"They Speak"

New Director at Firm58

Yesterday we at Firm58 announced the appointment of a new director to our board.  Mike Plunkett, former President of Instinet has recently accepted our offer to be a part of the Firm58 team.  I couldn't be more excited.

I first met Mike last November and instantly knew he'd be a great fit for Firm58.  Mike's vast experience and industry knowledge will be incredibly helpful to Firm58.  I think it's safe to say that he's forgotten more about financial services then most of us will ever know.

I'm really excited about his appointment and am looking forward to working with Mike.  I'll post more on my Firm58 blog later.

Comic meets Finance

My old friend Daniel Rubin has a very appropriate post and comic on Motley Fool here .  Daniel is one of the funniest guys I have even known, terrified to fly but could light up a room of a 1000 or more. 

He brings some humor and reality to the world of investing, and this world can use a lot more of that today.  Kudos Daniel.

Look for me next week at the 2nd Annual Financial Technology Summit by Rosenblatt Securities in New York

Next week I've been asked to attend the 2nd Annual Financial Technology Summit in New York put on by Rosenblatt Securities.  Thanks to Vikas Shah and the team at Rosenblatt Securities for inviting me to the event.  I'm really looking forward to it.

I will be part of a panel discussion that day entitled: Demystifying Post-Trade:  Understanding back office innovations can pay dividends.  We'll be discussing the shifts in regulations and compliance, along with the ever changing demands of customers for greater transparency into their trading fees.  With transaction volume and commission dollars shrinking, and with regulations and compliance increasing the demands on trade by trade transparency, there's a bigger requirement on the sell-side to more accurately and more timely process, account for and report on daily trading activity, including the measurement of client profitability.  

The panel is going to dive into the post-trade problems and discuss potential solutions.  It's next Thursday, September 30th in New York and I'm sure I'll post some comments here after the event.

Where is the next "web" thing?

I'm ready for the next "web" thing.  

It seems to me that we are in a lull regarding new applications on the web, stuff that really challenges our senses, our way of thinking and our way of interacting with one another.  Maybe it's just me, but I'm bored with the applications that are out there.

Now let me preface that comment with this.  Many great new consumer-web tools have become valuable business franchises.  Think E-mail.  Think Instant Messaging.  Now today, think social networking (i.e. FaceBook) and micro-blogging (i.e. Twitter) have comfortably landed in the enterprise and have become valuable mainstream applications.  Look at Microsoft Sharepoint and it's partner eco-system (the likes of Social Sites by NewsGator) and you can see that real business value is being delivered to most enterprises through these market leading technologies.  The consumer web of social networking is all grown up.

Back on the consumer web innovation seems to come from add on applications to micro-blogging and social networking in the form of location based solutions, driven in a large degree to the explosion in use of the mobile web.  While that's interesting and adds some value to the current consumer social web, it doesn't excite me.

I find myself checking Facebook less and less and when I do I'm more disappointed all the time.  Don't get me wrong, I'll use it to keep in touch, share some fun things and generally stay in touch with my "network" but I'm looking for more than when a "friend" checks into Starbucks in Seattle, or the Ritz in New York City.  My response is "ok?"

Applications such as FourSquare were interesting at first.  But FourSquare became almost voyeuristic in a sense.  Do I really want to know if a friend in town was shopping at the local 7-Eleven?  Or worse, do I want them to know I was there?  Sure I could control where I checked in, but then what's the purpose if you are selecting your check-ins?  So what.

In my opinion, I believe the consumer hype over things like Twitter and FaceBook is dying.  That's why you see these firms attempting to monetize their assets, not grab new users.  Maybe it's this great recession we are in, and the overly negative tone we have in this country about our economy, our politics and our leaders.  Maybe it's the downsizing and scrutiny of early stage investors, but I sense a lull, a boredom actually, with real innovation around collaboration.

I'm ready for the next "web" thing.

Surviving in a competitive capital markets environment

Next week Tabb Group and Firm58 are hosting a webinar (Tuesday, September 21 @ 1pm ET) discussing the new brokerage relationship and the importance of capturing the right costs/fees and measuring client profitability, accurately.  

For many years it's been standard practice for brokerages to charge their trading customers some average mil rate and hope this covers the cost of doing business across all clients, even if some are unprofitable and others are unfairly overcharged as a result.  This has left a brokerage's revenue "unprotected."  As a result, profitable clients leave for better business relationships and unprofitable clients demand more services...at a loss.

Further, as clients have become more sophisticated and request arrangements like "cost-plus" billing, or do business with a bank across multiple asset classes, this method of average costing is misleading banks as to the profitability of a client, and regularly results in the distribution of even more services to underperforming, or unprofitable clients.  In today's economic and political environment, this is a recipe for business disaster.  Leading firms are already addressing these issues.

When you compare these costs today, the 2nd or 3rd largest expense in any financial institution is its Brokerage, Clearing & Execution (BCE).  In addition, the explosion of new markets (or trading venues) and the complexity of calculating fees or commissions, including commissions for adding liquidity, has made the effort to accurately capture and apply these costs across multiple client accounts almost impossible.  

The webinar highlights the problems for firms ignoring the warning signs.  Competition is eating away at firms that cannot accurately calculate and manage the cost of their trading clients.  The webinar will also offer suggestions to address this critical need.  

Not surprisingly, Firm58 is helping many firms with the technology behind this complex problem.  Firm58 can help firms manage their costs more accurately and Protect their Revenue streams more proactively, thus enhancing their competitive positions in any market.

Sign up for the webinar now!

Why brokerages need a real expense management system

The attached story from Trader's Magazine is exactly what brokerages need to take a very hard look at expense management and properly rank order their clients in terms of profitability.  There's clearly less dollars going around and everyone is chasing it.  But at what cost?  Firm58's Profitability Solutions will help brokerages gauge the value (or profitability) of each client and make informed decisions about which commission dollars to chase and at what price.  Chasing volume isn't the sole answer.

Firm58 Also Highlighted in Wall Street & Technology

Firm58 was recently highlighted in Wall Street & Technology.  The article talks about our work with ELX, a new exchange that ramped up operations last summer.  Firm58 is proudly supporting ELX's operations through our Billing solution.  

Firm58 Highlighted on Deal Radar 2010

Check out the latest write up on Firm58 via Deal Radar 2010.  It's a great overview of the business and the opportunity we serve in Capital Markets.  Back and Mid-office post trade processing has gotten more complex, and Firm58 is helping companies solve the complexity while protecting precious revenue streams.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

Know an experienced Java Engineer?

Firm58 is looking to add an experienced Java Engineer (Job Description).  If you know anyone who fits the description and is interested in working for a fast paced, great company, please let me know.

What's in a name?

Many have asked me what "Firm58" means, let alone what we do. I'll save the later for another post but the "58" is significant. 58 is a score that's never been shot in a professional golf tourney. 59 has been shot 4 times including by one woman golfer. 

So "58" is an aspiration number, just like our firm with aspirational goals to provide quality software and services to the capital markets industry. It defines who we are as a vendor and always leaves us targeting better performance for ourselves and our customers.