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Our client is a leading European investment bank poised for major growth in the Japan market.

As a result of this growth as well as promotions, they are in a position to hire a Head of Management Reporting. Supervising a small team, you will be responsible for all regular and ad-hoc reporting, as well as further developing the management reporting framework.

Japanese language skills are preferred, but not essential if you have strong management reporting experience in an banking environment, or come from a Big 4 financial services audit background.

Contact Andrew Kable on andrew.kable@empowercareers.com .

It was announced yesterday that Citigroup acquired Automated Trading Desk (ATD). Nice job Citi! I have some experience working with ATD, and I have some friends working there. Citi bought a true gem of a firm. ATD's technology is impressive. Their management team is strong. ATD trades 6% of the volume in the US - or 200 million shares per day. All of this is done through their superior technology. They make money by capturing a piece of the spread. As one of my friends put it, their profit on each share traded "starts several places to the right of the decimal point".

Now the question is what will Citi do with ATD. Will they replace their market makers with this technology? Will they use it to cross their client's flow? Will this integrate with Lava in some way? Will their stated goal to expand the platform globally work? It will be fun to watch. Nice job Citi, and congrats to my friends at ATD.

A former employee of mine, who is very talented developer stuck in a SLB (see previous post) , recently sent me this note:

So how do I influence someone in their coding style, when they're arguing preference for things which are poor (typically related to a former language experience)...

(Singleton instance method)

His version:


private static object syncRoot = new Object()
public Foo GetInstance()
{


lock(syncRoot)
{

if (inst == null)
{

inst = new Foo();

}
return inst;

}

}



My version:


private static object syncRoot = new Object()
public Foo Instance()
{


if (inst != null)
{

return inst;

}
lock(syncRoot)
{


if (inst == null)
{

inst = new Foo();

}
return inst;

}

}


Changes:

1. Name from GetInstance to Instance, as .NET/Microsoft recommends against using Get/Set when naming things (it's a legacy from C++ they're trying to break)

2. The "if (inst != null)" bit... This simple 4 line addition reduces the need to lock, once the instance has been created, and the subsequent time spent in this method by 99.99% (when called 100k times as this is per hour).

I was argued against the first change for "personal preference" reasons...

The second was "against the pattern for singletons, and since it's only 1/2 second in question here it doesn't matter"... It took a lot of energy not to let my temper answer that one, but my counter was that simple additions which result in more efficient code are a welcome additions (and reasons to break a pattern, though this doesn't break anything).

In general, this is a small thing, and I'm intentionally starting small as the bigger things will be harder fights if I don't... Regardless, I've not won this simple battle (mostly a draw) and am not even willing to try for the big stuff until I get traction here.

Do you have any suggestions for a course of action? My direct boss doesn't exactly have the guts to counter this guy on this point. (We just had a guy leave, and he's afraid to disturb the waters, even if it means bad code)... I'm not allowed to change code that's written by the developer in question (as I've done it before, made his stuff better, and still been instructed not to do it again)... And this bit of code that he owns is now our #1 sore thumb to the traders...

My answer to him is as follows:

There is no guaranteed right answer to this one, except this – you need to show them why they need to change. Doing that so they listen is an art. You are dealing with challenging interpersonal skills.

The naming convention – to use Get/Set – can you find an article from some well respected source that explains this, and then can you convince the powers that be to (a) read it; (b) be see the self-evident clarity of the situation; and (c) change? Should be doable, but is clearly an effort.

On the performance one… That one is a measurably scientifically and demonstrably better solution. Use science to demonstrate this. Build a simulator to run through the code and to measure the impact. Post that on an internal blog if you have one, or sent it to a team wide e-mail if you don’t. Don’t mention Mr. Stone Age Loser in your note directly or by reference, but after you send it and he’s embarrassed, offer to help him. He can’t argue with measurable scientific and demonstrated facts – even if he is Mr. SAL.

Or, you could come to BSG.  We practice what we preach.  You are Free to be NGE.

Friend and reader of this post, do you have any other ideas on how to constructively tackle the rank stupidity of my friend's management and team?

Recent report

The FSA reported the state of identity theft damages misused by forgery and theft banking cards in fiscal 2006 on June 26th, 2007.[1][2] The report described the change of damage from fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2006. According to the report, the fraud number by forgery card was decreasing from 897 in fiscal 2004 to 531 in fiscal 2006 whereas the figure of deceit by theft card increased from 6,080 in fiscal 2004 to 6,603 in fiscal 2005.

