How is trading talent set to evolve going forward?The future trading talent has a different educational background than what has been the norm for decades. Future traders will possess more technical skillsets and they will have quantitative and mathematical backgrounds. This shift has already taken place over the course of several years, and the trend will only continue for many years to come while the industry expands into the technological space. The new talent is well versed in coding and mathematics. They know all products in depth from a theoretical point of view, and on top of this they have the ability to put their ideas into scripts and programs. They can retrieve and fetch necessary information from databases and other information sources.How do you expect the trading role to change further in light of automation and AI developments?The inflow of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) only emphasises the change in educational backgrounds towards more technologically adept traders. Developments in automation and AI will increase the set of available and useful tools for trading execution, and the ability to understand and utilise these effectively will be key for having the best trading desks. What is the best piece of advice you have been given in your career?The best advice I have received was given to me while I was employed as a graduate. It was a combination of seeking challenging goals while aligning on expectations. I was encouraged to pursue jobs and tasks that I found most exciting even though they would appear incomprehensible. But maybe more importantly, I was told to make sure to align on expectations continuously with my leaders and stakeholders.  If it was not for this advice, I would perhaps have stayed in my comfort zone and not pursued anything too challenging. But, the combination of having expectations aligned on a continuous basis with challenging goals, made it easier for me to focus on relevant tasks, and calmed me in the process. The process itself became enjoyable and enhanced my development. How is data changing the way that traders operate and what impact is this having on the type of person joinng the desk?The trend toward increasing technology use entails a working environment with data-intense information sources. This gives us a unique opportunity to analyse and leverage the information in useful ways. For the desks that embrace these new opportunities, they will take in people with a mixed skillset including the ability to process large amounts of data and recognise useful patterns and connections. I believe that this quantitative approach will become the norm in the future, hence people with more technical backgrounds will become favourable on the desk. The post Harnessing artificial intelligence on future trading desks appeared first on The TRADE.

Gunnar Tyler-Henning has joined Walleye Capital as an FX volatility trader following a year and a half at Nomura.New York-based Tyler-Henning was most recently VP, FX options trading at Nomura focused on correlation exotics and Asia flow options. Prior to this, he spent four years at Deutsche Bank, also in an FX options trading role. Elsewhere in his career, Tyler-Henning has worked stints at BNY and Artisan Wealth Management. Read more: Your invite to Leaders in Trading New York!This year, The TRADE is launching its inaugural Leaders in Trading New York, in recognition of the achievements of the trading and execution industry in North America.  The awards will be held at Current, Pier 59, Chelsea Piers in New York City on 19 November.  The evening will honour the top desks and traders in The TRADE’s coveted Buy-Side Awards, recognise leading market players from all corners of the industry in the Editors’ Choice categories, and acknowledge the biggest outperformers in The TRADE’s reputable surveys, including Algorithmic Trading, Execution Management System and Outsourced Trading.The post Nomura trader joins Walleye Capital in New York appeared first on The TRADE.

Bastiaan Berendsen was promoted to head trader at Robeco, based in Rotterdam. He has been with the firm for almost 19 years, having most recently served as a senior equity trader. Current head of equity trading and operational portfolio management, Robbert Wijgerse, continues in his role and existing reporting lines remain the same. Berendsen joined Robeco in 2006 as a data and application manager. As a senior trader he was part of the Rotterdam-based low touch duo for Robeco, alongside equity trader Tomaz Mota, prior to his promotion.Kepler Cheuvreux appointed Oliver Mudie as head of sales trading, US client zone, KCx, based in London. Mudie joined Kepler from Bank of America (formerly Bank of America Merrill Lynch), where he spent the last 18 years. During his tenure at Bank of America, Mudie most recently served as manging director, sales trading. Prior to this, Mudie worked as a senior vice president at JP Morgan Cazenove.Kyle Hackett joined JP Morgan as a US rates trader, based in New York. Prior to his new role, Hackett spent three and a half years at HSBC, working as a global markets analyst, and most recently as a US rates trader. Elsewhere in his career Hackett did a stint at Fidelity Investments.The post People Moves Monday: Robeco, Kepler Cheuvreux and JP Morgan appeared first on The TRADE.

Bastiaan Berendsen has been promoted to head trader at Robeco, based in Rotterdam.He has been with the firm for almost 19 years, having most recently served as a senior equity trader. The appointment comes as the firm seeks to increase team efficacy. Robeco tells The TRADE: “To be more efficient as a team, share the daily responsibilities and better align on running the daily operations, Bastiaan has been appointed as head trader.”Current head of equity trading and operational portfolio management, Robbert Wijgerse, continues in his role and existing reporting lines remain the same. Berendsen joined Robeco – which leverages a low touch and high touch trading model across three continents – in 2006 as a data and application manager. As a senior trader he was part of the Rotterdam-based low touch duo for Robeco, alongside equity trader Tomaz Mota, prior to his promotion.Read more – Chasing innovation on Robeco’s global equity trading desk: ‘In order to stay good, we need to become better’ Speaking to The TRADE earlier this year, Berendsen delved into Robeco’s approach to trading, explaining that the innovation opted for by Robeco’s low touch trading team is largely focused on its in-house trading researchers which works with the trading desk to enhance execution, minimise costs and reduce market impact.He added that this approach has had tangible results on the way the institution executes, in particular around its level of passive trading, asserting: “We have large quant strategies in developed and emerging markets. For trading many different stocks, it makes sense to trade relatively passively.“In general, the quant strategies do not expect to have a lot of short-term alpha, so then you don’t need to be trading extremely aggressively in the market.”The post Robeco appoints new head trader appeared first on The TRADE.

