Python for Finance

Chapter 14. Web Integration

I have been quoted saying that, in the future, all companies will be Internet companies. I still believe that. More than ever, really.

— Andrew Grove

The Internet, or the Web, has evolved from some separate world into something that is everywhere and in everything. It has become a technology platform enabling a multitude of different use cases. From a finance perspective, the following seem particularly noteworthy:

Data provision/gathering

Web technology allows the provision of data and the gathering thereof in a simplified manner and generally at reduced costs; it also speeds up in general all associated processes. Large financial data providers, like Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters, rely heavily on the Web and related technologies to provide the financial world with data in real time.

Trading/buying/selling

Using the Web also facilitates trading of financial securities; even private investors today have access to professional trading facilities (e.g., online brokers like Interactive Brokers) and can trade securities in real time.

Application providing

Models like Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) allow both small companies, like startups, and large ones to provide applications in an efficient manner; even the smallest outfit can today reach a global target audience at very little cost. Large corporations benefit from web technologies, for example, when they use them to provide internal applications that are accessible and usable via any standard web browser, ...