Tracey Brown has joined RBC Capital Markets as an EMEA equity sales trader, based out of London. Brown brings more than 25 years of industry experience to her new role across Europe, working with both long-only and hedge fund clients, and will report to Luke Mackaill, head of European equity sales trading teams. She joins the global investment bank from ODDO BHF, where she spent a year as an equity sales trader.  Prior to this, she worked at Citi for more than 16 years in an equity sales trading role, and began her industry career at Deutsche Bank in 1999, serving in a similar position.  RBC Capital Markets confirmed Brown’s appointment.Read more – RBC joins ICE Clear Credit as FCM clearing participant Brown’s new role follows recent news in September that Ian Hale had been named as RBC Capital Markets’ new head of European inflation trading, while Callum Maitland had been appointed to a new dual-mandate as head of structured inflation and cross-currency basis trading.  The post RBC Capital Markets taps ODDO BHF for equity sales trader appeared first on The TRADE.

The FIX Trading Community has proposed a new set of recommendations for the European consolidated tape (CT), to address issues of data quality, transparency and the attractiveness of European markets. FIX proposes four reforms to ensure the European CT helps to resolve these obstacles and close gaps across the markets.  Specifically, these include: suppressing non-informational, technical and cross-border duplicative reports, introducing the Closing Auction flag in the EU, ensuring execution method transparency and clarifying reporting obligations. Detailed in the association’s most recent whitepaper, ‘FIXing Europe – how the European consolidated tape can radically improve the image of European capital markets,’ challenges such as non-mandated reporting of some non-price forming transactions are highlighted as key pain points impacting investor interest in Europe’s markets.  Jim Kaye, executive director of FIX, said: “Today, investors assessing the European market will completely discount up to one-third of volume because of the way trades are reported […] activity taking place off-venue, for example in systematic internalisers, is discounted, whereas in the US is it counted and accounts for almost half of the entire market.” Read more – Fireside Friday with… FIX Trading Community’s Jim Kaye Additionally, the whitepaper recommends making the proposed reforms regulatory, to implement consistency in application across market participants, as well as ensuring updated guidance documentation is provided by regulators.  The four proposals aim to be cost-effective and technically feasible, to ensure that firms are able to implement them smoothly and effectively, and also notably are supported by international precedent, said FIX. Read more – FIX Trading Community publishes updated MMT ahead of upcoming European consolidated tape Kaye further indicated that the outlined reforms will reflect long-term work from the Global Technical Committee and European CT working groups. “FIX has been working for years with participants from all segments of the market on the issues that face European markets. The introduction of the ECT is the perfect moment to fix a number of major issues once and for all and allow the EU market to show off its full potential for the first time.”   The post FIX Trading Community proposes four reforms for the European consolidated tape appeared first on The TRADE.

European derivatives exchange, Eurex, is set to launch a new ‘Sponsored Access’ model, to enable its members to extend market access to their own end clients through their existing memberships.  The move will broaden the accessibility of its markets to a greater variety of trading firms, allowing existing Eurex members to use their membership to act as sponsors to give their own clients direct and ultra-low latency access to Eurex’s T7 platform and full connectivity suite. Additionally, sponsoring members will be able to make use of Eurex’s integrated risk controls to manage their client activity, offering opportunities to expand client services.  Specifically, the new initiative is expected to lower entry barriers for more buy-side firms and allow other firms without a full exchange membership to trade directly on Eurex using their own systems.  Speaking at a closed Eurex roundtable on Monday, Robbert Booij, chief executive of Eurex, said: “We’re looking at simplifying the ways our clients have access to our exchange. The ‘Sponsored Access’ offering allows our clients, particularly clearing members, to provide their end clients with access using the trading membership that the clearing member has and then the clearing member being in full and sole control of the end customer flow.  “We believe this makes a lot of sense because it takes away a barrier for clients who want to have a very fast connection, but who do not want to operate a membership themselves.” Read more – OSTTRA onboards Eurex Clearing onto optimisation service The launch marks an expansion of Eurex’s current market ecosystem and is currently scheduled to go live on 10 November 2025. The service also aims to streamline the onboarding of clients, with registration set to be carried out fully electronically.  The new offering follows the launch of Eurex’s EU-bond futures, which went live on 10 September 2025, as part of the firm’s effort to address increasing demand for these contracts.  The products are also expected to strengthen liquidity in the EU bond market and bolster the EU’s position as a major issuer in the European and global capital markets.    The post Eurex unveils new access model to lower entry barriers for buy-side appeared first on The TRADE.

