The TabbFORUM 40 honors top innovators in capital markets, leaders whose blend of vision, strategy and execution sets them apart in applying technology for maximum advantage. This third annual list, researched by TabbFORUM Contributing Editor Jeffrey Kutler, recognizes the achievements and influence of 40 outstanding disruptors and difference makers having the greatest impact at the intersection of finance and technology.
Plus, a list of 10 More to Watch. Call them pivot points, tipping points or inflection points. Whatever the chosen terminology, businesses, industries and entire economies face significant strategic challenges in a world of continual volatility and uncertainty. Crucially positioned to take on those challenges and assist others in navigating them is the financial services industry. The organizations that do it best tend to balance and successfully apply both a broad vision and an ability to focus, to set bold objectives and be agile in implementation, to commit investment capital accordingly and earn returns on those investments.
These are qualities shared by leaders in capital markets technology and innovation who are the TabbFORUM 40 honorees. They range from chief executives of the biggest exchanges and market infrastructures to providers of high-performance systems and leading-edge tech resources that power those markets, their participating firms and investors. Virtually all scale up – be it globally, across asset classes or through diversification – to gain greater operating leverage and efficiency. Although each individual stands out for the reasons described below, these 40 are but representative – outstanding though they may be – of an industry that is at the forefront of applied technology and consistently improving on its track record. They are integrating more and more with cloud computing, making strides toward digital-asset tokenization and embracing artificial intelligence in various forms, notably in the area of ChatGPT and large language models.
Kenneth Griffin, CEO of Citadel (and founder of Citadel Securities, whose CEO Peng Zhao is in the TabbFORUM 40), has said that companies funded by venture capital and now listed on U.S. exchanges “account for about two-thirds of our country’s research and development budget. That’s where the future is being created.” The TabbFORUM 40 selections are the result of ongoing research, with consideration given to nominations and recommendations from the community, and are based on qualities of the individual executives including leadership, results and reputation; impact on domestic and/or global markets; achievements both recent and over the course of a career; and pure technology advances, implementations and R&D. Below the 40 are 10 More to Watch on the leading edge of change and innovation in financial markets.
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Whit Conary, Chief Executive Officer, Kezar Markets.
Startup waves go in cycles; mergers and consolidations then set in. The 2022 combination of LeveL and Luminex did not literally fit the mold, because the two alternative trading systems were different. LeveL ATS was sell-side focused, founded in 2006 by a consortium of banks. Luminex Trading & Analytics was “by and for the buy side” – owned by several prominent asset managers and launched in 2015 as a trusted venue for institutional block trades. At the time of the merger agreement, LeveL CEO Whit Conary stated the rationale: that clients of both would benefit from having “more choices and the ability to interact with a larger liquidity pool if they choose, while minimizing market impact.” The post-merger integration of these complementary business models was “seamless,” according to Conary, now heading what has been rebranded as Kezar Markets, with both ATSs operated by broker-dealer Kezar Markets. “The talent pool on two sides of the house had different skill sets,” Conary noted in a TabbFORUM Market Structure Wave interview. “One tech team was more front-end based, the other more matchingengine based.”
“We are working very hard at maintaining the integrity of what Luminex and LeveL each built, making sure over time that there are other sources of liquidity for both parties. If you don’t get buy side-to-buy side, you trade with a trusted counterparty elsewhere. We’re trying to build that ecosystem where both the buy and sell side can exist together and trade with each other. We don’t take away the buy side-to-buy side part but give them optionality to be able to trade.”
In the industry for over 40 years, Conary was a founder and owner of Boston Stock Exchange floor brokerage and specialist firm Ward, Conary & Murphy, and senior vice president in institutional sales at Moors & Cabot. Conary, who was involved in the launch of LeveL, observed on LinkedIn that electronification notwithstanding, “the act of buying and selling has never changed; what has changed is the application of technology. We have always developed creative trading solutions, building products and services to fit even the most niche needs. Kezar’s unique ‘one-stop’ equities trading ecosystem offers both the buy- and sell-side communities, unique products to stay current in today’s capital markets.”