Conference Dailys TRADETech Daily 2018 Wrap-up | Page 18

THETRADETECH DA I LY interview THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF TRADETECH 2018 EXHIBITOR’S VIEW Google advances its cloud services for finance GOOGLE CLOUD MADE ITS FIRST APPEARANCE AT THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE AND THE TRADETECH DAILY SPOKE TO THE FIRM TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ITS INTENTIONS FOR THE CAPITAL MARKETS. What prompted the decision for Google Cloud to participate at TradeTech this year? TradeTech is an important industry event that attracts key influencers from the equity trading community. We exhibited at the conference to make the broader capital markets community aware of how they can transform their busi- nesses with Google Cloud technology. What were your key takeaways from the event? It was great to see the excitement about cloud, data analytics and machine learning across the board. Capital markets firms are embracing these technologies not just as a driver of marginal efficiency, but as an enabler of fundamental innovation and disruption in financial services. Just a few years ago, the excitement was tempered by scepticism, no more. The technology conversations have moved 18 THETRADETECH DAILY beyond the IT organisations and innovation groups, we now see the business leaders think- ing about how to transform their businesses by doing smart investments and strategic partnerships in these areas. There wasn’t a single session at TradeTech that didn’t include a technology reference! At Google, we are excited about partnering with capital markets firms to help them through their transformations. Our strength in data analytics and machine learning, as well as our innovation culture is a great fit for the needs of the financial services industry. What messages are you aiming to put across to Europe’s buy-side equities traders? Buy-side firms are facing increasing challenges as customer expectations grow, fintechs disrupt the industry and regulatory changes make compliance demands more complex than ever before. Google Cloud provides them with the technology they need to: • generate alpha by testing more strategies with cost-effective grid computing, and leveraging data to understand market forces and undiscovered trading strategies; • mitigate risk by ensuring trading compliance and policy adherence with optimised trade surveillance; • create a more flexible and scalable technolo- gy platform. What are Google’s ambitions within the finan- cial services sector in relation to trading and technology in particular? Our philosophy is that every layer of technical capability should be born secure, saving cus- tomers time and investment so they can focus on their business and driving alpha. We seek to help firms take advantage of cutting edge capabilities and technologies that are always up-to-date in driving business results.