Michael James Aitken

Last updated
Michael J. Aitken
Born1957
Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Alma mater Massey University, University of New South Wales
Known forCommercialising academic research; empirical measures of the quality of financial and health markets; SIRCA, Thomson Reuters Tick History, SMARTS, Market Quality Framework, Market Quality Dashboard, HiBIS, I+Plus
AwardsOutstanding manuscript award, AAANZ (1991), Best manuscript in Australian Journal of Management (1995), BHERT Award for Outstanding Achievement in Collaboration in Education and Training (1999), SIRCA Prolific Career Contribution to Financial Markets Research (2009), Prime Minister ICT Exporter of the Year (2010), Member of the Order of Australia (AM) (2014)
Scientific career
Fields Finance, Accounting, Microstructure, Financial Markets, Financial Regulation, Entrepreneurship
InstitutionsCapital Markets Cooperative Research Centre, Macquarie University, University of New South Wales, University of Sydney
Thesis The Effects of Deregulation on the Australian Securities Industry
Websitewww.cmcrc.com

Michael James Aitken is a New Zealand author who specializes in the area of security market microstructure and design. He is listed among the top 1000 authors publishing in the finance literature over the last 50 years. [1] His research has contributed to the understanding of market microstructure and its impact on market efficiency and, in particular, on market integrity. [2] [3] [4] [5]
This results in great part from his role in the design of information systems for real-time fraud detection in securities markets (e.g., insider trading, market manipulation). [6]

Contents

Career

Early in his career, he designed courses and computer programs to support the curriculum for fourth year honours and PhD programs. Along with "Trading and Dealing in Securities Markets" and "Broking and Market-Making", he developed “REPLAY”, a program that enables the dynamics of any automated security market to be replayed in its entirety, providing access to the working dynamics of securities markets for research and training purposes. Aitken then provided the software and exercise manual to universities through SIRCA which he founded in 1997. He also designed the software program “EVENTS”, that allows any major market event (e.g., a market crash) to be reconstructed, allowing a common research design used in finance, event studies, to be produced in a matter of hours and proved an innovation in academia, as explained below. Both programs are now part of SMARTS, the world-leading software for market surveillance, sold to NASDAQ OMX in 2010. [7]

With infrastructure funding, he also led the development of physical research infrastructure (super-computers, data, software; culminating in the current SIRCA and Thomson Reuters Tick History) and developed an innovation in academia called the “work-based” learning model designed for post-graduate students. The model was awarded the Business Higher Education Roundtable (BHERT) [8] [ failed verification ] Outstanding Achievement in Collaboration in Education and Training in a program over 3 years in duration in 1999. The award noted the research's innovativeness; the strength of the relationship between collaborating partners; its outreach inclusion (e.g. overseas - to other groups, companies, its national benefits; and cultural impact on the partner/organisation.

Aitken pioneered the Market Quality Framework [9] and Market Quality Dashboard, [10] designed to estimate the impact of market design change on market quality. [11] He has led the development of a suite of commercial software services to the securities, broking, health insurance and accounting and audit industries as part of his work for the CMCRC. [12] [13] [14] [15] He has recently extended R&D into a new domain in order to detect fraud in the health sector, giving rise to the HiBiS and I+Plus technology to detect waste, errors and fraud in the health sector. [16] [17]

Aitken acts as an expert witness and has applied the technologies developed at the CMCRC to assist Courts, regulators and market participants in allegations of insider trading, market manipulation and breaches of disclosure, establishing new standards in the process. Since 1998, he has acted as an expert in matters involving insider trading, market manipulation, the impact of information, front-running and broker-client conflict in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and has provided expert reports on issues of market microstructure, market efficiency and market integrity to regulators, exchanges, brokers, intermediaries and other institutions concerned with financial markets. [18]

In 2014, Aitken was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his significant service to the business and finance sector, particularly to market surveillance and fraud detection technologies, and to education. [19]