The TRADE is excited to announce the Rising Stars of Trading and Execution North America for 2024 – a celebration of up-and-coming talent on the buy-side.This year, The TRADE celebrated 10 years of the Rising Stars of Trading and Execution initiative, and we are delighted to be extending the initiative to North America!The inaugural celebration will take place at the Leaders in Trading New York awards ceremony, to be held at Current, Pier 59, Chelsea Piers in New York City on 19 November.Read more: The TRADE celebrates ten years of the Rising Stars of Trading and ExecutionThe Rising Stars initiative recognises key buy-side individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty within their roles, playing a key part on their desks through day-to-day activities, thought leadership, and innovation.Previously recognised individuals have gone on to head up some of the largest and most successful desks across leading asset managers and hedge funds.The Leaders in Trading New York awards will also acknowledge the biggest achievers in The TRADE’s reputable Algorithmic Trading, Execution Management and Outsourced Trading Surveys, as well as honouring top desks and traders in our coveted Buy-Side Awards and other market players in the Editors’ Choice categories.Please join The TRADE in recognising this year’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution North America for 2024.Rising Stars of Trading and Execution North America for 2024:Eric Brown, FX trader, T. Rowe PriceAlan Clymer, trader, Balyasny Asset ManagementZachary Goodwin, equity trader, BlackRockSarah Lambert, senior trader, Fidelity InvestmentsNowara Munir, FX trader and strategist, MFS InvestmentsPlease contact Patrick Wright at patrick.wright@thetradenews.com for sponsorship opportunities or to book a table for Leaders in Trading New York.If you are a member of the buy-side community and would like information on attending, please contact Karen Delahoy at karen.delahoy@thetradenews.com or Annabel Smith at annabel.smith@thetradenews.com.The post The TRADE announces the Rising Stars of Trading and Execution North America for 2024 appeared first on The TRADE.

S&P Global Market Intelligence (SPGMI) and MarketAxess have announced a strategic data partnership aiming to increase transparency and efficiency for the fixed income markets.Laura Misher, Kat SweeneyAs part of the partnership, S&P Global bond reference data will be integrated into MarketAxess’ suite of data products, while MarketAxess CP+ real-time pricing will also be included into S&P Global’s evaluated bond pricing.MarketAxess CP+ is a real-time bond pricing source for global credit, rates and emerging markets powered by AI and proprietary data. The source is used by clients for price discovery, transaction cost analysis, and automated trading strategies.The combination of S&P Global’s evaluated bond pricing of over 1.2 million corporate, sovereign and municipal bonds with MarketAxess CP+ is expected to lead to more consistent pricing and greater efficiencies across the trade lifecycle including front-, middle- and back-office functions.“We are excited about this collaboration as it connects a market-leading institutional trading platform with a leading data provider, bringing transparency and consistency in data used across the different functions of our customers,” said Laura Misher, vice president at SPGMI.“Additionally, our combined expertise will allow us to develop solutions that will address customer challenges across the trade lifecycle.”The data integration is expected to start in H1 of 2025, enabling the companies to differentiate their existing product offerings and innovate new solutions.The development follows Intercontinental Exchange’s ICE Bonds and MarketAxess connecting their respective liquidity networks in a bid to improve efficiency and access to deeper liquidity in fixed income markets, announced in August.Read more: ICE Bonds and MarketAxess connect liquidity networks to bolster bond market efficiency“Incorporating CP+ into S&P Global evaluated bond pricing service will enable our firms to close the gaps between best execution, intraday trading decisions and end-of-day valuation,” said Kat Sweeney, global head of data and ETF solutions at MarketAxess.“We are thrilled to be working with S&P Global Market Intelligence, an innovator across the entire fixed income ecosystem, to further our common goal of bringing more transparency to the fixed income cash and ETF markets.”The post S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketAxess partner to improve fixed income transparency and efficiency appeared first on The TRADE.

