The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a supervisory briefing which includes practical tools and clarified expectations as regards how national competent authorities oversee algorithmic trading activity under Mifid II. The move comes amid continued growth in automated execution across European equities and derivatives markets. The briefing is expected to centre on “key areas where supervisory practices have diverged, including pre-trade controls, governance arrangements, testing frameworks and outsourcing of algorithmic trading systems”, said ESMA. Read more: Beyond the data: A new era of buy-side expectations in algorithmic trading The briefing also incorporates supervisory considerations linked to the growing deployment of artificial intelligence within trading workflows, specifying considerations for the use of the technology. ESMA explained: “This section aims to help supervisors assess new risks and ensure that firms adopt robust and responsible approaches when deploying advanced technologies in their trading operations.”  The briefing has been labelled a nonbinding convergence tool, set to complement existing requirements and is aimed at supporting NCAs in adopting a harmonised approach when it comes to overseeing these processes.   More to follow… The post ESMA issues algorithmic trading-focused briefing   appeared first on The TRADE.

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) reported revenue growth of 7.6% year-on-year, to £9 billion in 2025, supported in large part by positive momentum across key asset classes in its markets and data businesses. Within fixed income and derivatives, revenue increased by to 13.7% year-on-year to more than £1.5 billion, and average daily volume across all asset classes was $2.6 trillion, a 16.9% increase on 2024, driven by Tradeweb’s trading protocols, according to LSEG. Notably, the Group confirmed there are no plans for disposals, including its stake in Tradeweb. Elsewhere, equities revenue was posted at £412 million, an increase of 5.1% reportedly driven by growth in trading volumes and data revenues. FX revenue of £272 million increased 7.5% from 2024, with activity across LSEG’s platforms FXall and FX Matching remaining strong, benefiting from heightened market volatility.  Additionally, OTC Derivatives revenue increased 11.6% from 2024, up £641 million. According to LSEG, this was due to growth in clearing and compression activity across all asset classes. Speaking in a preliminary results call, chief executive of LSEG, David Schwimmer said: “We’re innovating in our markets division, building new platforms for growth in digital assets, and our strategic partnership with eleven leading banks is accelerating growth and helping us unlock the multiyear opportunity in post-trade solutions.” Read more: Fireside Friday with… LSEG’s Emily Prince Comparing to previous performance, LSEG senior leadership this year emphasised AI and proprietary data as central to strategy, as well as markets. Schwimmer explained: “It’s important to note that 98% of our revenues are derived from data and workflows that are either proprietary, used in regulated environments, embedded in transactional workflows, or have material network effects, and that often have all four of these features and so are not replicable or replaceable by AI.” “[…] We are seeing great traction in AI-enabled data distribution, and our markets businesses continue to deliver exceptional performance. The combination positions us well for the next phase of growth.” During the fourth quarter, global institutions signed long-term contracts worth around £1.9 billion to access LSEG data services. Over the 12 months, the group expanded partnerships with OpenAI, Microsoft, Databricks and Anthropic, distributing financial data through cloud and AI channels. Internal adoption of AI tools has reportedly improved efficiency, accelerating data ingestion and reducing quality issues. Furthermore, the post-trade businesses also continue to perform strongly, with digital market infrastructure and tokenised settlement initiatives cited as long-term growth opportunities. The post LSEG posts revenue increases across markets segment in 2025 appeared first on The TRADE.

