During and post the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns seen as a result, digital transformation of the financial markets has seen increased acceleration. Numerous banks and financial firms invested heavily to modernise their systems and processes by moving their trading activities to the cloud.
However, communications compliance remains one of the major concerns for financial firms undergoing this modernisation process. With finance being one of the most heavily regulated industries, compliance teams at investment firms have to ensure that traders comply with all the regulatory and legal requirements related to communications in this new cloud-based environment.
Therefore, reliable and high-quality cloud-based solutions with specialist voice communication features for the trading floor are vital. In this article, we’ll take a deeper look at the ways in which cloud-based trading tools can provide communications compliance benefits to financial firms.
The Evolution of Cloud-Based Trading & Why Investing in Cloud-Based Trading is Critical
Cloud-based trading, as we know it today, began in the early 2000s when certain advancements in cloud computing technology first made it possible to run complex trading applications in the cloud. Most trading applications before this were run on local servers, which involved costly maintenance and upgrades. Cloud-based trading provided the financial services industry with a cheaper and more scalable solution, allowing traders to access their trading data and applications from any device or location, just so long as they had an internet connection.
In the early days, most financial firms only used cloud technology for select applications such as market data analytics, back-office operations, and risk management. By the 2010s, however, traders had adopted cloud-based solutions for order execution, compliance risk management, and other mission-critical applications. This evolution of cloud-based trading platforms was further expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic, which made remote work a necessity for many financial professionals, including traders.
Today, most financial services firms (including major banks) use cloud technology to support and scale their trading operations, and, as an added bonus, to help streamline their communications compliance processes.
Why Investing in Cloud-Based Trading is Critical
Cloud technology is transforming the future of trading as we speak, and forward-thinking financial services firms are taking full advantage of this transformation to scale their operations and enhance their bottom line. By 2028, companies in the financial services industry are expected to spend nearly $68.8 billion on cloud technology, fueling a 20.5% average year-on-year growth in the cloud-based trading sector.
Here are a few reasons why investing in cloud-based trading today can help individual traders and financial firms accelerate their growth in the near future:
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Cloud technology makes it easier to place quick trades, enabling users to take advantage of real-time trading opportunities by efficiently using new updates and analytics.
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Cloud-based AI engines that integrate into cloud infrastructures, such as ChatGPT, can be leveraged for speedy trading insights and recommendations, removing time-consuming guess-work for traders.
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Cloud-based trading platforms minimise the risk of delays caused by a system crash or other software issues.
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Cloud-based platforms have precise billing, and are scalable so you only pay for what you’re using.
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Cloud-based trading platforms facilitate constant updates and improvements, letting IT teams focus on improving operations instead of overextending their resources across multiple fronts.
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As these cloud-based trading platforms are not tied to a single device, app or operating system, they can be accessed from any location or device and offer a level of platform independence that can help democratise financial trading.
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Cloud-based trading platforms help financial firms store and manage large amounts of market data, allowing them to make more informed trading decisions through effective data analysis.
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Lastly, cloud-based trading platforms can also help with compliance, as they allow for real-time monitoring of trading activity. This enables compliance teams to identify and monitor suspicious trades and investigate the problem before it can escalate.
Key Communications Compliance Benefits of Cloud-Based Trading Tools for Traders
Operating in one of the most heavily regulated industries, financial services firms need to ensure that their internal and external communications meet all legal and regulatory requirements. In this section, we’ll discuss some of the ways in which cloud-based trading tools and platforms help with communications compliance.
What Are the Benefits of Communications Compliance with Cloud-Based Trading Tools?
Communications compliance is an important aspect of financial trading activities, and there are many ways in which cloud-based trading can help financial services firms manage this aspect.-
Better management of trading data: Cloud-based trading tools can help financial services firms store all the trading data in a secure, centralised location (where regualtions allow). As a result, compliance teams have 24/7 access to all the data they need to track and monitor trades and identify unethical trading activity like insider trading or market manipulation.
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Automated compliance system: Cloud-based trading platforms can be configured to automatically mitigate compliance risk by performing automated compliance checks. Financial services firms can opt for cloud-based platforms that have the compliance requirements built into the software, to identify traders making any trades that violate those set rules.
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Monitoring trades: Cloud-based trading tools can enable compliance teams to monitor all trading activity within a firm in real-time, making it much easier to quickly identify, prevent, and avoid a potential compliance breach.
Benefits of Communications Compliance with Speakerbus
Speakerbus is a leading global provider of cutting-edge voice solutions designed specifically for the financial services industry. Here are some of the ways in which we help individual and institutional traders enhance communications compliance with our solutions:
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Ensures compliance in remote and hybrid work environments: We ensure regulatory compliance by using technology to correctly capture trading communications, and calls to the required standard, even when trading teams are working from home.
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Facilitates seamless communication between stakeholders: We offer a digital trading communications platform called QORUS which can facilitate seamless and compliant communication across teams, counterparties, and customers. Powered by a scalable, distributed digital architecture, this solution is robust and has gone through rigorous and comprehensive testing before release.
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Recording integrations enable efficient record-keeping: We also offer efficient and compliant record-keeping of all communications data generated on the trading floor. To accomplish this, our software solutions are put through robust compliance testing for recording integrations.
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Solutions mirror existing systems to minimise costs: Our SONANCE division certifies and integrates with leading compliance platforms to mirror existing compliance policies and user profiles, thus reducing the need for financial services firms to replace existing infrastructure or bear hefty implementation costs.
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Improves compliance with robust analytics: Our integrated recording solutions provide detailed analyses of the sequence of events during trading calls and communications, while effectively capturing the full scope of interactions with external counterparties for compliance purposes.
These are some of the reasons why Speakerbus has, for over a three decades, has been one of the leading providers of cloud-based trader voice and compliance software that empowers trading teams around the world.
Offering Communications Compliance Solutions for Cloud-Based Traders
Now that you know about the benefits of using Speakerbus for communications compliance, let’s take a deeper look at our trading communications solutions.
CADENCE
CADENCE offers a digitised trader voice delivered as a compliant, secure, and high-availability service that can help make the trading process simpler, more agile, and less costly. It is a scalable collaboration platform that comes equipped with intelligent, real-time compliance systems and secure connectivity services. It can be customised to suit the design requirements and cloud architecture of individual clients, and is highly accessible to trading teams around the world. To suit the needs of trading teams with varying budgets and requirements, this service is available through a flexible monthly subscription plan.
QORUS
This transformative trader voice solution enables real-time collaboration and trading communication between remote or hybrid teams. It allows traders to keep abreast of market movements and collaborate on trades while also meeting all relevant compliance requirements. As a result, it helps enhance productivity and empowers trading teams to make better, more informed decisions. To ensure communications compliance, QORUS can record and capture every call, analyse communications with compliance applications, and remotely access archived calls.
SONANCE
Our communications compliance solution partners can capture, monitor, record, analyse, and archive the full scope of interactions on the trading floor, with internal departments as well as external parties. It allows financial services firms to control, audit, and analyse their own communications data to boost security and abide by compliance regulations. SONANCE also plays a role in simplifying and automating critical communications data, offering regulatory reporting and business intelligence features in a single platform.
Conclusion
As a leading provider of cloud-based solutions for trading communications and compliance management, Speakerbus can help financial services firms record, monitor, archive, and analyse vast quantities of communications data on a single platform, helping trading firms to meet their communications compliance obligations with ease.
To learn more about how CADENCE and the other solutions offered by Speakerbus can improve the efficiency and performance of your trading team, download the comprehensive CADENCE brochure, or contact our team now.