What are the prominent trends are you seeing in the outsourced trading space?There has been a shift in the size and scale in the types of managers that we’re talking to. My new favourite saying is that I don’t think this is a recessionary product any longer, but rather a future state. The way that people are thinking about it has changed dramatically over the last couple of years and a lot of that is driven through how customisable the product is through the whole life cycle of trading. Obviously, execution is a key piece of it, but just looking at all the different parts and how that can come under one commission rate is completely different. We did a survey on about 300 global asset managers and one of the main themes that came out of that was around outsourcing. Around 30% of them said that they would look at outsourcing trading, which demonstrates how much momentum there is in this space. It’s driving that capital light variable cost operating model that you can no longer ignore.The other really key area for us as a product has been fixed income. We’ve seen a 98% growth in the last three years in our fixed income space and we actually launched a fixed income desk from Sydney in September. That is bolstering the 24/6 offering that we have around that asset class. It helps to have people on the ground that can help support firms based in the UK or in the US from that perspective. Another factor that’s key and won’t be that much of a surprise is the trading technology and infrastructure itself. It’s critical that you remain on top of that and it’s really expensive. If you can leverage somebody else’s expertise and infrastructure from that perspective it is instant cost saving.What is driving these trends on the client side?A lot of it goes back to pressure on managers. Everyone knows that there are costs and performance pressures, but it comes down to where can you gain operational efficiencies, regulatory reporting help or instant access to new products – whether it’s a different asset class or region. Co-sourcing in particular has been a big theme this year. The expense of setting up in a new market for a new product is high, you’ve got to get through a hiring process and everyone knows that that alone can take months. We’ve seen quite a few clients diversify into different asset classes over the last 12-18 months with interest rates changing and things like that. There’s also access to liquidity which is becoming more and more difficult. We’ve now got more than 500 different brokers for equities and fixed income.T+1 was also a really big driver for us – we’ve seen quite a few managers who were looking to solve for different positions around that. Northern Trust has got offices in Chicago, New York, London and Sydney covering different asset classes and from that side of it, you’ve got the security. To some extent we’ve seen quite a lot of managers look at us for BCP purposes. They’ll have a line open and they have the infrastructure there but if something was disastrously to go wrong, whether it’s on a regional basis or macro or something internal they’ve got us as a backup.What is driving change in the outsourced trading provider landscape?We’ve noticed quite a lot of M&A activity. The underlying aim of that is achieving scalability of growth, access to liquidity, the governance structure, and basically whole product. The industry is really viewing outsourced trading as a high quality product now and with that comes a really high standard, high expectations of what you can deliver. Execution is key but it’s the scalability, the operational efficiencies, the support around regulatory reporting, the data analytics, the number of broker and venues that you can get to, and the advanced technology that’s wrapped around it.Where the competitive landscape side of it is growing it’s great because it’s giving more optionality to everyone, it’s validating what we’ve been doing for a really long time now. If you’re active or passive and you’re looking at it from a fully outsourcing perspective or from a co-sourcing perspective, we see it as the future and it’s going to become a really imperative part of your operating model regardless of who it is. There are too many pros now for it to be ignored.What would you say to those who remain anti-outsourced trading?We always talk about the journey. It’s got to be the right time. There are going to be certain trigger points, whether that’s a new member on your C-Suite or additional cost pressures or access to liquidity or a new asset class or market. There are so many individual trigger points that happen at all of these firms at different times. This is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore and avoid. The route that we take is it’s a partnership for us -it’s not about taking jobs. Obviously, it presents risks in different ways for some people potentially in their roles.We have some clients who were still doing the trading themselves and their response has been ‘I can go back to doing what I’m meant to be doing, which is picking stocks, not deciding how to trade them’. That helps bolster their infrastructure too. We’re at a really exciting point in the life cycle of outsource trading, there’s massive momentum around it. You can’t ignore it, but also don’t be afraid of it. It’s not about putting people out of work, it’s about creating opportunity.The post Fireside Friday with… Northern Trust’s Amy Thorne appeared first on The TRADE.

Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) has expanded its relationship with Japan-based Resona Asset Management to include BBH’s automated third party FX solution, InfoFX.Munenori Yoshihara, BBHThe development sees Resona become the first Japanese investment manager to implement the FX solution.InfoFX is a securities-based FX solution that enables automated FX order generation with execution netting capability.The solution provides support for FX orders across multi-custodian accounts and covers both freely traded markets and select restricted markets.Read more: Fireside Friday with Brown Brothers Harriman’s… Brendan BurkeFollowing the onboarding of InfoFX, Resona AM added that it has already seen greater operational efficiencies through trade data transmission and FX netting, as well as improved flexibility in their security-based FX workflow.“With the launch of InfoFX, our fund managers have gained significant benefits through reduced operational burdens. We expect that these operational efficiencies will lead to enhanced investment performance,” said Resona AM.Resona AM has also achieved improved oversight and control of its FX trading capabilities through InfoFX Live, BBH’s web-based platform which offers clients with robust pre- and post-trade reporting and analytics tools to assess execution quality.“Global asset managers continue to look for ways to optimise their trading and operational workflows, so we are thrilled to expand upon our longstanding relationship with Resona Asset Management, a key relationship for BBH in Japan,” said Munenori Yoshihara, head of relationship management Japan and markets Asia at BBH.The post Resona Asset Management selects BBH to bolster FX trading capabilities appeared first on The TRADE.

Kyle Hackett has joined JP Morgan as a US rates trader, based in New York.Prior to his new role, Hackett spent three and a half years at HSBC, working as a global markets analyst, and most recently as a US rates trader. Elsewhere in his career Hackett did a stint at Fidelity Investments.Read more: JP Morgan on building new offerings for clientsEarlier this year, Mitul Patel left his role at HSBC, where he most recently held responsibility for primary coverage on G10 rates for reserve managers and UK real money clients.Patel was appointed director, central bank sales at RBC Capital Markets, based in London, responsibility for distributing global rates product.The post HSBC trader joins JP Morgan in New York appeared first on The TRADE.