As the artificial intelligence debate moves from ‘should we implement AI’ to ‘how can we turn this into a system that we can manage over time’, the stakes are ramping up. As highlighted by expert panellists, integrating AI into workflows and systems can offer a multitude of benefits, however challenges remain, with data quality and accessibility, as well as regulatory and compliance issues consistently surfacing as key concerns.  However, for the panellists the most important aspect that desks and teams should keep in mind is creating a unified framework for AI, that holds the role of the human trader at its very core.  Commenting on this, one speaker said: “AI is carrying a people transformation. We need to change people’s mindset and skills, with use cases and accountability. It’s all about working together in terms of thinking – how do I get my first use case, how do I scale it up as a team, how do I embed my workload. “It should start with understanding. Some of us are technologists, but even from this lens, it’s complicated.” With this in mind, discussions emphasised how integrating AI into workflows and trading architecture should be an evolution which supports many different sections of an organisation, spanning both internal workflows as well as client offerings.  This was highlighted by another panellist, who commented: “You need to think about having a reusable capability for all the different use cases in your organisation. Combine your AI platform with the data platform, and once you have this in place, you can then also start to build more powerful tools to put directly in the hands of your users, to let people experiment and see what they can with these tools.” Read more – Tech aptitude to bridge experience drain, says buy-side trading headThis sentiment also aligns with the importance of ensuring that firms are implementing an organisation-wide AI strategy, to avoid unnecessary costs, and create effective direction surrounding how best to leverage this technology.  Building on this, discussions also honed in on the role of senior leadership, emphasising that AI-related communication should be spearheaded from the top of firms, such as from chief executives, so that traders and market participants can fully understand how they can make the most of any new AI capabilities landing on their desks.  “You cannot have random teams doing their own solutions because that is very expensive, and you won’t reap the benefits that you think you will,” asserted one expert.  “You need direction and strategy. Then you need to bring the people along on that journey with you. AI is a tool – it’s not just going to take over everyone’s jobs. It’s a tool to be leveraged and having that communication from the top is really important.” With data challenges, as well as compliance concerns and organisational alignment appearing as core aspects of the AI revolution that industry participants must be aware of, the message from the panellists was consistent – firms must think holistically about AI.  Reflecting on this importance, one expert summarised: “The transition to AI is comparable to electricity in terms of how much it is going to impact the world. The firms that can recognise that this is going to be such a game changer and have an innovation culture within their business will be the ones that win out.” The post AI is a transformation of people, not of technology appeared first on The TRADE.

Exegy has been chosen by the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) to provide ultra-low latency technology for the exchange’s trading infrastructure.  Laurent de BarryThrough the partnership, Exegy will support the build-up of the firm’s infrastructure by integrating its technology, and streamlining US equities markets’ feeds, with the aim of delivering quick and efficient performance capabilities for the exchange.  The integration comes ahead of TXSE’s launch of the first fully integrated national exchange in more than 25 years, currently scheduled to go live this year.  “At TXSE, we are building our core exchange infrastructure from the ground up to meet the highest standards of performance and reliability,” said Rick Yoder, chief technology officer of TXSE.  “Exegy’s solutions strengthen that foundation by ingesting and normalising direct feeds from US equities markets, enabling a real-time, consolidated view of the best displayed prices across venues.” Specifically, TXSE aims to boost competition and innovation across US equities markets, by acting as the sole national securities exchange to be built and headquartered in Texas.  In addition to integrating its technology into TXSE’s architecture, Exegy is also set to provide further support to the exchange’s protocol, to allow existing users to connect and access the new marketplace, as soon as trading commences.  Laurent de Barry, chief product officer at Exegy, said: “TXSE’s decision to integrate its proprietary trading infrastructure with Exegy’s capabilities reflects how central speed and predictable performance have become to modern market infrastructure.” The news marks the most recent industry development for Exegy, which announced in February 2026 that it is poised to launch an overnight best bid and offer (OBBO) consolidated feed connecting Blue Ocean, Bruce and MOON’s alternative trading systems (ATS).  The new offering – which is an industry first – is expected to allow market participants to capture liquidity currently not accessible on traditional exchange feeds outside of normal trading hours. The post Texas Stock Exchange selects Exegy’s technology offering to support core infrastructure appeared first on The TRADE.

