoke specifically of a still increasing trend of consolidation and personalization of the information presented in a visual way on a single screen. “What [people are] interested in is pulling more information from data [for example, for investment bankers a consolidation of client communication, financial markets, news, data prospecting, and other important information] and from mashup tech to create [one’s] own desktop.”
- Information Security Patrick F. Peck of Booz Allen Hamilton spoke of the new challenges in information security, which has been made much more difficult not only by the tightening budgets but also by an increasing threat from around the world. “Malicious attacks grow more serious and increase in volume and severity. In addition to this we have complex interconnected net that…increases vulnerabilities. This is too large and complex for any one authority [company, government, or society] to handle alone.” He added that we need tri-sector leadership to properly deal with the challenges. “Security framework is not just tech issue,” he added, “but is about the people and corporate culture, operations, policy and strategy, tech, management and budgeting… You are only as strong as your weakest link. You have to address cyber-security holistically.” But, he was quick to add that it is impossible to protect 100% so you must have a plan to contain and address the damage.
Perhaps the biggest story at SIFMA, though,was behind the scenes: the buzz about the significant reduction in the size of the event itself, which many saw as a sign of the hard economic times. Several SIFMA veterans took note of certain missing parties from small companies to some of the industry leaders. Said Joanne Kinsella, Managing Director of ITRS, “A lot of the big players aren’t here – Microsoft, Bloomberg, SunGard – and that is a big message. They seem to be having social events rather than having booths. Maybe it brings us back to the talking point– people want to do more with less – and if they can have a drinks party and still get a stack of business cards, that is as good a networking opportunity as any and of much lower cost than the booth. With the increase in social networking upon us, maybe we will see more of this and fewer face-to-face opportunities.” Others noticed that the number of attendees was down as well. One industry leader who has been coming to the event for over 10 years noted that it felt like the number of attendees was down by about a 1/3.
Despite the difference from years past, Annie Morris, Managing Director of Linedata’s North American region, sees the event as having staying power. “It really is all the key players in the financial technology space, so in a way it is like an annual reunion. Even though it is smaller this year, I think it will survive because it is the one event that brings together all the original financial technology players in one place, to talk about what’s going on and what’s new and trendy. The other shows that we go to are very niche. This is the only one that brings all of the different types of organizations together.”
