JLN interviewed FIA Tech President and CEO Nick Solinger and Head of Strategy Mark Davis at FIA Boca 2022 for the JLN Industry Leader video series. 

FIA Tech spent time in 2020 focused on improving collaboration and bridging gaps amid an unprecedented time in the markets. Then in 2021 it raised a sizable amount of cash based on the role it  played in 2020.  

Its current focus is on driving standards and best practices. It is also trying to improve collaboration. 

FIA Tech started this by trying to get people to speak the same language, starting with reference data. The goal is to have everyone describe a product the same way so the product can be traded, cleared,  risk managed, allocated, settled, with as little friction as possible, Solinger said. FIA Tech launched a framework in 2021 to do just that, he said.

Davis spoke about the impact of the Ukraine conflict on the industry, noting  improvements in the way the extra volume has been generated. There have been improvements in late give-ups, he said, noting that the work FIA Tech has done has helped improve the processing time. 

Volumes of give-ups on the first day of the Ukraine crisis were 50 percent higher than normal, Solinger said.

The best way to improve collaboration in the industry is just to bring people together, Solinger said. 

Davis spoke about lessons learned from the Covid crisis and said  they revolved around the need for standardization in allocation processing and instructions and more transparency in the clearing workflow. 

There is more interest in the buyside to understand the processes involved in clearing and help create efficiency, Davis and Solinger said.