With the premise of continuous trading quickly shifting from concept to reality across capital markets, experts at the TradingTech Summit in London took stock of how the technology landscape must modernise and evolve hand-in-hand with this structural change.  To adapt to 24/7 and continuous trading models, audience members at the conference were polled on what they thought the biggest barrier for a transition to continuous market readiness, with operational cost and resource constraints, as well as legacy system limitations vying as the top contenders for potential obstacles participants are preparing for.  When analysing how to navigate these difficulties, discussions turned to adopting strategies such as sourcing more technology in-house, to ensure that firms understand their own trading systems and infrastructure well, so that any updates or changes which may come with extending trading hours can seamlessly transition into workflows.  One speaker explained: “Going in-house is bearing fruit in this push towards more continuous trading. Fundamentally, it’s a reduction back to architectural principles, and making sure that your foundation is sound, so it’s less about composing lego blocks and more building the fundamental foundation that we’re going to rely on in the next coming years.” As 24/7 trading and similar models begin to stake their place in the market, conversations also emphasised the importance of ensuring the technology implemented to support these structures can also adapt when market turbulence hits.  For some firms, the solution to this lies in delegating building blocks to various different providers, to ensure stability.  As one expert who uses this model highlighted: “When we hit highly volatile markets, if one provider can’t cope or starts to struggle, we can very easily expand out. We can cut and chew and switch out components whenever we need to.” Human relationships remain key Although the fear of AI taking over human jobs has been a key concern at the heart of the evolving technology debate, and has been reflected into some areas of the industry as desks become more streamlined, human relationships still appear to be intrinsic when developing and adapting to a 24/7 world.  Dissecting this, panellists highlighted that as technology modernises and updates to support continuous trading, creating systems that humans can understand is essential, to ensure that the most benefits can be reaped from these changes.  “The relationships and the human aspect are not going away, but being able to immediately know everything they need to know about a stock, the history, what points you should talk to is empowering,” asserted one expert.  “A big part of having understandable technology is building a deterministic system that yields the same output every time you run them. That’s really good for humans because you understand why a system does a certain thing, and if it doesn’t do what you think it does, you can find a way to reproduce it and solve it more easily.” Building on this, discussions also emphasised the importance of ensuring teams have AI-friendly skills, not only so that the most efficiencies can be gained from modern technology, but also so that human hours don’t expand as trading hours do.  Within this, panellists were unanimous in agreeing that as orders increase while trading hours expand, the role of traders should not be to monitor the desk all day and night, but instead to be able to access all automated flow in the case that something goes wrong.  As one panellist emphasised: “If something goes wrong, you shouldn’t have to be an expert to know how to fix it. It’s all about consistency and making sure that everybody understands the system. That’s something where the technology really comes in to provide that normalisation.” The post Continuous trading demands strong foundations, not composing lego blocks, say experts appeared first on The TRADE.

Jim Goldie has been named head of ETF capital markets for Europe and Asia-Pacific at Capital Group following a decade at Invesco. Jim GoldieGoldie most recently held the role of international head of capital markets, ETFs and indexed strategies. Speaking to his appointment, Goldie said: “The firm is recognised globally for its deep research, investment excellence, long-term approach and unwavering focus on its clients. I look forward to collaborating with associates across the firm to develop capital markets capabilities that meet the evolving needs of investors across the regions.” In the new role, London-based Goldie is set to lead the development of the ETF capital markets function across Europe and Asia-Pacific, supporting the firm’s plans to serve more clients across the regions. He is also currently chair of the EFAMA ETF taskforce, and co-chair of the EU’s T+1 governance committee for asset management. Other previous positions include senior roles at Vanguard, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Scott Szever, head of ETF product and capital markets, Capital Group, asserted: “With nearly two decades of industry experience, [Goldie] brings deep expertise across ETF product development, distribution and capital markets. “We are committed to becoming the partner of choice for financial intermediaries and institutional clients globally as we focus on delivering our long-term results in their vehicle of choice.”The post Invesco international head of capital markets joins Capital Group as head of ETF capital markets appeared first on The TRADE.

Charles Adams has joined Wells Fargo as a senior lead in European rates cash trading, following a 14-year tenure at JP Morgan.  Adams will be based out of London in his new role, which will see him trading and building out the firm’s market making platform across SSA and related rates securities. He joins Wells Fargo after a year as head of EMEA sovereign, supranational, and agency (SSA) and credit repo trading at JP Morgan, having initially joined as an analyst in January 2011.  During his time at JP Morgan, Adams worked his way up the ranks, serving in various different roles across both London and Paris, including working as head of EMEA specials trading, where he set up and ran the continental SSA and credit repo trading desk in Paris, and built out the business’ European footprint.  Read more – JP Morgan EMEA rates options trading head joins ING in newly created role   Wells Fargo confirmed the appointment when contacted by The TRADE.The post JP Morgan head of EMEA SSA and credit repo trading joins Wells Fargo appeared first on The TRADE.

Trading Technologies International (TT) is set to provide clients with direct connectivity to the NSE, expanding institutional access to India’s derivatives and equities markets. Clients accessing the NSE via TT will be able to utilise the platform’s full suite of trading tools, including execution algorithms Autospreader and Algo Design Lab (ADL). Read more: Participate in The TRADE’s Algorithmic Trading Survey 2026  The firm is set to establish direct connectivity within the exchange’s co-location data centre. The setup will allow domestic and international market participants to access NSE liquidity through TT’s trading platform using infrastructure located alongside the exchange. The firm is set to establish direct connectivity within the exchange’s co-location data centre. The setup will allow domestic and international market participants to access NSE liquidity through TT’s trading platform using infrastructure located alongside the exchange. Shridhar Sheth, executive vice president and head of India and Middle East at Trading Technologies, said: “We are seeing a continued, strong increase in demand from our global customers who are looking to diversify their trading opportunities and access the vibrant liquidity available on the Indian exchanges.  “Becoming an empaneled vendor and establishing direct co-location connectivity to the NSE underscores our commitment to provide our users with the widest possible range of international trading opportunities without geographic restriction.” The post Trading Technologies to offer direct connectivity to India’s national stock exchange  appeared first on The TRADE.