Stifel Stifel has expanded its execution services team in Europe, with the additions of Jack Harvey and Yannis Bouchakour, The TRADE can reveal.  In their new roles, Harvey will work out of London, while Bouchakour will be based out of Paris, both focusing on low-touch trading.   They will also come under the leadership of Seema Arora, managing director and head of execution services at Stifel.   Harvey joins the sell-side firm from Tavira, where he spent over three years, most recently as an equity execution trader.   In addition, Bouchakour most recently worked at Societe Generale in London for over six years, serving in roles spanning portfolio trading and electronic sales, equity financing, quantitative investment and fixed income.   Prior to this, he worked as a financial risk analyst at Milleis Banque.  Speaking to The TRADE, Arora said: “With growing interest in both our US and EMEA execution, we have made additional hires to service our diverse range of clients. Jack and Yannis represent the next generation of quantitative talent, bringing strong technical skills that complement our experienced team and translate into sharper insights and superior execution outcomes for clients.”  ODDO BHF European financial services group, ODDO BHF has named Roman Eisenschenk as co-head of Austrian and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) equity sales.  Vienna-based Eisenschenk brings extensive experience to his new role, and has worked in various equities-based senior positions across the industry for more than three decades.  He joins the firm from Kepler Cheuvreux, where he served as head of sales, Austria for over 13 years.  Prior to this, he worked at Deutsche Bank for more than 17 years, where he co-headed the firm’s equities division.  Previously in his career, he served at Credit Lyonnais and Chase Manhattan Bank.  Broadridge Patrick Archer has joined Broadridge Financial Solutions, to lead the firm’s buy-side segment sales for France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.  Archer will be based in Paris in his new position, which sees him joining the firm’s international buy-side sales leadership team.  Within the role, he will focus on distributing the firm’s buy-side product portfolio across the European markets under his leadership.  He bring more than 27 years of industry experience to his new role, spanning fintechs and investment management technology, and joins Broadridge from BlackRock Solutions, where he served as co-head of business development for Continental Europe for over six years.  Prior to this, he worked in sales roles at firms including Horizon, Linedata Services, SmartCo and Murex.  The post People Moves Monday: Stifel, ODDO BHF and Broadridge appeared first on The TRADE.

The TRADE is delighted to announce the Rising Stars of Trading and Execution North America 2025, celebrating the achievements of exceptional up-and-coming talent on the buy-side. This year’s Rising Stars will be recognised during the Leaders in Trading New York awards ceremony, taking place at Current, Chelsea Piers, New York City, on 18 November. The celebrations mark the second iteration of the North American Rising Stars awards, which were expanded to include the region in 2024. The Rising Stars initiative recognises key individuals on the buy-side who go above and beyond the call of duty within their positions and play a vital role on their desks through expertise, collaboration, 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. Leaders in Trading New York will also celebrate the biggest achievers in The TRADE’s reputable Algorithmic Trading, EMS and Outsourced Trading Surveys, as well as honouring the region’s top desks and traders in the coveted Buy-Side Awards, and standout performers in the Editors’ Choice categories. Please join The TRADE in congratulating this year’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution North America for 2025. Rising Stars of Trading and Execution North America for 2025: Nicholas Mazurek, fixed income execution trader, Hudson River Trading Audrey Moore, equity trader, Columbia Threadneedle Investments Michael Persaud, junior equity trader, Mackenzie Investments Tyler Roldan, senior trader, Corbets Capital Noah Simandl, trading analytics associate, Harris Associates Please contact Serena Franklin at serena.franklin@thetradenews.com or Daljit Sokhi at daljit.sokhi@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.  The post The TRADE announces the Rising Stars of Trading and Execution North America for 2025 appeared first on The TRADE.