Chicago-based head of US trading at Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) Ryan Raymond has seen enough economic turmoil during his career to know what to do when markets turn volatile. Specialising in fixed income, specifically credit, Raymond has over two decades of trading experience under his belt. Originally destined for a role in tech, with a brother and uncle both working in this sphere, it was when the tech bubble burst while Raymond was in college that the financial industry caught his attention.There are few in this industry – and outside of it – that haven’t heard about the events in the late 90s and early 2000s that saw the dotcom bubble burst and send markets into disarray. It was then that Raymond found his passion for an industry he might never have otherwise noticed.   “My brother and uncle are in that field. I was part of the generation where computers were a big part of growing up so I thought I would join that industry, but then the tech bubble burst in college and I couldn’t find an internship in that field,” he explains. “[After finding an internship in finance] I thought ‘these are really big dollar amounts that people are moving around. They’re making smart investments based on fundamentals, what they’re seeing in the market and on the conversations they’re having with people’. I quickly fell in love with this industry without even knowing it existed.”Finding fixed incomeAfter spending three months as a trading assistant intern at PPM America, Raymond landed his first permanent buy-side position, joining UBS Asset Management as an operations assistant in 2003. He subsequently moved into a role on the money market and short duration team focused on multi-asset accounts, money markets, and enhanced cash funds, among other products, serving in this capacity for eight years before moving over to the investment grade credit team. Raymond joined LGIM as its head of credit trading in 2019 when the asset manager was undergoing the process of splitting up its portfolio management and trading capabilities.Raymond was starting a family and looking for a new opportunity. “Chicago is a very small community and so I knew most of the portfolio managers and management at LGIM America before I came over. When I joined, that helped to smooth out the transition for the existing portfolio managers who were moving into split PM and trader functions,” he says. In his first role at LGIM, Raymond was responsible for overseeing its credit trading business out of the US. It was during the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020 that his remit was expanded, taking on responsibility for the equities and foreign exchange capabilities at the firm.Equities was already a globalised product and in 2021, LGIM opted to globalise its fixed income product offering. Raymond’s team of nine, including himself, now handles all the US dollar trading flow globally for LGIM out of the US.His trading team is structured using a specialised approach with each individual having a market area that they are responsible for. Raymond himself specialises in energy and basic industries. “Our desk set-up is very effective because we can develop relationships with the sell-side at a deeper and more meaningful level,” he explains. “There’s an argument to be made for splitting it by high and low touch as opposed to fixed income and equity etc. But, right now, I like having it split because it’s a different product. It’s different needs for our clients and our fund managers. If you want to be successful, you need to really understand what their needs are.”Raymond’s career has had a constant fixed income spin to it. While he acts in a backup capacity for FX and sometimes equities, he is most active in fixed income for credit which he confirms is LGIM’s biggest book of business. For Raymond, it’s the layered nuance and the additional challenge when it comes to fixed income trading that has kept him coming back for more.“Fixed income is unique in comparison with equities as you’ve got all these individual securities for one issuer. Whether that’s for better or worse, you can argue both, a company can have any number of different bonds,” he explains. “It’s fun sometimes to say this is the security that I think is going to perform the best. It adds another element of challenge that I’ve enjoyed, and that’s why I’ve stuck with fixed income through my career.”Flying through turbulenceThe US has had an “interesting few months” as Raymond puts it. Despite the threat of a recession looming in the second half of this year, the Federal Reserve’s first rate cut is only expected to take place on 18 September and there remains uncertainty around how quickly rates will come down before year end. The activity has sparked concern with many who are now watching the central bank closely in order to price in any associated risk. Paired with the upcoming election this makes for a heady cocktail, especially given the fact that more turbulence is expected on the horizon. Helming the US business of one of the largest asset managers in the world through such a course is no mean feat. For Raymond, the focus is now on whether the firm should be de-risking, something he intends to achieve through portfolio diversification.“I don’t think the market is fully pricing in the some of the risks along the lines of the Fed. We’re a little bit more conservative in our approach right now,” he says. “We’ve largely been focused on whether this is an inflection point in the market and do we need to de-risk ahead of it? We’ll probably use a mix of primary and portfolio trades to move that risk quickly frankly. That’s taking up a lot of the time from a strategic standpoint.”“Credit markets have been fairly stable this year. We’ve seen the range of the US credit index primarily trade in a 10-basis point range. Until recently, we’ve broken out of that, but the real question is, have we broken out of it or are we just resetting that range a little bit wider? That’s the question that the market is going to answer over the next few months here [the US] to see what’s really going to happen.”“The other side of that is supply has been much higher than we anticipated. We expected supply to be very high in the first quarter, but all the colour that we were receiving was supply would slow in the second and third quarter. Both quarters ended up with heavier than expected supply. That has weighted on markets as well. What’s really key is being nimble in the market.”Remaining nimble is something that the largest asset managers across the globe struggle with to this day, particularly in times of unpredicted supply. For Raymond, the solution is simple, leveraging different areas of your investment portfolio to ensure you have the option for a quick turnaround when one is required. “We used to view large asset managers as these aircraft carriers that would take months and months to shift their positioning. That’s not the case anymore. If you look at it from a top-down standpoint, you can move very quickly in the market with minimal wake using a mix of primary supply, portfolio trades and big chunky portfolio trades all at the same time,” he explains. “All of those hit the market in different liquidity fashions so that the wake behind you is smaller and you’re no longer this aircraft carrier but instead a much smaller vessel that moves faster. Given our setup on the trading desk, and because of the way that we approach portfolio trading, we are in a position to be extremely nimble across all of our products. We use a combination of primary markets, portfolio trading and traditional secondary block liquidity to adapt our portfolios to any changes that come very quickly and cost effectively.”Portfolio trading expertiseCentral to LGIM’s nimbleness and diversified strategy is portfolio trading. Something that Raymond confirms LGIM specialises in. Portfolio trades allow traders to execute a basket of stocks in one single transaction, minimising costs and allowing traders to bundle less liquid or more difficult to trade instruments in with more liquid transactions. The concept has exploded in the last few years, egged on by market conditions and volatility brought on by the pandemic and other macroeconomic factors.“We’re very fast at it [portfolio trading], so if we get the idea in our head that the market is turning we can turn that into a trade within a very short period of time and execute that day if we want to and move the entire direction of our portfolios. It’s [portfolio trading] the way the market is going and swimming downstream with liquidity instead of fighting it is a sure way to reduce transaction costs.”LGIM has completed over 1,000 portfolio trades since 2020, averaging more than one a day with an average transaction cost of half a basis point and accounting for around 36% of the asset manager’s fixed income business.When Raymond first came across fixed income exchange traded funds (ETFs) however, – the renowned catalyst for the explosion of portfolio trading seen in the last four to five years – he was not convinced.“When I first heard about fixed income ETFs, I said this is not going to work and this is going to decrease liquidity in fixed income. I was completely wrong,” he explains. “It’s almost like fixed income is catching up to equities now. As things have become more electronic and technology has built into these processes, fixed income has adapted some of these equity elements. That’s what fixed income portfolio trading is, it’s using an equity product or process. Fixed income ETFs have allowed portfolio trades to happen.”“In fixed income, the algo use on the sell-side has seen a big increase and that has fed into why portfolio trading has been so successful as well. The ability for the street to price a lot of these smaller securities quickly and efficiently has really changed and it made the market a lot more liquid in the smaller sizes.”According to Raymond, portfolio trading has had significant impact on the fixed income liquidity landscape. The protocol has boosted top-down liquidity – focused on macro-economic factors – and dried up bottom-up liquidity – focused on a company’s fundamentals, he explains. A result that has had both positive and negative impacts. “The top-down liquidity that you see because of portfolio trades is remarkable. Frankly, you have more liquidity in fixed income markets now than you have had since at least the financial crisis from a top-down level,” he explains.“The other side of that is the bottom-up liquidity when trying to buy a lot of a single name is much worse as more focus has gone to top-down. It’s also drawn some experience down and so the knock-on effect is that bottom-up liquidity is reduced. If you need to trade three hundred million in Kraft then it’s a lot harder now than it used to be especially pre-crisis. But even from a post-crisis level, the liquidity was worse.“The street goes through an evolution over time. What we’re seeing partly because of the volumes being traded in portfolio trades is that there is a focus to move that risk. That is a very different skillset for the sell-side than it is trying to move 300 million of a single name. The street is focusing on this top-down element and so there’s less skill on the bottom-up side. That provides an opportunity for a firm like us where we are very bottom-up focused in our research and our capabilities.”A data-focused future Raymond’s focus, as with many other heads of trading, is now on the fine tuning of its processes using data. The future focus is centred on fixed income, which he claims has a way to go when compared with equities or foreign exchange given the nature of those businesses.“In fixed income, it is a lot more difficult to run the same kinds of analysis [as equities and foreign exchange]. I might get an order in the morning for 20 million to trade and I might only be able to trade 10 or I might be able to take zero,” he explains. “I have to work that order and the market can move throughout the day. If I’m measuring my personal performance on that trade versus when I received that order, it might look really good or it might look really bad based on what the market does and based on the liquidity of that individual trade. If the market got better at analysing that would add a lot of value.”Central to several ongoing market discussions on the buy-side is the use of data pre-trade to better inform trading decisions, and LGIM is no different from its peers in this regard. Pre-trade particularly when it comes to LGIM’s portfolio trading business is front and centre in Raymond’s mind going forward.“Having done so many portfolio trades, we have a very good idea about who is going to win the trade or who is going to be competitive. But we’re doing more work to be better about that – we’re doing more work for beta portfolio trades where we’re trading 100-line items because we want to add risk or to take risk off for the portfolio,” he adds. “What we’re trying to do there is partner with some of the electronic trading platforms that we trade PTs [portfolio trades] on. We have data on the 1000 portfolio trades that we’ve done over the past four years. They have data on everything done on their platform and in the market. I want to reduce transaction costs but keep the top line steps of my portfolio – the duration, the spread target, the ratings target – and keep that within a 10% range of where I started.“How can I optimise for transaction costs? OK, let’s take out these five securities and I can optimise for transaction costs. Let’s get really fancy and say let’s optimise for 50% transaction costs and 50% spread. What does that look like? Can we talk about substituting securities to do it? If we can get to the point where we can do that ultra-efficiently in a nice GUI and can make that decision within seconds based on the analysis and the previous performance of thousands of portfolios, we’ll have a huge competitive advantage. Even if it’s rolled out to our peers, being part of that development and knowing how to use it puts us and our clients at an advantage.”The onus is now no longer on gaining access to data in fixed income but instead on how firms can find ways of turning data into useful information to be used on the desk whether that be via inhouse or third-party vendor solutions, Raymond concludes.“There are some really hard conversations that need to be had across the street. Getting the data is one thing, analysing the data and turning it into useful information is a whole other ball game. Finding the right way to do that, whether it’s an in-house solution or out of the box solution that is paid for, is a really hard conversation.“Frankly, the answer is probably mixed, but how that plays out will be really interesting to see. For us, we do a lot of data aggregation and we’re trying to build out as much as we can internally. Do we use an EMS or another third-party solution to help sort that data and turn it into actionable events? That’ll be something we keep assessing.”The post Keeping an aircraft carrier nimble in times of turbulence appeared first on The TRADE.