Law

The Depositor Protection Law was enforced in February 2006. The aim of the law is to indemnify damages incurred by identity theft. However, the scope of the law is somewhat narrow. It is only applied to cash withdrawals used forgery and theft banking cards from ATM. The law does not cover all of the cases of identity theft fraud.Whilst we can withdraw deposit by bank book at a bank teller's gage, the law is not applied to the way of withdrawals. The law also does not cover the internet fraud committed by the way someone impersonates his victim's bank account, user name and password collected by phising and others. In other word, the application the law is extremely limited. In conclusion, our law has not high quality. The level of the law should be not keep up with other developed countries.The law might be revised within 2 years after enactment, because it stipulates the possibility by parliament resolution at the enactment. The controversial problems such as false withdrawals by internet might be discussed again at the time of coming law revision.

Requirement

Depositors have to inform to the incident both to the financial sector and a police station. The law covers the damages within 30days after they notified the incidents to the relevant institutions. Depositors have to inform to the incident both to the financial sector and a police station. The law covers the damages within 30days after they notified the incidents to the relevant institutions. Japanese banking institutions never send account statements periodically; therefore depositors are not aware of the incidents by them. They usually know their damage by updating their accounts.

Reduction of reparation

Principally, financial institutions have obligation of indemnification of all damages to victims if the victims have no negligence for their incurred damages. On the other hand, if the victim has significant negligence, they cannot get any indemnification at all. In case victims have slight negligence to the occurrence of false withdrawals, the treatment differs in the case of forgery card from theft card. Victims of the theft card can only get 75% of damages as indemnification whereas they can recover all damageｓ in the theft card. The burden of proof of depositor’s negligence is imposed on financial institutions.

Assessment

Once again, the scope of the law is significant narrow. First of all, the law should include the money withdrawals by theft bank book: it is unreasonable to distinguish the theft bank book with the theft banking card; rather, the victims of theft bank book should be more protected because the officer of the bank teller’s gate can make sure the identity of depositor by verifying some features: signature or other depositor’s personal data Secondly, the law should be extended to the money transfer by internet. Nowadays, most financial institutions introduce internet banking system. The number of internet banking fraud by identity theft was 55 in fiscal 2006 whereas the figure in fiscal 2005 was 49. Fraudulent money transfer in internet banking by identity theft seems relatively small compared with fraud by forgery and theft card. However the number of fraud is firmly growing. The necessity of consumer protection in fraudulent internet money transfer by identity theft is not different from off-line fraud. Financial institutions have effective menu to prevent or mitigate identity theft in internet banking. At least, they have capability to develop suitable solutions. On the other hand, consumers have no way or less skill to impede their damages.Most financial sectors are already introducing the solution authenticating the person. There might be risk in case the institutions does not introduce or develop the solutions. But it does not become persuasive and comprehensive reason to transfer the risk to consumers. The risk should be endured by the financial institutions, considering the significant difference between consumers and financial sectors concerning ability of preventing damages incurred by identity theft.

[1] http://www.fsa.go.jp/news/18/ginkou/20070626-1.html

[2] http://www.fsa.go.jp/news/18/ginkou/20070626-1/01.pdf

Our client is a large, blue-chip multinational, and a major player in the commercial finance space. They are currently searching for an experienced Tax professional, fluent in both Japanese and English, to head-up their international tax function.

You should have at least 5 years experience in US International Tax, preferably in a Big 4 accounting firm, and be prepared to live in Tokyo. This is a a unique opportunity for a Tax professional based in the States to make a transition back to Japan.

If you are interested in this opportunity, contact Andrew Kable on andrew.kable@empowercareers.com .

I recently finished reading Wikinomics, a though provoking book about Web 2.0 technologies and mass collaboration. One section of the book talks about Platforms of Participation and uses several examples including Amazon.com and Second Life to make their point that open platforms that allow consumers / users to collaborate will draw people to their community which in turn will drive real and significant revenue.

Last night I read a great blog entry Musings on Organisations and Platforms. In this entry, the author, JP, pushes the metaphor of a modern airport to the extreme to demonstrate how open Platforms of Participation can benefit not just the business that creates the platform but the entire ecosystem that exists in-and-around the Platform.

As I reflect on these two different, but related, examples of Platforms, I am asking myself how any of this helps financial services firms, if at all. The financial firms with whom I've worked (either directly or indirectly) are organizations that take their IP very seriously. The firms erect walls around themselves to secure their data and to protect their interests. Unfortunately, in far to many examples, the walls exist between parts of the same organization and in some cases even between groups in the same part of the organization.

For clarity sake, let's look at Sample Large Bank (SLB). SLB has strong walls around it to protect its interests and its customers interests. For this SLB is praised and respected. SLB trades Equities, Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities, and has 4 competing groups (one for each of their product lines) in each of the three major regions of the world - making 12 competing self-interested groups. Each of these groups has their own application architecture, their own standards, their own IP, and their own view of core data. The people in each of these groups look at the other groups as competitors, and they build walls between each other...

