The days of solely relying on traditional trading turrets and private wires are dwindling away. Filling that gap are cloud-based, API-driven trading platforms that are driving innovation, enabling firms to streamline workflows, and empowering access to a virtual trading floor that will very soon become the norm across the industry.
In the last year alone, there has been more adoption of cloud than in the ten years prior combined. The pandemic has been a key driver, although this transition was certainly underway prior to last March. When remote working began last March, every firm had to quickly transition to 100% remote – something that cloud-based trading solutions and APIs already enable.
Firms are not only more comfortable with data residing in the cloud but they are now more frequently coming to vendors for help. In fact, leadership at major banks and financial institutions is becoming more outspoken about the need for cloud.
Some customers are generating more than 300,000 voice trading recordings each month. Thanks to advanced APIs and natural language processing (NLP) technology, firms are able to capture the audio of these conversations with 99% accuracy. This not only simplifies the regulatory and compliance process but also delivers more actionable insights that elevate performance.
Two things are becoming very clear. The capabilities for firms to efficiently and securely conduct voice trading in the cloud are there. Firms are becoming far more comfortable using the cloud to access a virtual trading floor and with storing data there.
However, with the growing appetite – and the need – for cloud-based voice trading capabilities, therein lies a growing responsibility for the technology vendors to continue pushing the innovation curve and fuel the voice trading engine.
At Symphony, we are actively preparing for the quantum era – not as a theoretical exercise but as a necessity. Quantum computing will destabilize and may invalidate many foundations of business, including current encryption methods. It will also accelerate AI to unimaginable speeds. As a result, all professional fields are going to be forced to evolve, at scale.
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is now in effect as of 17 January 2025. Broad in scope, this landmark legislation represents a major step in strengthening the cyber resilience of financial entities across the EU. Market participants, along with critical information and communications technology (ICT) providers, are subject to direct regulatory oversight and must comply with extensive technical, reporting, and governance requirements.
In 2024, Symphony celebrated 10 years of supporting financial services firms drive innovation, efficiency and security as it evolved into a communications and markets technology firm. With interconnected platforms for messaging, voice, directory and analytics, and a growing community of 1,300+ institutions and 600,000+ users around the world, Symphony has established itself as the most valued financial services community.
