Yes. I used to work at an investment bank. When the market moved from T+5 to T+3... | Hacker News

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throwawayboise on Jan 31, 2021 | parent | context | favorite | on: Why Robinhood disabled buys but not sells

Yes. I used to work at an investment bank. When the market moved from T+5 to T+3 it was a major project for all internal systems to be adjusted. It wasn't just a matter of changing a SETTLEMENT_DAYS macro in a header file. And even afterwards, it wasn't that, because there were different systems written in different eras and in different languages.

Multiply this by however many thousands of firms, all with their bespoke back-office systems. and it takes time.

adamredwoods on Jan 31, 2021 [–]

What language was this written in? Did it stay in the same language? If it's say, FORTRAN, I wonder if there's value in learning it soon.

IsoldesKnight on Feb 1, 2021 | [–]

Back office system in the financial sector? You're probably looking at COBOL, although I know Caché gets used as well.

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