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David Donovan, senior vice president, Sapient Consulting
Data will be power
Data used to be expensive, proprietary and the
secret sauce for asset managers. However, as infor-
mation becomes more ubiquitous, data analytics
and data science can give firms an edge by turning
raw data, assumptions and customer behaviours
into knowledge. The buy-side is investing to find
innovative ways to use these data sources and
revolutionise research analyst models with true
predictive modelling. By connecting real consumer
behaviour with disparate internal and external data
sources, firms can create a method for making these
signals both visible and actionable. With the current
market dynamics, building a team of scarce talent,
specifically highly skilled data scientists who can fil-
ter signals from a massive amount of data, is almost
prohibitively expensive. This, in turn, is leading to
new platforms emerging that combine the exper-
tise of data scientists, data collection and industry
experts while delivering fact-based market models
and behavioural insights.
Alasdair Haynes, founder and CEO, Aquis Exchange
Regulatory worries nothing compared to political uncertainty
ing MiFID II is almost comical. Having said that,
for Aquis this is a critical piece of legislation and it
makes me very optimistic for next year. It vindicates
many of the things we’ve said in the past and how
our deep liquidity, non-toxic flow and subscription
pricing model makes Aquis the ideal exchange for
those seeing to achieve Best Execution.
We are facing a very uncertain world in 2018. On the
domestic front we have the Brexit situation to deal
with and possibly elections in Germany and Ireland.
On the wider international stage, the threat of ISIS
has not been eliminated and there remains a big
question mark over whether the US/North Korea war
of words will escalate into an actual war. Against
that background, the City’s angst over implement-
Arzish Baaquie,
head of UK, Smartkarma
Rise of the independent analyst
The independent research provider will begin to
rise to prominence in 2018. Their more potent voice
in the market will have an impact on everyone
including investors, corporates and investment
bankers. We expect that by this time next year, if
you aren’t open to independent analysts then you
aren’t speaking to the most influential voices in the
market. Independent insight providers have been
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Winter 2017
empowered by regulatory changes, such as MiFID
II, as well as the reduction in market barriers to
entry, such as powerful technology networks and
platforms that aid transition from sell-side to inde-
pendent roles. Many more highly regarded analysts
will be taking the leap next year as unconflicted
research becomes more widespread and necessary
for investors’ strategies.