BNY has bolstered its trade flow offering, iFlow, with the inclusion of more extensive fixed income and equity data analytics.Specifically, the update will allow for clearer definitions of rotation trade equity, credit, and duration in bonds as iFlow will be able to generate on-demand charts for shorts, holdings, and positioning.“The new indicators are designed to provide transparency into unexpected market moves and show how markets have acted historically, helping to determine the potential vulnerabilities around shock events,” explained BNY. iFlow Shorts aggregates short interest metrics that log borrowing and lending behaviour, while iFlow Holdings demonstrates investor exposure to stock and bond markets. This includes a holistic view into how investors have allocated capital across factors such as country, sector, credit rating and maturity. iFlow Positioning measures investment preferences – comparing capital deployment across countries and sectors.iFlow provides a macro view on 20% of the world’s investable assets through anonymised and aggregated data on a T+1 daily basis. Read more: Fireside Friday with… BNY Mellon’s Geoffrey Yu Jason Vitale, head of global markets trading at BNY, said: “Finding ways to distil and understand market data continues to be one of the most important priorities for our clients. The challenge of today is no longer about getting access to vast market data sets but finding ways to unpack and apply those insights. “Given our unique vantage point, touching one fifth of the world’s investable assets, and through our expanded iFlow capabilities, we’re able to help clients better understand global markets.”The post BNY bolsters iFlow’s fixed income and equities data appeared first on The TRADE.