TP ICAP is transitioning its spot cryptoasset exchange, Fusion Digital Assets, to a matched principal trading model, as the interdealer broker looks to enhance capital efficiency and counterparty confidence for institutional participants. The change, set to take effect in March 2026, will see TP ICAP act as intermediary between buyers and sellers, becoming the counterparty to both sides of each transaction. The structure mirrors trading models already used by the firm across foreign exchange, rates and credit markets. Specifically, the move is expected to align digital asset execution with institutional demand for risk-managed and capital-efficient frameworks in traditional wholesale markets, while addressing persistent concerns around counterparty exposure and settlement risk in crypto trading. Under the matched principal setup, trades will be backed by TP ICAP’s investment-grade credit profile, allowing clients to execute transactions without pre-funding requirements, while settlement will take place off-exchange. Simon Forster, managing director and global co-head of digital assets at TP ICAP, said: “This proven model is familiar to institutional clients and delivered by a counterparty they trust. It fills a critical gap in the crypto landscape by improving efficiency, reducing risk, and creating a flexible, institution-ready framework for trading.” The transition is also expected to support further expansion of Fusion Digital Assets’ product universe, including additional major cryptoassets, stablecoins, new fiat currency pairs and tokenised real-world assets. Moreover, operating hours on the platform will extend from 23/5 to 24/5 trading, with weekend coverage planned as institutional demand increases. The post TP ICAP shifts Fusion Digital Assets exchange to matched principal model  appeared first on The TRADE.

John Palmer has joined US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken as global head of derivatives.  New York-based Palmer brings extensive derivatives experience to his new role, and joins Kraken after nearly two years IEX, where he helped to support the development of the firm’s new options exchange, currently scheduled to launch by Q2 2026.  Palmer initially joined IEX in June 2024 as head of options, before becoming head of cross asset product a year later.  Before this, he held various positions at Cboe Global Markets where he worked for five years, before later returning in 2022 after a stint as CrossTower as global head of product strategy.  Read more – Kraken gains first MTF license from FCA for crypto futures venue During his time at Cboe, Palmer served in roles including as president of Cboe Digital, head of options and a senior vice president, working in US derivatives market development.  Previously in his career, he has also worked at ISE Holdings, Orc Software and Goldman Sachs.  Kraken had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.  The post IEX head of cross asset product joins Kraken to lead global derivatives appeared first on The TRADE.

Citi has appointed Thai Nguyet Minh (Minh Thai) as head of markets and country treasurer for Vietnam.  The appointment aligns with Citi’s plans to capitalise on growth opportunities with Vietnam’s markets, and in her new role, Minh Thai is set to support the firm’s development and execution of short and long-term strategies for its Vietnamese markets franchise and clients. In addition, she will also assume the responsibility for managing balance sheet and asset-liability committee (ALCO) processes, as well as aligning with global and local regulatory requirements and monitoring Citi Vietnam’s funding and liquidity, according to an internal memo seen by The TRADE.  Minh Thai will report to Sue Lee, head of markets for Asia South, who said: “With Minh Thai’s deep understanding of the local landscape and extensive experience across global and international banks, she is well positioned to propel our franchise forward. She will lead the Vietnam markets business with a client-centric approach, leveraging our global footprint and comprehensive product offering.” Read more – Citi expands FX team in Japan, Asia North, Australia and Asia South with seven new hires Minh Thai brings almost 20 years of markets experience to her new position, working across sectors spanning client advisory, foreign exchange and derivatives.  She joins the firm from Maybank, where she spent the past year as head of global markets Vietnam.  Prior to this, she worked at BNP Paribas for almost 15 years, initially joining as a graduate in 2010, before working her way up the ranks to later become head of global macro sales.  Previously in her career, she has also held positions at firms including Barclays, Julius Baer, Credit Suisse and UBS.  The post Citi names new head of markets for Vietnam appeared first on The TRADE.

