SFS: Self-reflection creates a culture of change
19 May 2025 US
Image: Black_Knight_Media
Automation is no longer optional but essential for competitive survival, industry experts agreed at the Securities Finance Symposium in Boston.
With artificial intelligence and automation being a hot topic across industries, experts from six firms sat together to discuss the benefits and challenges of these technologies.
The ‘Automation in Securities Finance: The Future is Now’ panel was moderated by Gavin Marcus, head of North America Sales at S&P Global Market Intelligence Cappitech, who started by asking each representative about how their respective companies have adopted AI.
Harsh Devpura, principal and product owner, Securities Finance at OCC, spoke about the organisation's technological transformation, noting they are "re-platforming” their clearing, risk, and data applications, while using cloud technologies to provide real-time data access.
Alvin Oh, global head of securities lending product at Wematch.live agreed that there are good use cases for AI, but emphasised the need for creativity, which can bring “secret recipes” for companies to be successful in this field.
From a vendor’s point of view, Mike Norwood, director and head of trading solutions at EquiLend, said: “For us, it’s about getting a framework in place that allows you to have centralised access to information, to consume data points that may help inform your internal AI models, and maybe, at some point, to look at a framework that allows you to weight different variables and control the levers about they way that you implement AI. We’re here as partners, facilitators, and enablers as our clients invest in AI.”
William J Pepe Jr, securities lending manager at Interactive Brokers Group, noted that the landscape has been changing over the past two years, with “tremendous competition” among fintech firms and vendors.
"Everybody's looking over their shoulders and seeing a number of really good vendors who have hired good people with excellent ideas and, most of all, introduced game-changing coding,” he said. “When you look over your shoulder, when you see somebody doing well or threatening your space, you tend to do better.”
Sharing this sentiment, Oh underscored a transformative moment in securities finance, where technology is not just an enhancement but a fundamental requirement for future success.
“This technology is not just nice to have anymore,” he said. “Going forward, you definitely need this to become a reality for firms who maintain their competitive edge to this point.”
Robert Zekraus, head of business development for global securities lending at GLMX, then added: “There are a lot of great things happening right now in the securities finance technology space, and we, as responsible parties in the financing ecosystem, have to just keep on finding better ways to do things in a smarter, more efficient, and automated way. And we can all agree that competition breeds innovation.”
Following this train of thought, Norwood noted that the industry is not making as much progress with these technologies as they would want to due to a fragmented environment.
“Multiple vendors popped up, but there’s no common language that allows all of these platforms to talk to each other, and there could be, but the industry really has to drive us in that direction,” said Norwood.
He added that how much is going to be driven by vendors and how much is going to be driven by the industry itself remains to be seen.
In terms of benefits, the panel agreed that AI and automation technologies can streamline operations, reduce errors, and enhance efficiency while helping firms stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.
While one of the key advantages for Oh is cost saving, Norwood believes that automated transaction reporting is becoming more critical, especially with an increasing number of jurisdictions around the world implementing T+1.
However, Ross Levin, head of strategy at Trading Apps, argued that AI itself can also be “pretty dangerous”, recommending education on what the technology can do and its limitations.
“AI does hallucinate from time to time,” he said. “So when companies are looking into AI, they have to be very careful, especially when it's being used to make certain trading decisions, as opposed to programmed automation with predicted results.”
On that note, Zekraus emphasised the role of input data: “There’s a term that is overused, which is ‘garbage in, garbage out’. But at GLMX, we think ‘garbage in, garbage amplified’ is a better way to look at it, and in the same way, it can work as ‘really good amplified’.”
Norwood responded that AI is a tool, similarly to blockchain or DLT, so there are solutions that it can provide, but it’s not a “magic bullet”.
“We have a habit in capital markets, securities finance, and in general, to find a new buzzword and try to solve everything with that new thing,” he said. “But you have to have a flexible, real-time infrastructure that allows you to then embed and interact with other tools in a way that adds value, drives insights, and allows you to make better decisions.”
Devpura also stressed the importance of making new technologies compatible with companies’ disparate systems to ensure interoperability.
“What we’re trying to do with the new platforming is with a more flexible, modular system, with more organised data that can give real-time access to APIs and help our members and clients to make better decisions,” he explained.
Looking ahead, Pepe feels very optimistic: “Really good solutions are coming down the pipe rather quickly from many vendors, and I can see us in a better place, meaning the industry as a whole, in a very short amount of time.”
Oh summarised his thoughts as: “How do we do more with less? I think that people need to collaboratively seek good solutions that can help them fit the industry.”