Derivatives marketplace CME Group has received approval from the National Futures Association (NFA) to establish a futures commission merchant (FCM).Walt Lukken, FIAThe NFA defines a FCM as an entity that solicits or accepts orders to buy or sell futures contracts, options on futures, retail off-exchange forex contracts or swaps, and accepts money or other assets from customers to support such orders.In response to CME Group receiving approval, Walt Lukken, president and chief executive at FIA, labelled the development as an “example of a trend that raises serious concerns about market regulation and systemic risk”.He added that the approval comes at a time when the CFTC has yet to propose a strong rule to address conflicts among affiliated CFTC-regulated entities.  “Nearly three years ago, FTX sought CFTC approval for a vertically integrated business model. FIA warned the CFTC at that time that such a novel structure would raise concerns about conflicts of interest from combining multiple market functions under one roof. Three years later, these risks remain unaddressed.”At the time, the collapse of FTX sparked concerns around the regulatory oversight of digital assets exchanges and their linked trading and custody subsidiaries.Read more: Wild West in action: FTX’s fall from grace“We strongly believe inherent conflicts of interest exist when one organisation controls multiple market functions – trading, clearing, intermediation and market regulation. FIA urges the CFTC to move forward immediately on a rulemaking to address this matter,” added Lukken.  When contacted by The TRADE in response to FIA comments, CME Group stated that it has nothing else to add to its initial statement.Terry Duffy, chairman and chief executive at CME Group, noted that the firm is pleased that the NFA has approved its FCM application, adding: “We remain committed to the FCM model and believe in the time-tested risk management benefits it continues to provide.“At the same time, as our industry continues to evolve, our FCM will ensure CME Group is in a strong position to quickly adapt to our clients’ changing business needs.”The post CME Group’s approval to establish futures commission merchant sparks backlash from FIA appeared first on The TRADE.

TradingBlock has bolstered its offering through the addition of customised order-routing algorithms for traders and asset managers on their platform.Gino Stella, institutional trading manager at TradingBlock, explained: “This new capability gives traders more control as they can tailor their order routing algo to their strategy. They are no longer tied to broadly used, off-the-shelf algorithms.”  Order-routing algorithms allow traders more efficiency in the executing of trades, with the customisable option allowing for quick adaptation to changing conditions.Read more: Algorithmic trading: Smarter than ever?The algorithms are trader-designed and are kept confidential, according to TradingBlock. They can also be used in conjunction with built-in order routing redundancy via various executing brokers.In recent times, TradingBlock has also launched its executing broker-neutral platform, allowing traders to design a custom execution environment.“Empowering traders with their own customised order-routing algorithms is especially critical in today’s market environment,” said Stella. “It allows them to quickly adapt to changing conditions and optimise their strategy based on their unique insights, taking the efficiency and impact of their trading to the next level.”The post TradingBlock unveils customised order-routing algos for traders appeared first on The TRADE.