Bloomberg has launched ASKB, a new conversational artificial intelligence interface for the Bloomberg Terminal, designed to help traders and investment professionals analyse markets, generate insights and act on information more quickly. Shawn EdwardsCurrently in beta, ASKB allows users to query companies, markets and investment themes using natural language, drawing simultaneously from Bloomberg’s structured datasets, news, research and analytics.  Specifically, ASKB will allow users to move away from traditional command-based navigation across multiple Terminal functions by allowing complex analytical queries to be completed through a single conversational interface.  Bloomberg said the system reduces friction in investment research by synthesising information from company filings, Bloomberg News coverage, sell-side research providers and proprietary analytics into consolidated responses with transparent source attribution. Shawn Edwards, Bloomberg’s chief technology officer, said: “This agentic AI system enables users to ask detailed questions in conversational language and receive comprehensive answers synthesised from our extensive data, documents, news, research, and analytics. Early feedback from beta clients shows ASKB is driving efficiency, improving discovery, and helping users surface actionable insights at speed.” The platform uses a coordinated network of AI agents operating in parallel to retrieve and analyse information across Bloomberg’s content ecosystem. Built using a combination of commercial and open-weight large language models aligned with Bloomberg’s Responsible AI principles, ASKB grounds responses in Bloomberg’s proprietary datasets with transparent attribution to underlying research documents and news sources.  Where queries involve data analysis, the system generates the associated Bloomberg Query Language (BQL) code, allowing traders to extend outputs directly into Excel, BQuant Desktop or BQuant Enterprise for further modelling and workflow integration. Read more – A new frontier of automation: Why agentic AI is the new financial market’s next fundamental hurdle The new ASKB offering is intended to address increasingly fragmented and manual research processes by performing discovery across Bloomberg’s full content universe and present structured insights designed to support faster investment conviction. The system also introduces ASKB Workflows, allowing users to describe multi-step tasks such as earnings preparation, post-event analysis or meeting preparation. Outputs can be saved as reusable templates, rerun across securities or time periods and shared across teams, enabling trading desks to scale research processes while maintaining consistency. David Easthope, senior analyst in market structure and technology at Crisil Coalition Greenwich, said: “As adoption accelerates, we expect AI to unlock new insights, automate complex analyses, and drive efficiency, with its full potential only just beginning to be realised. We see these tools becoming more mainstream, and they are increasingly embedded in major desktop solutions.” The post Bloomberg embeds agentic AI into the Terminal   appeared first on The TRADE.

Optimal Market Technologies has launched a new US listed options execution platform, backed by global market makers Optiver and Virtu Financial, alongside investors Akuna and BSC Ventures. Brian DonnellyThe FINRA-approved broker-dealer expects the platform to become commercially available later in Q1 and will serve retail options wholesalers, institutional broker-dealers and large asset managers, with an initial rollout focused on the wholesaler community. The launch comes as options trading volumes continue to expand, with Optimal aiming to address persistent execution challenges, including high costs, constrained competition and inconsistent execution quality across the listed options ecosystem. Central to Optimal’s offering is its ‘competition for order flow’ (CFOF) model, which enables multiple primary market makers (PMMs) to compete for the right to trade against retail broker order flow based on execution quality performance.  Specifically, under the model, execution quality is assessed on a name-by-name basis using rolling performance metrics, with order flow reallocated monthly according to relative execution outcomes. Read more – Optiver to convert to a systematic internaliser The framework allows liquidity providers to concentrate on the products and strategies where they deliver the strongest performance and is expected to improve overall market quality while reducing unnecessary friction for both liquidity providers and brokers. At launch, PMMs on the platform will include Optiver, Akuna, Belvedere Trading, and Group One Trading, with additional market makers expected to join in the coming months.  Optimal Market Technologies is being established as a standalone entity, separate from RQD Clearing, whose multi-asset clearing, custody and execution platform underpins the new venue’s infrastructure.  The company is led by founder and chief executive Brian Donnelly, previously founder of both RQD and options market maker Volant Trading, alongside a management team of experts in the US options trading industry. Donnelly said: “Over the coming months, we plan to add additional liquidity providers so that clients can benefit from an even broader set of counterparties, all competing based on measurable execution quality.” The platform integrates via standard API or FIX connectivity and, with RQD acting as clearing counterparty, supports clearing, post-trade processing and regulatory reporting as part of a fully integrated operational solution. Jake Taylor, head of US single stock options at Optiver, said: “As retail participation and options volumes grow, it’s increasingly important that market structure evolves to promote choice, transparency and high-quality execution. […] We look forward to supporting Optimal as it builds a differentiated execution offering.” The post Optiver and Virtu-backed Optimal Market Technologies options execution platform launches  appeared first on The TRADE.

