To keep on top, Hong Kong's financial institutions will have to grasp the technological nettle even tighter than they have already, predicts Dow Jones Markets managing director William Reidy. In trading rooms after the year 2000, computers will have to be customised to the individual expectations of dealers and be able to analyse large blocks of information more quickly than at present. 'User interfaces - the look and feel of the functionality of the screen - is becoming increasingly more important,' Mr Reidy said. 'Is it user-friendly? Does it offer easy navigation opportunities? These are the questions people increasingly want answered.' He points to Microsoft's powerful Active 1 package as a sign of the way Hong Kong's financial institutions will develop. He believes the program will be the archetype for the next generation of technology. Active 1 lets market participants create customised worksheets of specific market prices, news and charts, and integrate them with their own trading, position tracking and risk-management programs. Traders can use the standardised worksheet creation tools to take advantage of rapidly changing market conditions - such as the recent wild fluctuations - before these opportunities disappear. Each new technological advance should lower operating costs and increase revenue. An unbeatable combination, Mr Reidy believes, in a market where margins are under increasing pressure. By employing industry-standard visual basic applications instead of vendor-propriety scripting tools, Active 1 makes it easy and cost-effective for institutions to integrate Dow Jones and third-party content into their own applications and create new applications. Mr Reidy maintains technological improvements will not take place at the expense of jobs. Instead, he believes they will facilitate increases in productivity which will keep firms profitable in an increasingly competitive environment. 'The success in North America is indicative of this. There, investment in IT and software has made jobs. Hong Kong is like New York in that it is very dependent on its financial sector. Adopting technological advances will help secure that sector.' Among other major changes Mr Reidy predicts in Hong Kong's financial institutions after 2000 is a move towards more mergers. 'On a global basis there is a trend to the consolidation of major banks around the world,' he said. 'I see this taking place in Hong Kong, not in the immediate future but at some point. I would expect that several of the foreign banks in Hong Kong will merge, based on head office decisions.' In the long term, he believes Shanghai will develop into a major regional financial centre. However, he does not believe this necessarily poses a threat to Hong Kong's prosperity. 'Look at the US where a strong New York and a strong Chicago can both prosper. I think there is the opportunity for two major financial centres to co- exist in a country as large as China,' he said.
