State of Information Technology Support for Traders in Fixed Income Markets

A fixed-income security is defined as one whose income stream is fixed for the duration of the loan and where the maturity and face value are known. It is estimated that the global fixed-income market is about $40 trillion with the US having the lion’s share of$19 trillion. There were at least 74 trading platforms in North America and Europe in 2004. However, it is estimated that only about five percent of fixed-income trade is performed through electronic transaction systems. This is very low when compared with use of information systems in support of equity trade. Our research is guided by the following central question: What are the implications of using IT to mediate electronic brokerage relationships that are enacted through the work practices and interactions of actors representing buyers and sellers in financial institutions within the context of fixed income market. This paper, based on interviews with the senior managements and traders of 10 major financial institutions, provides an overview of information system support for traders in fixed-income trade markets

Abstract John Siam

The $45 trillion fixed-income market still makes little use of the electronic marketplace. Our research findings show this to be mainly due to the market structure of embedded interpersonal ties, which allow participants to take advantage of information asymmetry for profit taking. This research-in-progress, based on ethnographic data and face-to-face interviews with 72 fixedincome senior managers and traders from 20 financial institutions, provides a unique insight into the information flow and networks of interpersonal ties in a fixed income market for market makers

A METHODOLOGY FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF BUDDY-AGENTS

Computer-based information systems connected to high-speed communication networks provide increasingly rapid access to a wide variety of data resources. However, this connectivity to data resources burdens decision-makers with the need to access and analyze large volumes of data to support their decisionmaking processes. Without effective guidance in decision-making, access to data resources provides only minor benefits. Intelligent agents are expected to act like human assistants and support complex decision processes, either by anticipating the information requirements of the decision makers or by autonomously performing a specific set of tasks. In this article, we provide a methodology based on fuzzy-set methodology for the assessment of buddy-agents in a distributed, multi-agent information system environment that supports complex decision problems. Our findings from an assessment of the methodology for the selection of common stocks support the viability of the methodology proposed. Keywords: Multi-Agent Systems, Buddy-Agent, collaborative systems, P to P information sharing, Knowledge Management, Case-Based Reasoning Syste

for Traders in Fixed-Income Markets

A fixed-income security is defined as one whose income stream is fixed for the duration of the loan and where the maturity and face value are known. It is estimated that the global fixed-income market is about $40 trillion with the US having the lion’s share of$19 trillion. There were at least 74 trading platforms in North America and Europe in 2004. However, it is estimated that only about five percent of fixed-income trade is performed through electronic transaction systems. This is very low when compared with use of information systems in support of equity trade. Our research is guided by the following central question: What are the implications of using IT to mediate electronic brokerage relationships that are enacted through the work practices and interactions of actors representing buyers and sellers in financial institutions within the context of fixed income market. This paper, based on interviews with the senior managements and traders of 10 major financial institutions, provides an overview of information system support for traders in fixed-income trade markets

On the effectiveness of cognitive feedback from an interface agent

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of task information (TI) provided by an interface agent during the idea evaluation and integration step of the problem formulation stage of the problem solving process. The effectiveness assessment was based on solving diagnostic decision problems in the domain of complex industrial machinery. Ten domain experts participated in this study. Decision support was provided by a case-based reasoning system. Findings suggest that TI provided by the interface agent had no effect on the decision maker's performance, nor on the associated cognitive effort. However, a verbal protocol analysis revealed that the ten subjects used the interface agent to verify their decision processes. The results and their implications are discussed with respect to current findings in the area of decision support systems.decision support systems interface agents diagnostic case-based reasoning systems cognitive feedback