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Digitising Communication in the Financial Markets

How we came up with the idea for an innovative financial information tool

George Macdonald - 06. Februar 2019

At MACD, we are always looking for new ways to make markets more efficient. Our hosted OMS already manages the electronic trading flows for over 35 banks. But there are still many processes yet to go electronic - there is a lot of innovation in financial markets around the corner.

After 30 years working in financial markets, one thing that I have learnt is that there is always change. When the stock markets went electronic in the 1990s, this was a major wave of digitisation - since then, markets have continued to evolve.

Bringing a new idea to market is not easy

As a company, it is important to keep moving forward, adapting, and changing. And taking a risk and being prepared to fail. Although an idea had been brewing for several years, a lot of different doubts ran through my mind:

  • Should we focus solely on our core products GLOX and XKYTE or also look at new solutions?
  • What is the right idea?
  • How can I explain my idea so that people understand what we are trying to do?

I found myself constantly questioning the direction that I was going in. But that is a good emotion. It felt the same when I launched GLOX, our market OMS, 19 years ago, which was very difficult at the start.

First of all, I made a list of ideas for a product that we could build. Then I visited some of our customers and partners and, based on their feedback, decided on a minimum viable product to get started on.

Too many platforms, unstructured data, no possibility to filter and no clear view of information in real time

I realised that one area that has a lot of potential for change is the distribution of information in financial markets. There are many different channels, and it is very unstructured - both for the publisher and the consumer.

Market commentary - qualified opinions - are published via chat, e-mail and proprietary systems. It is very difficult for anyone to keep an overview of all this information. With unbundling it is getting worse.

So I came up with the idea for a new tool to digitalise communication within financial markets - an intelligent financial network. 

Our project team developed the prototype using Angular, an HTML5 framework, so that we can also use the technology for other new web front ends. 

What are the benefits?

Some advantages over other tools are e.g: 

  • The information you publish and consume can be better qualified than public information. 
  • You retain full control of information that you publish. 
  • You can define distribution lists of who receives your information. 
  • You can use the tool to publish targeted and topical comments. 
  • You can centralise the data with a dashboard. You can filter for a quick view.

We need you to make the product better

For the beta test phase, beginning in March 2019, we have already a good mix of participants in the market: a private bank, a content provider, a system integrator and a stock exchange. Initially we will run the beta tests in Switzerland, but the intention is to roll out internationally.

We are looking for partners who want to be involved in the process and help us bring a solution to the market. If you too would like to join us, please get in touch!

You can contact for more details and questions.

MACD is committed to innovation and making financial markets more efficient. 

Join us and help make the product better!