BlackRock BlackRock’s co-head of global trading, Jatin Vara, is departing the firm to embark on a new chapter after 27 years at the asset management giant.   Vara stepped up to his most recent role following Supurna VedBrat’s departure in January 2023, after being promoted from his previous position leading international and emerging markets trading.   He served as co-head of global trading alongside Daniel Veiner, who was named head of markets at the firm in July 2025.   Vara’s next role is currently unconfirmed.   Jefferies  Brandon Peoples has joined Jefferies, serving as the firm’s new global head of outsourced trading.   Peoples will be based out of New York and brings more than two decades of industry experience to his new role, spanning outsourced trading, execution services and market structure.  The appointment is expected to increase the expansion of Jefferies’ global outsourced trading platform, and Peoples joins the firm from Cantor Fitzgerald, where he spent the last six years leading the firm’s global outsourced trading offering.   Prior to this, he served at EastBay Capital as head of domestic trading and operations for more than six years.   Previously in his career, he has also worked in various trading-based roles at Diamondback Capital and XI Asset Management.   BBVA  Chloe Shepherd has joined BBVA as a vice president, repo trader, based in London.   Shepherd joins the Spanish bank after nearly three years at Citi, where she worked as a credit repo trader in locations spanning both London and Hong Kong.   Prior to this, she served at RBC Capital Markets for five years, initially joining as a credit trading analyst in 2018, before later being promoted as a repo trader, associate in 2019.   She also gained early career experience in global markets sales and trading at RBC.   Legal & General Asset Management Legal & General Asset Management has made an addition to its fixed income trading team, appointing James Maddox as a junior credit trader.   London-based Maddox joins the firm after more than two years at TSB Bank, where he initially joined as a Treasury junior analyst in 2023, before later being promoted as a dealer, covering swaps, gilts, SSA and covered bonds, repo and FX.   Prior to this, he also worked across multi-faceted investment strategy in equities at hedge fund RAB Capital.   Maddox also gained early career experience at firms spanning JM Finn and Killik & Co.   The post People Moves Monday: BlackRock, Jefferies, BBVA and more…  appeared first on The TRADE.

Rothschild & Co has named Joelle Tarrant as the firm’s new head of market structure and strategy, The TRADE can reveal.  Tarrant will be based out of Rothschild & Co’s London office and is set to support the firm’s integrated equity capital solutions platform, Global Markets Solutions (GMS), in her new role.  Speaking on her appointment, Tarrant said: “Rothschild & Co has a long and proud tradition of providing market-leading, independent advice to its global clients. I am delighted to be joining the firm and look forward to navigating market strategy and execution sales across all client bases.” Tarrant brings more than 15 years of industry experience to her new role, and joins the firm from HSBC, where she most recently served as global co-head of cross asset electronic sales.  She initially joined the bank in 2017 as a director, global head of market structure and index strategy, and has also held the positions of head of European electronic trading and head of continental equities execution during her time at the firm.  Prior to this, she worked at RBC for more than three years as a director in electronic trading and market structure.  Previously in her career, she has also served as a sales trader, working across pan-European equities at Citi.  Tarrant’s appointment marks a continued investment in Rothschild & Co’s equities execution business, and also aligns with the recent hire of Luke Hedley as a sales trader.  Hedley joined the firm after more than four years at Investec as an equity sales trader, and had also previously spent a decade at Numis Securities in a similar role.  “We are delighted at the arrival of these two high quality individuals. [Tarrant] is well-known in the City for her expertise in market structure and she will help us continue to add clients – something that has been a major theme for us since Redburn Atlantic became part of Rothschild & Co,” said Andrew Quick, global head of execution at Rothschild & Co. Quick also added: “[Hedley] is a hugely experienced addition to an already well-regarded team – known for their ability to source block liquidity for clients and help them navigate – and understand – ever more complex markets.” The post Rothschild & Co taps HSBC for new head of market structure and strategy appeared first on The TRADE.

