Editor’s Note: This article was first published in WFE’s Focus magazine and on Nasdaq’s website.
By Brad Peterson, EVP and Chief Technology and Information Officer, Nasdaq
Brad Peterson, Nasdaq
We live in an era of disruption where the progress of digital technology is transforming our economies, the way we live, work and operate our businesses at a rapid pace. From a capital markets perspective, we see unprecedented technological progress that gives us the opportunity to boost flexibility, scale efficiencies and reduce complexity in how our markets operate. To unlock growth opportunities, the leaders in our industry need to embrace technologies that have the power to transform the capital markets ecosystem for the future.
At the very foundation of embracing new technologies is convergence. Looking toward other industries for fresh ideas on how to leverage technology is crucial, and convergence is all about applying technology in creative ways to develop the markets. For Nasdaq, we are always looking beyond the horizon and towards other industries to innovate, such as telecommunications and gaming.
As we see it, one of the most disruptive technologies for our industry is cloud computing. Innovation in cloud product offerings has been prolific as cloud providers compete to gain market share. Two significant advances in cloud computing in the past year are the integration of time series databases and the introduction of parallel streaming in milliseconds, giving companies a comprehensive view of activity like never before. Cloud providers are embracing and supporting open source alternatives in addition to the enterprise software and proprietary solutions that are currently available, while cloud customers are benefitting in terms of better availability and cost effectiveness of the product.
Secondly, companies need to become data-driven to succeed in the rapidly changing capital markets. The ability to make structured, unstructured and alternative datasets actionable can be a significant differentiator between the successful and the obsolete. By leveraging both traditional market data and alternative data, we can provide intelligence and bring additional value to the industry, resulting in increased transparency and accessibility. Through our Analytics Hub, we analyse and structure alternative data that typically is not considered in this business, such as satellite images, which can provide markets with different types of insights.
A major part in pushing us forward to adopt emerging technology and test new concepts are evolving demographics, which are rapidly changing the world of capital markets. Global changes in demographics and population growth, and the evolving investor profile will drive capital markets to identify innovative growth opportunities to satisfy new needs, segments and investor attitudes. By recognising this evolution, including novel approaches to creating and accessing capital, we can apply many of these emerging technologies to progress our industry to meet new needs, demands and market structures.
This development will not be identical for every market infrastructure operator as it will depend on strategic priorities, who you collaborate with to find synergies and geographical location. Certainly, the industry can at times be slow to adopt. However, that can also be beneficial as we reap the benefits of, for example, cloud, big data technology, and AI when we adopt, as the solutions are more mature and time-tested.
When Nasdaq looks towards the future, as a technology company that also runs markets, we see exciting times ahead for our industry. Challenging and evaluating incumbent structures and our strategies and standpoints only helps us innovate and strengthen our offering to the market. By collectively identifying and implementing emerging technologies that drive our businesses forward, we are making an important contribution to advancing and shaping the capital markets of the future.
Before Nasdaq, he served as CIO and EVP for Schwab Technology Services (STS), responsible for Schwab’s technology innovation, development, infrastructure and operations. While leading Schwab’s technology enterprise, Brad also was responsible for Project Services (which covered the planning, coordination and financial management of all company-wide projects) and Offshore Services (leveraging third-party offshore capabilities whenever appropriate).
Brad served as CIO at eBay for five years. He was the Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Epoch Securities after its merger with Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. He also has held senior executive positions at companies including Epoch Partners, Schwab, Pacific Bell Wireless and Pacific Telesis (now part of AT&T).
He earned his master’s degree in management at MIT Sloan School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in systems science and economics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
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