Industry appointments

Academic appointments

Academic qualifications

Awards and honours

  1. Recipient of 1991 outstanding manuscript award, AAANZ, 1991
  2. Recipient (with other co-authors) of 1995 prize for the best manuscript in Australian Journal of Management, 1995.
  3. Business Higher Education Roundtable Award for Outstanding Achievement in Collaboration in Education and Training in a program over 3 years in duration, 1999
  4. SIRCA Prolific Career Contribution to Financial Markets Research, 2009
  5. Ernst and Young National ICT Entrepreneur of the Year 2010
  6. NSW ICT and Overall Exporter of the Year (SMARTS), 2010
  7. Prime Minister ICT Exporter of the Year, 2010
  8. Appointed Member of the Order of Australia, June 2014 [19]

Publications

Books

  1. The Microstructure of the Australian Stock Exchange: An Introduction, with A. Frino, E. Jarnecic, M. McCorry and R. Winn, Asia-Pacific Capital Markets Foundation, Book Series 1997.
  2. Accounting and Financial Management, with M Hirst, Australian Graduate School of Management, 1989
  3. Investing on the Australian Sharemarket, with A Burrowes and R Mullholland, Macmillan Publishing Company, December 1983(Fifth reprint 1987)
  4. The Development of Accounting Theory - Significant Contributors to Accounting Thought in the 20th Century with M Gaffikin, Garland Publishing Company, December 1982. Reprinted 2013

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References

  1. ↑ Pacific-Basin Finance Journal Volume 9, Issue 3, June 2001, Pages 265-280 and “Most Prolific Authors in the Finance Literature: 1959-2008”, Jean L. Heck and Philip L. Cooley, Working paper, 2009
  2. ↑ Harris, Frederick H. deB; Aitken, Michael J.; Ji, Shan (21 April 2014). A Worldwide Examination of Exchange Market Quality: Greater Integrity Increases Market Efficiency. SSRN   1890928.
  3. ↑ Siow, Audris S.; Aitken, Michael J. (February 2004). "Ranking World Equity Markets on the Basis of Market Efficiency and Integrity". In Herbie Skeete (ed.). THE HP HANDBOOK OF WORLD STOCK, DERIVATIVE & COMMODITY EXCHANGES 2003. Mondo Visione Ltd. pp. xlix–lv. SSRN   490462.
  4. ↑ High Frequency Trading and End of Day manipulation
  5. ↑ "High frequency trading–assessing the impact on market efficiency and integrity" (PDF). gov.uk.
  6. ↑ "In profile: Mike Aitken, financial markets guardian".
  7. ↑ "Waters Rankings 2014: Best Market Surveillance Provider — Nasdaq OMX". waterstechnology.com. August 2014.
  8. ↑ "B/HERT - Business/Higher Education Round Table". Business/Higher Education Round Table.
  9. ↑ "TABB Accounts".
  10. ↑ "New aid for regulators in measuring reform_impact". thetradenews.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-02. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  11. ↑ Market Quality Dashboard - Exclusive First Look!. 19 December 2013 – via YouTube.
  12. ↑ "CMCEC". Archived from the original on 2014-12-16. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  13. ↑ Nasdaq. "Nasdaq Tech: Surveillance Solutions".
  14. ↑ "Lorica Health - A CMCRC Company". Archived from the original on 2014-10-29. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  15. ↑ "Consulting - Capital Markets Technologies".
  16. ↑ "Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre awarded $32M to continue critical research in finance and health | CMCRC". Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  17. ↑ "CMC Insurance Solutions | About us". Archived from the original on 2014-07-20. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  18. ↑ "Michael Aitken,Capital Markets Consulting,Expert Witnesses,Finance". Archived from the original on 2014-10-07. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  19. 1 2 "Nod for keeping markets clean". The Australian.
  20. ↑ "Case Study - Capital Markets CRC".
  21. ↑ Aitken, Michael (1980). Towards establishing a research tradition in accounting (Masters thesis). Massey Research Online, Massey University. hdl:10179/11290.
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