Fidessa group plc (LSE: FDSA) recently held a buy-side industry conference which brought together key executives from global asset management firms, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors, AQR and Fiera Capital, to discuss key industry trends. Entitled "Moving forward together", the event also allowed attendees to get hands-on experience of Fidessa's latest award-winning technology and services for the asset management community.

The event began with a discussion on how fixed income markets might develop as broker-dealers seek to reduce inventory and develop electronic trading platforms. Jay Biancamano, Head of Sell-side Equities Product Marketing for Fidessa in the Americas, panel chair, commented: "What was really interesting was the nature of how bonds and treasuries trade means that they do not translate simply onto the electronic order matching that dominates equities trading. This is because they trade on characteristics rather than individual instrument names and so this requires a level of 'fuzzy logic' that is currently provided by humans."

Fidessa also showcased its Affirmation Management Service (AMS), a utility that is lowering cost and bringing greater certainty to post-trade affirmation processing. David Pearson, Head of Post-trade for Fidessa, commented: "Attendees were impressed with the momentum and elegance surrounding AMS, which obviates the need for expensive centralized matching in the post-trade space." Pearson continued, "By offering the service on a utility basis, AMS enables access to hundreds of broker counterparties that are already responding to this industry momentum."

On the evening of the first day, delegates gathered for cocktails and dinner, which provided the perfect setting for networking with peers, industry experts and the Fidessa Buy-side team. Discussions ranged from the viability of Luminex to the challenge of creating a culture of innovation against a backdrop of cost saving and efficiency.

During the second day, attendees were able to participate in specific workshops that allowed them to see the latest developments across Fidessa's award-winning Investment Management Suite. This included the recently launched Sentinel Trading Compliance service which enables asset managers to better consolidate, monitor and control their trading operations and risk. Richard Hooke, Buy-side Product Director for Fidessa, described the new compliance challenges investment firms face, especially on the trading floor where the compliance function is often fragmented over multiple trading systems. "This creates cracks through which trading breaches can often go undetected until they reach the back office, by which time it's obviously too late," commented Hooke. "By separating trading compliance from the OMS function, Sentinel can provide a holistic view across all the trading activity of the firm."

The event proved really popular with representatives of over sixty firms in attendance and will return again in the fall of 2016.