Following proposed updates to the FX Global Code, the FXPA has highlighted that the revised rules could unintentionally lead to new risks, whilst also complicating operations, without clear benefits for the market.The FX Global Code are a set of industry guidelines aimed at keeping global currency markets fair and transparent.The Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC), responsible for maintaining standards in the global FX market, has proposed changes to its FX Global Code, which was established to provide guidance on how currency trades are carried out globally, with the goal of encouraging integrity and transparency.This marks the second iteration of the GFXC’s global FX code in the form of a public consultation, six years on from its inception.Read more: Key updates to the FX global code to be revealed in OctoberThe FXPA highlighted these updates as being well-intentioned but flawed, namely due to the overly complicated language used in the proposals and the lack of practical detail.The industry group argues that the GFXC didn’t provide enough background to explain why each rule change is necessary. In addition, the group noted that the 16-day feedback window was tight, given the global and highly regulated nature of the FX market, with participants operating under various regional rules.Among the proposed rule changes, firms have been encouraged to reduce settlement risk by using a one-size-fits-all method called a “risk waterfall,” which prioritises payment-versus-payment (PVP) settlements.The FXPA highlights that despite this approach potentially being safer, it may not work in cases where trades happen within a single institution, like a bank settling transactions between its own clients. The association argues that in such situations, PVP could actually increase risk and add unnecessary complexity.“The GFXC’s suggested updates to principle 35 to use PvP processes where practicable is not prescriptive enough. With vague definitions, every firm will choose to apply its own definition of where PvP mechanism are practicable, leaving settlement risk on the table,” said Alex Knight, head of EMEA at Baton Systems. “As we have seen in recent years, there is ample evidence of technologies in deployment right now that facilitate riskless settlement and netting, eliminating many situations where PvP is not possible.”Basu Choudhury, head of partnerships and strategic initiatives at OSTTRA, agreed that PvP is the preferred method for mitigating FX settlement risk.“By far the largest proportion of FX trading is conducted with the primary dealers (bank and non-bank), for whom the ‘on-us settlement’ model may not be feasible, and all parties in the chain (non-bank LPs, FX dealer, asset managers and custodians) must deal with and manage settlement risk,” said Choudhury.“Access and integration to flexible PvP models would enable the asset managers to execute across a larger pool of dealers as daily settlement limits (DSL) could be increased, leading to more efficient execution opportunities.”Elsewhere, the GFXC has proposed that it wants FX platforms to disclose more information about “client interaction data”. In response, the FXPA argues that the new language is broad, covering too many types of information and leaving room for confusion.The association also noted that without clear definitions, the rules can be interpreted by participants differently, creating inconsistencies and additional compliance challenges.The proposed updates would require that all FX trades be governed by a written agreement, with this extending to include minor and/or informal interactions.The FXPA highlighted that from a practical sense, this could make routine trading much more complicated and slow down transactions reliant on fast communication, such as messaging apps.The GFXC also proposed changes around how Standard Settlement Instructions (SSIs) are used. The revised rule would discourage the use of multiple SSIs for the same counterparty unless absolutely necessary, with the goal of reducing settlement errors.Although the FXPA agrees with the sentiment that minimising SSI variations would have benefits, they urge more flexibility in cases where alternate SSIs may be operationally necessary. The associations warns that strict rules on SSIs could make settlements cumbersome without substantial gains in safety or transparency.The post FX association calls out proposed FX Global Code revisions for “complexity and lack of clarity” appeared first on The TRADE.

Citi is set to migrate to Google Cloud following the signing of a multi-year agreement focused on modernising Citi’s technology infrastructure. Specifically, the cloud technology will migrate multiple workloads and applications to Google Cloud’s infrastructure, including the use of Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform which will deliver Gen-AI capabilities across the firm. Tim Ryan, head of technology and business enablement at Citi, said: “Citi is on a mission to modernise our infrastructure and increase our safety and soundness so that our businesses can continue to serve our clients with speed and agility.“Leveraging Google Cloud opens up a whole new frontier for us in how we can run applications with faster and more comprehensive outputs, and provide ourcolleagues with the tools they need to deliver for our clients.”Citi is set to benefit from high-performance computing (HPC) and analytics platforms, which in Citi’s Markets business means the execution of millions of computations daily.Read more: As cloud adoption across the market continues to rise, is the shift of liquidity itself next to follow?“Our strategic partnership with Citi to continue to modernise its technology infrastructure and drive enterprise-wide innovation underscores Google Cloud’s commitment to helping the financial services industry transform with cloud and AI technology,” said Thomas Kurian, chief executive of Google Cloud. “By combining Citi’s deep banking and customer experience expertise with Google Cloud’s leading cloud and AI capabilities, we can deliver significant benefits to Citi’s clients and employees.”The post Citi to migrate to Google Cloud appeared first on The TRADE.

Pan-European equity exchanges Aquis Exchange and Cboe Global Markets have today set out plans to launch a joint venture that will look to explore making a bid to provide the European consolidated tape. Named SimpliCT, the new venture will be based in the Netherlands and co-owned by Cboe and Aquis as equal shareholders. Alasdair Haynes, chief executive, Aquis, commented: “This proposed joint venture would not only represent a cost-efficient, robust business model that integrates advanced complementary, proprietary technologies, it would also be designed to deliver fair compensation for data contribution, aligning the interests of contributors and consumers.” Once established, the new venture will explore developing a bid for the tape. The pair confirmed it would be supported by a commercial and governance framework designed to ensure fair treatment of both data contributors and consumers. A dedicated SimpliCT management team and industry advisory committee would be appointed in due course once the JV is launched.  The pair confirmed that if SimpliCT is successful in the selection process, both firms will each contribute expertise, technology and capabilities. Natan Tiefenbrun, president, North American and European Equities, Cboe Global Markets, added: “As one of the most important market infrastructure developments the EU has introduced for many years, it [the consolidated tape] requires a provider that has the necessary technical, operational, and commercial expertise, and is aligned to policy makers’ vision and objectives for the tape. SimpliCT has been created to meet this ambitious goal.” The European Commission has mandated the creation of a single entity to operate a real-time pre- and post-trade CT for equities for five years as part of the Mifir Review, which came into force in April earlier this year.  The European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) will begin the selection process in June 2025 and choose a successful applicant by the end of 2025. The post Aquis and Cboe to form joint venture intent on exploring consolidated tape bid appeared first on The TRADE.

