Interoperability continues to be one of the most widely discussed topics in the FinTech space. So much so, Greenwich Coalition recently listed APIs and the need for seamless integration between "best-of-breed" solutions as one of the top ten market structure trends to watch for 2022.
SteelEye and FlexTrade are two organizations that have long understood the need for industry-wide interoperability and have championed the benefits it can bring to clients, including process automation, efficiency, and improved investment control with granular compliance information.
Of course, solid and mutually beneficial partnerships are crucial for FinTech interoperability and usually occur in two ways. Either when a firm proactively seeks new, innovative FinTech solutions to integrate with, or a client or third party suggests that two firms should work together. Unusually, in the case of SteelEye and FlexTrade, it happened in both these ways.
Consequently, SteelEye and FlexTrade formed an alliance – integrating the two platforms so that data can flow seamlessly from one to the other and working together to make sure that joint clients get the best possible user experience.
Building on the partnership, SteelEye’s Brian Lynch and FlexTrade's Andy Mahoney sat down to discuss the alliance, the challenges firms face in the market today, and the benefits collaboration will bring to clients.
“Technology barriers don't serve anyone and should be reduced. Pre-emptive integrations like SteelEye and FlexTrade help achieve this.”
Interoperability is critical. Clients don't want to be tied into one application anymore. They want to make sure their workflow is accurately represented seamlessly across applications. They want to define their workflow first, then applications second.
Our clients who use FlexTrade benefit from their data automatically feeding into SteelEye without manual intervention. It is a seamless integration that makes regulatory compliance more effective and efficient.
Additionally, we have a lot of clients trading FX, where we have seen a lot of growth. Clients want to get their contextual data into the market - rather than just presenting liquidity and mid-market rates. They want to demonstrate how the trader was acting at the time of the trade. Having the contextual information that SteelEye is able to capture, visualize, and analyze gives a crucial dynamic to the overall view of the trading taking place in FX.
For example, there is huge value in a trader being able to say, "what kind of trades have we previously done in this space?" not only just being able to pull the transactional details but also the context that underpinned the transactions.
Establishing an ecosystem of interoperable platforms will become more important than ever as the financial and regulatory landscape continues to evolve. SteelEye and FlexTrade are proud to help drive this interoperability by integrating their platforms and partnering to reduce barriers to technology adoption.
This interview was conducted with Brian Lynch, who is the Global Head of Sales and President for SteelEye Americas, Andy Mahoney, who is the Managing Director for FlexTrade EMEA.
About Brian Lynch:
Brian has been innovating, building and implementing technology solutions in the financial services industry for 25 years. In 2011, Brian joined Risk Focus from UBS, after a successful 15-year career culminating in his role as Chief Operating Officer for various businesses in Prime Services. As CEO of Risk Focus, Brian expanded the scale and profitability of the consulting business and drove the development of a regulatory focused software solution that he then 'spun out' to create RegTek Solutions, one of the market leading Regulatory Reporting start ups, funded by Illuminate Financial and the Deutsche Boerse. In 2019, Bloomberg bought RegTek Solutions and Brian spent two years integrating his product into Bloomberg's regulatory platform and growing the business before leaving to join SteelEye as President of the U.S. Business.
About Andy Mahoney:
Andy Mahoney has been working in the financial services industry for more than 17 years, with time spent at Goldman Sachs and trading systems provider, FlexTrade.
Initially a strategy specialist, Andy helped grow the FlexTrade business in the EMEA region from a four-person outpost to a major enterprise with a team of more than 100, leading to his appointment as Head of Implementation.
In 2010 he joined Goldman Sachs, where he led the REDIPlus product in Europe and managed liquidity strategy and smart order routing across Goldman's wider electronic business. Mahoney's enthusiasm for trading technology saw him return to FlexTrade in 2012. Andy is now EMEA Managing Director and Head of Sales, and is responsible for driving the company's EMEA business strategy.