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James Switzer (Alliance Bernstein) On Taking Control – The Desk 

Author: \ June 10, 2016 \ 5 Comments
Full Article: The Desk

Electronic pools are popping up everywhere, and we found it was getting more difficult to look at them effectively, without hiring a lot more traders. I have people on the trading desk that are excellent traders and really understand technology, so together with our IT department, they built us a tool that we call the Automated Liquidity Filtering and Analytics (ALFA) tool. 

Comments
  • Merlin
    MerlinJune 12, 2016"Nice piece by The Desk in helping to get the word out. Jim and team have been speaking about Alfa for 6+ months now at various conferences and people seem to finally be taking notice. For me, the most important part of what I can ascertain from Jim's description of Alfa is the capability to capture incoming data to be used for both immediate alerts as well as a db for historical relevance. This move to structured data from unstructured data capture seems compelling as…"
  • Goose
    GooseJune 11, 2016"Excellent article on concrete MEANINGFUL changes taking place in the markets. AB's efforts tie into a similar thought thread from last week. As the wall comes down and the buy side can aggregate the multiple marketplaces, the same liquidity that a dealer posts on all venues is suddenly in one place. AB all things being equal, can choose what venue makes the most economic sense to execute on. Flip side, the dealer knows he can get to AB on a choice of venues, will choo…"
  • Jester
    JesterJune 10, 2016"This was a great piece in that it set an example for what must be done for the buy side to take the next step in fixed income. Here are the things that particularly caught my attention: 1) Alliance looks globally for dollar bond liquidity Not many people are aware that due to outsize dollar global issuance over the past few years, several banks have trading desks that trade the exact same names in different locations. Yes my friends, that means it is possible for the…"
  • Mustang
    MustangJune 10, 2016"A few things stand out: 1. AB is taking the initiative to build tools that help them find liquidity. They are not waiting on software providers, dealers or the market to "transform". Atta boy Jim! 2. Younger talent. One of the biggest impediments of technology in FI is the culture. "Pre-trade" software is what every other market has been calling a CRM for 20 years. It still amazes me that every trading desk and every buyside firm doesn't have this. Or if they do, then…"
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5 Comments on "James Switzer (Alliance Bernstein) On Taking Control – The Desk "

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Wolfman
Member
Wolfman
The cover picture of Jim tells it all. Strong, determined and standing up for what he believes in. This article provides us all with keen insight into the changes that are taking place in the structure of the wholesale credit markets. Jim’s tone is one of leadership and confidence in his description of how they are interacting with the sell side and what they expect of them.This isn’t a muted “we’ll work closely with our dealer banks”; rather, it is a clarion call to everyone that AB has taken control of the situation and have a clear path going forward.… Read more »
Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Mustang
Member
Mustang
A few things stand out: 1. AB is taking the initiative to build tools that help them find liquidity. They are not waiting on software providers, dealers or the market to “transform”. Atta boy Jim! 2. Younger talent. One of the biggest impediments of technology in FI is the culture. “Pre-trade” software is what every other market has been calling a CRM for 20 years. It still amazes me that every trading desk and every buyside firm doesn’t have this. Or if they do, then every user isn’t forced to put every bit of information in it. Unfortunately, FI culture… Read more »
Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Jester
Member
Jester
This was a great piece in that it set an example for what must be done for the buy side to take the next step in fixed income. Here are the things that particularly caught my attention: 1) Alliance looks globally for dollar bond liquidity Not many people are aware that due to outsize dollar global issuance over the past few years, several banks have trading desks that trade the exact same names in different locations. Yes my friends, that means it is possible for the London trader of bank X to be competing with his/her NY counterpart in the… Read more »
Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Goose
Member
Goose
Excellent article on concrete MEANINGFUL changes taking place in the markets. AB’s efforts tie into a similar thought thread from last week. As the wall comes down and the buy side can aggregate the multiple marketplaces, the same liquidity that a dealer posts on all venues is suddenly in one place. AB all things being equal, can choose what venue makes the most economic sense to execute on. Flip side, the dealer knows he can get to AB on a choice of venues, will choose to try to drive execution to the one that makes the best sense for him.… Read more »
Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Merlin
Member
Merlin
Nice piece by The Desk in helping to get the word out. Jim and team have been speaking about Alfa for 6+ months now at various conferences and people seem to finally be taking notice. For me, the most important part of what I can ascertain from Jim’s description of Alfa is the capability to capture incoming data to be used for both immediate alerts as well as a db for historical relevance. This move to structured data from unstructured data capture seems compelling as the inability for buy side participants to successfully consume data/messaging/communication continues to worsen as the… Read more »
Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
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