Kepler Cheuvreux has appointed Oliver Mudie as head of sales trading, US client zone, KCx, based in London.Mudie joins Kepler from Bank of America (formerly Bank of America Merrill Lynch), where he spent the last 18 years.During his tenure at Bank of America, Mudie most recently served as manging director, sales trading.Before joining Bank of America, Mudie worked as a senior vice president at JP Morgan Cazenove.Mudie’s appointment follows that of Faruk Akar, who joined Kepler’s London team as a PT sales trader last week. Akar joined Kepler from Unigestion where he served as a portfolio manager.Elsewhere, in August, Robert Miller joined Kepler Cheuvreux’s execution leadership team as head of market structure and liquidity solutions. He was previously head of international trading analytics and strategy at Vanguard, having joined in 2019.The post Kepler taps Bank of America for new head of sales trading hire appeared first on The TRADE.

Michael Lam joined TT International as a senior trader, following three and a half years at Jupiter Asset Management as a fixed income trader. He has previous experience across multi-asset trading and his past roles include stints as a multi asset trader at Manulife Investment Management and BNP Paribas Asset Management. In addition, Lam has also previously served as an FX and futures trader at Amundi, as well as a finance analyst at KBC Financial Products, and an operational analyst at Citi.Mark Cleary joined GBM Securities as managing director, head of equities following two and a half years at BCS Global Markets in the same role. Before moving to BCS Global Markets, Cleary was managing director, head of sales trading at BCS Financial Group. London-based Cleary has extensive experience working in trading positions. He previously served as head international sales trader at Otkritie Securities, and before that held sales trading roles at VTB Capital and Renaissance Capital. Cleary has also worked as a hedge fund trader at Walter Capital Management and head of operational risk and control at Bear Stearns International.JP Morgan appointed John Roberts as a new FX options trader, based in New York. He joined the firm from Deutsche Bank where he served as a currency options trader. Prior to this, Roberts spent five and a half years at NatWest Markets, most recently serving as a FX derivatives trader. Elsewhere in his tenure at NatWest Markets, he worked as a US rates strategist.Kepler Cheuvreux appointed Faruk Akar as PT sales trader, based in London. He most recently worked as a trader and portfolio manager at Unigestion for one and a half years and before that worked in equity trading related roles at Citi. Akar has also previously served as an associate, equities strategy, at quantitative investment management firm Winton.The post People Moves Monday: TT International, GBM Securities, JP Morgan and more… appeared first on The TRADE.

As equity traders continue to seek ever more innovative ways to bolster their offerings, the rise of Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) has followed – currently executing around 16% of all US equity volume.Jesse ForsterWhen it comes to the industry’s opinion on “new innovative trading venues”, the latest Coalition Greenwich report found that an overwhelming 91% of both US low-touch brokers and their buy-side clients have between “a little” and “a lot” of interest in the venues. This huge number is understandable given the significant amount of all US equity volume being executed on ATSs. With institutional trading contributing around 33% of overall equity market volumes, the conclusion is that half of all liquidity needs are currently being fulfilled on ATSs.Speaking to the rise of ATSs – thanks in large part to their established focus on execution quality above all else – one electronic trading head based in the US told Coalition Greenwich: “They solved for performance, now they just need to solve for liquidity”.Read more: Data arms race heats up as venues and vendors eye buy-side business through new initiatives Delving deeper into the data, 38% and 53% of US low-touch brokers showed “a lot” and “a little” interest respectively, compared to 28% and 63% respectively on the buy-side client side.Speaking to the motivators, one surveyed sell-side head asserted: “The buy side wants to see us trading there. They expect us to be experimenting with them with different types of orders under different conditions in different times of the day.”This is arguably a straightforward supply and demand situation. With market sentiment shifting, many across the market are crediting the new generation of traders with driving change thanks to their new age thinking and openness to new ideas and innovations.Trading venues are continually having to adapt as liquidity gets more and more fragmented – a key challenge when it comes to ATSs. However, it is apparent that key market participants on both the buy- and sell-side are highly cognisant of the importance of not falling behind the curve of change. As the landscape develops at an ever-faster pace, it is only logical that so too will the means by which trading is executed.Jesse Forster, head of equity market structure and technology at Coalition Greenwich, explained: “ATSs are incubators in a market structure laboratory, with less stringent rule sets than exchanges. The ATSs gaining traction today have sparked a hunger for further innovation, paving the way for the next generation of groundbreaking trading venues to emerge.”Coalition Greenwich’s ‘the innovators: how and why alternative trading systems succeed’ study was based on feedback from Q3 2024 wherein interviews were conducted with equity market professionals in the US working at ATSs, exchanges, asset managers, broker-dealers, fintech providers, and industry associations.The post US market increasingly ready to embrace Alternative Trading Systems appeared first on The TRADE.

JP Morgan has appointed John Roberts as a new FX options trader, based in New York.He joins the firm from Deutsche Bank where he served as a currency options trader.Prior to this, Roberts spent five and a half years at NatWest Markets, most recently serving as a FX derivatives trader.Elsewhere in his tenure at NatWest Markets, he worked as a US rates strategies.Roberts announced his appointment in a social media post.This latest appointment follows that of Olivia Gassner, who was appointed VP, equity electronic sales trader at JP Morgan earlier this month.Gassner joined the firm from RBC Capital Markets, where she served in the same role for three years prior to the move. The post JP Morgan taps Deutsche Bank for new FX options trader appeared first on The TRADE.