Now, let's look at New Nimble Bank (NNB). NNB has strong walls around it to product its interests, however, they have some components that they keep intentionally open to allow their customers to have a more rich and interactive experience with them. Over time more content is being opened up to their customers - and their customers are driving this change. NNB trades Equities, Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities, and has 4 cooperating focused groups (one for each of their product lines) in each of the three major regions of the world - making 12 cooperating very firm-oriented focused groups. Each of these groups share a common enterprise architecture that has some core standards and tools that are globally managed, but the core groups are always open to new innovative ideas and allow the platform to grow and morph as demands change. The local teams build focused components to solve their local needs, but all of these components are available to all to use or to refactor. NNB employees collaborate using a common Wiki and blog. Questions are posted, and experts in other teams and in other regions quickly help resolve open questions. Goals, plans, and designs are all refined through the Wiki, and are transparently available to all at the firm. Where SLB has 12 large order management systems that don't interoperate, NNB have a common order management architecture and message bus, and each region's local focused system leverages this core technology and interoperate "out of the box" (sounds like an Apple Get a Mac ad...).

Can NNB exist in real-life? Why not? We know SLB does…….

SLB's can become NNB's by looking to apply Enterprise 2.0 techniques within their four walls. This will work. It can start with one team breaking down the silos and opening up to collaborative transparent communication. It can grow organically into larger and larger groups and can transform the enterprise from within. NNB's are not born, but made when then decide they are tired of being SLB's... A journey to being an NNB starts with one step, one wiki, one blog, one tag, one enterprise bus, one common architecture, one team vision, one collaborative culture...

I just returned from spending some time at the SIFMA Show in NY. The show always leads to a bit of information overload, but it was definitely worth the visit. As always it was great to see old friends with whom I've lost touch and to see what they are up to.

Some things jumped out at me after mentally sifting through the information overload:

1. There seemed to be fewer booths. The upstairs floor was only 1/2 full. Yes, there were still 3 floors of booths, but still there seemed to be fewer booths.
2. The focus on speed was everywhere. I wish I had a dollar for how often that word came up as I walked booth to booth. This makes sense, and I guess does not surprise me given my last post on ETF's going to ARCA, and given Sam Johnson's interesting post earlier in the week Speed kills... What?
3. There is a healthy competition in the complex event processing / stream processing space. StreamBase made a nice splash last year, and I am a fan on their product having used it personally. However, it was nice to see what Sklyer, Aleri, and Coral8 are up to. I look forward to kicking the tires on each of their offerings.
4. Lastly, I think there was a nice buzz about Enterprise 2.0 / Web 2.0 at the show. For example, the JackBe booth was constantly overflowing.  As I talked to people about Enterprise 2.0 for financial services, I could sense the wave has started and people are looking for how to leverage these tools in their organizations.

Today's WSJ references a memo from the NYSE Euronext to trading floor brokers and specialist firms that informs them that the Exchange is moving primary listings of ETF's from the Floor to ARCA.

The move seems quite sensible - most of the volume of ETF's trade in ARCA or other ECN's / electronic venues already, and the specialist is unsuccessfully competing with faster markets. Much of the ETF volume is driven by strategy / arb trading which demands speed and certainty over price. The Exchange has been allowing new ETF's to IPO on ARCA since March.

Is this another nail in the coffin of the specialist system? Looks like it...

Is this the first step in moving listings in other highly liquid stocks from the NYSE Floor to ARCA? Only time will tell, but it looks like that is a logical next step.

It seems as though the consolidation trend continues.  I’ve just learned that our software vendor who provides our consumer lending platform has been purchased by a large technology company.  What is fascinating is that IA Systems was purchased by a leader in the data processing field named Open Solutions (OSI).  OSI is a direct competitor of the in-house system used by my credit union.  That now makes us a client of OSI.  Wait, we were already a client of OSI because OSI purchased the Raddon group earlier in the year.

A few years ago, our main data processing vendor was acquired by Jack Henry and Associates (JHA).  JHA was largely focused on the banking industry before diving into the credit union space by purchasing Symitar.  Symitar and OSI, in my opinion, continue to be the market leaders in the credit union data processing space based on numbers alone when looking at the top credit unions based on assets.

Corillian, our internet home banking provider was recently purchased by CheckFree, a leader in the online bill pay market place.  Their combined organization will serve 21 of the top 25 financial institutions, more than 40 million online banking consumers, and more than 31 million electronic billing and payment consumers.  Those numbers are mind boggling!

Last month Clarke American, our check order processor purchased another check order vendor, John Harland.  Clarke American Corp. was renamed “Harland Clarke Holdings Corp”.

The credit union market as a whole continues to see credit unions merger, creating larger institutions with greater economies of scale for provding member service.  My credit union successfully acquired another credit union in April that allowed us to expand into a new market (Pueblo).

It will be interesting to see how things continue to unfold over the next few years.