Norwood then added: “You just need to think critically about your day-to-day and about ways that you can make improvements, and that self-reflection creates a culture of change by itself.”
With artificial intelligence and automation being a hot topic across industries, experts from six firms sat together to discuss the benefits and challenges of these technologies.
The ‘Automation in Securities Finance: The Future is Now’ panel was moderated by Gavin Marcus, head of North America Sales at S&P Global Market Intelligence Cappitech, who started by asking each representative about how their respective companies have adopted AI.
Harsh Devpura, principal and product owner, Securities Finance at OCC, spoke about the organisation's technological transformation, noting they are "re-platforming” their clearing, risk, and data applications, while using cloud technologies to provide real-time data access.
Alvin Oh, global head of securities lending product at Wematch.live agreed that there are good use cases for AI, but emphasised the need for creativity, which can bring “secret recipes” for companies to be successful in this field.
From a vendor’s point of view, Mike Norwood, director and head of trading solutions at EquiLend, said: “For us, it’s about getting a framework in place that allows you to have centralised access to information, to consume data points that may help inform your internal AI models, and maybe, at some point, to look at a framework that allows you to weight different variables and control the levers about they way that you implement AI. We’re here as partners, facilitators, and enablers as our clients invest in AI.”
William J Pepe Jr, securities lending manager at Interactive Brokers Group, noted that the landscape has been changing over the past two years, with “tremendous competition” among fintech firms and vendors.
"Everybody's looking over their shoulders and seeing a number of really good vendors who have hired good people with excellent ideas and, most of all, introduced game-changing coding,” he said. “When you look over your shoulder, when you see somebody doing well or threatening your space, you tend to do better.”
Sharing this sentiment, Oh underscored a transformative moment in securities finance, where technology is not just an enhancement but a fundamental requirement for future success.
“This technology is not just nice to have anymore,” he said. “Going forward, you definitely need this to become a reality for firms who maintain their competitive edge to this point.”
Robert Zekraus, head of business development for global securities lending at GLMX, then added: “There are a lot of great things happening right now in the securities finance technology space, and we, as responsible parties in the financing ecosystem, have to just keep on finding better ways to do things in a smarter, more efficient, and automated way. And we can all agree that competition breeds innovation.”
Following this train of thought, Norwood noted that the industry is not making as much progress with these technologies as they would want to due to a fragmented environment.
“Multiple vendors popped up, but there’s no common language that allows all of these platforms to talk to each other, and there could be, but the industry really has to drive us in that direction,” said Norwood.
He added that how much is going to be driven by vendors and how much is going to be driven by the industry itself remains to be seen.
In terms of benefits, the panel agreed that AI and automation technologies can streamline operations, reduce errors, and enhance efficiency while helping firms stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.
While one of the key advantages for Oh is cost saving, Norwood believes that automated transaction reporting is becoming more critical, especially with an increasing number of jurisdictions around the world implementing T+1.
However, Ross Levin, head of strategy at Trading Apps, argued that AI itself can also be “pretty dangerous”, recommending education on what the technology can do and its limitations.
“AI does hallucinate from time to time,” he said. “So when companies are looking into AI, they have to be very careful, especially when it's being used to make certain trading decisions, as opposed to programmed automation with predicted results.”
On that note, Zekraus emphasised the role of input data: “There’s a term that is overused, which is ‘garbage in, garbage out’. But at GLMX, we think ‘garbage in, garbage amplified’ is a better way to look at it, and in the same way, it can work as ‘really good amplified’.”
Norwood responded that AI is a tool, similarly to blockchain or DLT, so there are solutions that it can provide, but it’s not a “magic bullet”.
“We have a habit in capital markets, securities finance, and in general, to find a new buzzword and try to solve everything with that new thing,” he said. “But you have to have a flexible, real-time infrastructure that allows you to then embed and interact with other tools in a way that adds value, drives insights, and allows you to make better decisions.”
Devpura also stressed the importance of making new technologies compatible with companies’ disparate systems to ensure interoperability.
“What we’re trying to do with the new platforming is with a more flexible, modular system, with more organised data that can give real-time access to APIs and help our members and clients to make better decisions,” he explained.
Looking ahead, Pepe feels very optimistic: “Really good solutions are coming down the pipe rather quickly from many vendors, and I can see us in a better place, meaning the industry as a whole, in a very short amount of time.”
Oh summarised his thoughts as: “How do we do more with less? I think that people need to collaboratively seek good solutions that can help them fit the industry.”
Norwood then added: “You just need to think critically about your day-to-day and about ways that you can make improvements, and that self-reflection creates a culture of change by itself.”
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