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Forbes Fintech 50 2018: The Future Of Wall Street And Big Data Posted on : Feb 13 - 2018

Being at the cutting edge of technology on Wall Street can mean billions of dollars in value created, or saved. In a dawning era of disruption, Wall Street-focused financial technology startups are helping the world's biggest banks and investors manage the flow of money better, safer and at a lower cost.

America's biggest lenders are using novel machine learning engines to sift through haystacks of information to uncover fraud and catch identity thieves, saving consumers money. In financial markets, new techniques of studying language are helping firms and exchanges spot market manipulation. Mega banks are using artificial intelligence to get a better, real time understanding of their market and operational risks, while new software platforms are altering how big firms collaborate internally and with the rest of the street.

The data age is also revealing new sources of investment alpha. Hedge funds are taking information gleaned from disparate places, for instance liquor license applications, FCC radio permits and satellite images, to research new investment ideas. The clever use of data is also helping to cut out costly middlemen. Upstart trading platforms are beginning to transform the way in which stocks and bonds are traded, mostly to the benefit of asset owners like 401k savers.

This new crop of startups is altering the way Wall Street thinks, acts and behaves. Forbes's 2018 Fintech 50 list includes ten startups plying novel technology to solve the biggest problems financial institutions have.

New additions to our list include Ayasdi, an artificial intelligence platform started by a team of Stanford PhD's, which helped Citigroup C -0.63% pass the Federal Reserve's stress tests after a series of failures. Feedzai, founded by a former rocket scientist, is harnessing the power of data to detect fraud. Emerging data giants Enigma and Quandl are being used by the world's biggest hedge funds to parse hundreds of thousands of information sources for money making ideas. View More