About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

iPads, Apps and Tweets, Oh My!

Subscribe to our newsletter

One of the most notable things about this year’s Sibos, on both the exhibition floor and in the sessions, was the prevalence of mobile technology. Many of the vendors and banks in attendance were touting their new apps to bring the middle and back office into the 21st century. Whether it was the ability to engage in proxy voting for corporate actions or to take action on processing exceptions for risk management purposes, mobile technology was the order of the day.

Up until now, the focus has seemingly been on the front office application of this technology, with vendors from this world offering trading applications or low latency market data available from Apple iPads or similar mobile devices. However, given by the sheer number of delegates carrying around iPads (seemingly they are the new must have accessory for the exec away from the office), the middle office and back office has been quick to catch up.

Vendors servicing this market have been quick to capitalise on the opportunity presented to them: just look at XSP’s new Go! (exclamation mark courtesy of the vendor, not me) solution, which purports to bring the processing of corporate actions responses and elections to the world of mobile devices or Information Mosaic’s IMConnecting solution, which provides customer reporting and communication tools over the iPad or similar. According to Grace O’Donnell, deputy CEO of Information Mosaic, who demonstrated the solution on an iPad to me on the show floor, the technology lends itself to being applied to areas such as corporate actions, proxy voting and the analysis and valuation of portfolios for custody purposes.

A number of banks have also jumped on the mobile device bandwagon to reach out to and respond to their clients in a more proactive manner. Everyone’s at it.

Moreover, Swift itself attempted to take advantage of the proliferation of mobile technologies in the audience by encouraging delegates to tweet questions to moderators (rather than facing the embarrassment of raising a hand to ask a question, which is obviously far too labour intensive). Those that failed to make it along to the conference itself were also able to monitor the countless tweets going out from the Swift staff and journos in attendance to catch up in real time with what they were missing.

All of this begs the question, what will we see at Sibos next year? Perhaps, rather than flying so many speakers out from around the world and raising its carbon footprint, Swift will opt to video conference in panellists? After all, it you can’t ask them a question whilst they’re in the room, why can’t they be thousands of miles away?

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Mastering Data Lineage for Risk, Compliance, and AI Governance

18 June 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes Financial institutions are under increasing pressure to ensure data transparency, regulatory compliance, and AI governance. Yet many struggle with fragmented data landscapes, poor lineage tracking and compliance gaps. This webinar will explore how enterprise-grade data lineage can help capital markets participants...

BLOG

Experts Urge Data-Focussed Prep for Asset Management AI Adoption

Leading data practitioners have urged financial institutions to ensure they have suitable data management and infrastructural setups to accommodate artificial intelligence (AI) applications following a report that suggested asset managers are struggling to roll out the technology. The latest in an annual study by professional services giant KPMG found that while asset managers in the...

EVENT

AI in Capital Markets Summit London

The AI in Capital Markets Summit will explore current and emerging trends in AI, the potential of Generative AI and LLMs and how AI can be applied for efficiencies and business value across a number of use cases, in the front and back office of financial institutions. The agenda will explore the risks and challenges of adopting AI and the foundational technologies and data management capabilities that underpin successful deployment.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...