Brazil is Rocking at the BM&FBovespa Conference

Apama made a big splash at the 4^thInternational Financial and Capital Markets Conference, hosted by BM&FBovespa from Aug. 27^th – 30^th in Campos do Jordao, Brazil.  I attended after first spending a few days in São Paulo visiting customers and partners in their offices and on their trading floors.  These meetings afforded a view as to why Brazil is a hot market for Apama, and catching the buzz at the conference reinforced that view.

The conference was a global event.  Over 600 people from around the world attended; panel presentations featured speakers and topics from North and South America, Europe, and Asia.  The panel sessions were well attended, partly due to the pressing nature of and the high interest in the topics at hand.  Many panelists spoke about the current market crisis, now a year old.  However, the local context was the emergence of Brazil’s Capital Markets onto the world stage, and the integration of the BM&F and Bovespa since the last conference.  The new BM&FBovespa recently launched an aggressive strategy, introducing algorithmic trading this year. 

Algorithmic trading was a key topic of both panel presentations and audience questions. Some spoke of its profitability, highlighting its effectiveness at exploiting market movements, the independence from fundamental analysis, and removal of human emotion from trading. Others remarked specifically that both algorithmic and high frequency trading have significantly enhanced liquidity, and that the enhanced liquidity is good for derivatives markets. Of course, all of the speakers echoed that proper regulation is essential, with specific regards to algorithmic trading, and on a larger scale as well. Many recommended an approach that equips regulators with the tools to deal with problems as they arise, rather than attempt to prevent every imaginable problem through excessive regulations – especially in light of the lessons learned from the last year.

In the face of this rapid market change, the Brazilian Capital Markets community needs more than simple algorithms – it needs the tools to customize trading strategies to attract local and cross-border business, get ahead of the competition, and stay ahead.  My hosts for the week, the Progress Apama team members in Brazil, supply the Apama platform, consulting services, and local expertise to the market – and that set of local relationships is the key to success in this fast-growing market.  The result is tangible.  The exhibitor floor of the conference experienced high traffic during the breaks; and the Apama booth drew visitors from a prominent position in the middle of the throng.  The Apama demos were the main attraction, on display in our booth and in others’ nearby. 

The Apama customer count increased as well.  Banco Fator made news (Portuguese / English) with an Apama agreement during the conference, joining the user community of Ágora, Finabank, Alpes, and others.

For the icing on the cake, Progress Brazil’s Luis Gustavo Penteado won the mini marathon at the end of the conference.

As the old saying goes, “Be careful what you ask for; you just might get it.”  I got what I asked for much earlier than I had anticipated.  As for Brazil, it has embraced algorithmic trading and is asking for more.  Given the adoption rate of purpose-built tools and the appropriate regulatory oversight that seems to be falling into place, Latin America’s leading economy looks poised to enjoy the fruits of its labors for a long time to come.

-Dan

P.S. - You can follow my future travels on Twitter, here.