Investec has appointed Vinesh Chhaya as an electronic equities sales trader, as part of the firm’s efforts to build out its electronic trading capabilities and strengthen client coverage, The TRADE can reveal.  London-based Chhaya brings extensive industry experience working in senior positions across the sell-side to his new role, and he is also set to support Investec’s development of its electronic execution platform, ZebrA-X, which launched in February 2025.  Speaking on the appointment, Dominic Lowres, head of electronic trading and execution strategy at Investec, said: “Demand for our electronic execution solutions continues to accelerate, and [Chhaya] joins at an important stage in our growth.  “His experience across algorithmic execution and client advisory strengthens our ability to support clients as they engage more deeply with ZebrA-X. His contribution will be valuable as we continue to expand our capabilities and meet rising client demand.” Read more – Investec unveils new electronic trading platform Chhaya joins Investec from Peel Hunt, where he spent more than two years as an algo sales trader.  Prior to this, he held an electronic sales trading role at Numis Securities for four years, as well as working as an equity sales trader at Canaccord Genuity from 2016 to 2019.  Previously in his career, he has also held senior trading positions at firms spanning Haitong, Liquidnet and Instinet.  Clive Murray, head of equities at Investec, also commented: “Our aim is to provide a differentiated execution service that combines advanced electronic tools with deep market insight.  “Strengthening the electronic sales trading team ensures we can meet the growing demand we are seeing while continuing to deliver a personal and consultative service. [Chhaya’s] experience and approach will make an important contribution to the ongoing growth of this area.” Chhaya’s appointment also follows further execution-focused hires for Investec in recent months. In September 2025, the firm named William Boddy as head of fixed income and ETFs, while Ben Goodchild joined as the deputy head of the same division. Both Boddy and Goodchild are set to support the firm in building out its high-touch execution model in their roles, and joined Investec from Winterflood Securities, where they spent the last two decades working across fixed income in trading and senior leadership positions.   The post Investec bolsters electronic trading offering with Peel Hunt hire appeared first on The TRADE.

Brandon Peoples has joined Jefferies, serving as the firm’s new global head of outsourced trading.  Peoples will be based out of New York and brings more than two decades of industry experience to his new role, spanning outsourced trading, execution services and market structure. The appointment is also expected to increase the expansion of Jefferies’ global outsourced trading platform, with the firm having most recently selected TS Imagine’s integrated order and execution management platform to bolster fixed income outsourced trading.  Read more – Jefferies appoints former Barclays director as Switzerland head of fixed income Peoples joins the firm from Cantor Fitzgerald, where he spent the last six years leading the firm’s global outsourced trading offering.  Prior to this, he served at EastBay Capital as head of domestic trading and operations for more than six years.  Previously in his career, he has also worked in various trading-based roles at Diamondback Capital and XI Asset Management.  Jefferies had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.  The post Jefferies names new global head of outsourced trading appeared first on The TRADE.

Tradeweb has entered a partnership with Kalshi, as the firm looks to expand institutional access to prediction market data and analytics and develop institutional trading infrastructure for event contracts. Billy HultThe initial phase of the collaboration will see Kalshi’s real-time event probability data integrated into Tradeweb’s electronic trading platform, making the datasets available across its rates and credit marketplaces via user interfaces, APIs and data-download tools used by institutional clients. As part of the agreement, Tradeweb has also made a minority investment in Kalshi, which is the largest regulated prediction market, underscoring growing institutional interest in incorporating event-driven data into core trading and risk management workflows. Read more – Institutional prop trading interest in prediction markets on the up, report reveals Moreover, the firms plan to co-develop institutional-grade analytics combining Kalshi’s event data with Tradeweb’s pricing, liquidity and macro datasets, enabling market participants to incorporate additional forward-looking signals into trading strategies and portfolio decision-making processes. Billy Hult, chief executive of Tradeweb, said: “Prediction markets are increasingly becoming a key part of the trading landscape, and have the potential to become an indicator for institutions to dynamically assess macro risk and allocate capital more effectively.  “Together, we’re positioned to deliver prediction markets intelligence to clients and, over time, build the prediction markets trading infrastructure that meets the standards of our institutional community.” Beyond data integration, the partnership will also explore the development of an institutional-focused portal for event contracts, combining Tradeweb’s market design and distribution capabilities with Kalshi’s prediction markets platform. Tarek Mansour, co-founder and chief executive of Kalshi, said: “Institutional adoption requires scale, regulation, trust, and substantial liquidity. Partnering with Tradeweb will help us accelerate the adoption we are seeing.” The move reflects broader efforts by institutional trading venues to expand beyond execution into embedded data and analytics capabilities, as firms look to integrate alternative market signals directly into electronic trading environments. The post Tradeweb partners with Kalshi to expand institutional access to prediction markets appeared first on The TRADE.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has served trade repository (TR) REGIS-TR a €1,374,000 fine for “serious breaches of organisational obligations.” The issue concerned incorrect implementation of the new Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR) reporting regime and “compromised the confidentiality of TR data”, according to the regulator. The sanction, which reflects seven infringements under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and SFTR, marks the highest fine imposed by ESMA on a trade repository to date.  In addition, the fine is also the first enforcement case to concern SFTR breaches, and ESMA has issued a public notice, which will require all ongoing REGIS-TR infringements to terminate.  Verena Ross, ESMA’s chair, said: “REGIS-TR failed to comply with its obligations under EMIR and SFTR. Data on trades made available to public authorities is essential for market surveillance, enabling early detection of exposure concentrations, cross-border risks, and changes in liquidity and leverage.“Our decision highlights ESMA’s commitment to enforcing essential requirements that ensure transparency and contribute to well-functioning markets.” Under EMIR and SFTR, TRs are expected to comply with obligations to maintain their data quality and protect EU market stability and integrity, with REGIS-TR’s breaches related to EMIR and SFTR policies and procedures, organisational structure and operational risk, as well as confidentiality and misuse of information.  Specifically, the seven infringements span deficiencies in REGIS-TR’s policies and procedures, impacting the clarity of governing bodies’ responsibilities, shortcomings in the firm’s organisational structure, failure to identify and minimise sources of operational risk, an inability to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and protection of information received under EMIR, and failure to prevent misuse of information received.  Ross added: “This case stems from long-lasting serious overarching issues identified at REGIS-TR. We will continue to foster a strong compliance culture, including by taking enforcement action, when appropriate.” The regulator also confirmed that it required REGIS-TR to bring three unremedied infringements to an end, and that it had considered aggravating and mitigating factors in EMIR when calculating the fine.  The post ESMA dishes out €1.37 million fine to trade repository REGIS-TR for seven EMIR and SFTR violations appeared first on The TRADE.

As global markets continue to cast their eye to emerging markets, an increased focus on market structure shifts is vital, agreed experts speaking on the ‘navigating the evolving landscape’ panel on Thursday. Omar Bennani, head of EMEA delta one trading at JP Morgan, asserted that an increased appetite in EM is being sustained, with strong inflows into South Africa specifically as the region’s story “has become topical”. “We discuss this in risk meetings through different angles […] it has become a subject of discussion on the positive side,” said Bennani. He explained that demonstrably positive momentum is continuing to enhance the region’s attractiveness despite previous challenges. Delving further into the specifics, Bennani highlighted a rotation in investor focus away from US tech-heavy sectors. “Clearly people are shifting from what has been predominant the last few years which was the US magnificent seven companies into something that is broader. “[…] On the delta side I would say that’s what we have observed this year is consumer inflows into EM in general, from Europe in particular we see a lot of requests, inflows, to that market – EM has been a big topic and continues to be a big topic.” Read more: The TRADE predictions series 2026 – All about emerging markets  Elsewhere, panellists discussed shifts in capital market processes, including the question of increased liquidity moving to the closing auctions. Luke Alers, head non-linear derivatives, Absa, highlighted the challenges for market makers, explaining that despite large pools of liquidity, trade size is a key factor and that while more and more liquidity is moving towards the closing auctions, this works for smaller sized trades, and it is when trades get larger that things need to be considered more carefully.  “The reality is if you’ve got bigger orders to work, it does become problematic and you obviously you don’t want to move the market. Our job as a markets business is to provide access to markets and bring both sides of a trade – buyers and sellers – together as brokers.” Delving further, Alers explained that it affects clients from a pricing perspective, with trading at the close equalling a fixed price. “If you have a client coming in during the day and saying, ‘okay I’ve got this order to work, what basis can you offer?’ You can actually offer a discounted basis. And the reason why you can do that is because you’re actually matching all flows. As you know, as a brokerage we have the other side of the trade, the other side of the order. At least in some of the stocks we can subsidise that. “So, I think there is something to be said for not always coming in for the close.” The post EM inflows gathering pace as global investors broaden focus appeared first on The TRADE.