The markets saw increased activity in periodic auctions relative to dark order books in September, a trend likely linked to the new Single Volume Cap (SVP) in the EU, explained Hayley McDowell, head of European market structure, RBC on Wednesday. “There has been a notable shift from dark trading into periodic auction venues since the implementation of the new cap. Periodic auctions appear to be absorbing some of the liquidity previously seen in the dark.”Speaking at a closed market structure roundtable, McDowell further added that the additional effects of the SVP are still yet to be fully realised.Though the SVC came into effect only very recently – 14 October – and the full impact on liquidity and dark trading behaviour is still being assessed, “early indications suggest that more instruments than expected may be affected,” said McDowell.Prior to the decision from ESMA to shift how trading volume is measured, from double volume cap (DVC) to single volume cap (SVC), the entire dark pool market, and indeed no single pool, could exceed a certain limit.“The new SVC limits dark trading to 7% of total aggregated EU trading volume, replacing the previous DVC which restricted dark trading to 4% per venue and 8% market-wide. Under the SVC, stocks that breach the cap will be suspended from dark trading for three months, compared to six months under the former DVC regime,” explained McDowell.“A key change under the SVC is that ESMA is leveraging transaction reporting data rather than venue-reported data to calculate the caps. This is expected to provide a more accurate view of trading activity.”Read more: ESMA firms up rules of engagement amid market turbulenceWhen it comes to the empirical implementation of the change, across the market discussions from some participants suggest that the number of capped stocks under the SVC is significantly higher than anticipated, said McDowell. While the industry’s attention has been elsewhere, the full effects of the change and its potentially far-reaching results have perhaps flown under the radar thus far – but time is set to tell as to the practical impacts.“If these early data points are accurate, it suggests the market may have underestimated how restrictive the new single volume cap would be. This will likely remain an area of focus in the coming weeks as data settles […] We’re continuing to monitor the SVC impact closely  and should have clearer insight in the next few weeks once the data stabilises,” added McDowell.Read more: The dark trading debacle – does anyone even care?The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) unveiled its final plans for the region in April 2025, with plans aimed at boosting the resiliency of the markets, improving transparency, and simplifying reporting.The final report followed the Mifir and Mifid II revisions published in the EU’s official journal in March 2024. The post More instruments than expected could potentially be affected by new SVC in EU appeared first on The TRADE.

When it comes to FX what trends are at the forefront when trading on an alpha mandate?We trade FX primarily in the context of our Global Data Sentiment strategy. In this strategy, we systematically process more than 1.5 million newspaper articles every day and derive trading signals from their underlying sentiment. We do this for stock index and bond futures, but also for foreign currencies. Currently, this is only done for developed market currencies, as the number and quality of available news for emerging market currencies is rather low.However, our analysis shows that this is changing for the better, so we expect to expand our investment universe to include emerging market currencies in the coming years. In addition, we have observed that sentiment trends in currencies have become shorter in recent times. In our view, this is due to the fact that markets are currently being driven primarily by political decisions. If this trend continues, we will have no choice but to adjust both our signals and our trading frequency.Which innovations would you highlight as key for the buy-side going forward?We are currently focusing our research on the application of large language models (LLMs) to determine the sentiment of newspaper articles. The current state of the art is the use of psychological dictionaries to determine sentiment. This involves counting the positive and negative connotated words in an article and comparing them to each other. However, this approach has the disadvantage that it does not take the context of an article into account, e.g., whether the outlook is more positive or negative.Our analysis shows that LLMs can help here, as they are also able to capture the respective context. We expect to be actively using LLMs in our sentiment analyses by the end of this year.Many believe technology to be the key to unlocking FX’s full potential. Are the skillsets of traders themselves therefore changing also?We focus on generating alpha, including foreign currency trading. A lot has happened technologically in this area in recent years. For example, parallel data processing in the cloud enables us to process millions of newspaper articles every day. We believe this trend will continue, allowing us to expand our database beyond newspaper articles. The skillset of quantitative asset managers is changing in such a way that efficient data processing and data scouting are becoming increasingly important. So, the skillset is definitely getting more technical than it was in the past.Looking to the future, how are FX desks set to look different in 3, 5, 10 years’ time?In the medium term, the trend in quantitative portfolio management will continue, with more and more data being processed in ever shorter periods of time. For us, this means that we will be processing more newspaper articles or alternative data sets such as company publications.The use of LLMs will also play an increasingly important role. These are powerful tools that may one day enable us to read between the lines of articles. In the long term, I believe that artificial intelligence can relieve us of a lot of technical work. It already helps us considerably in the creation of programming code. In the long term, AI will probably be able to take over this task completely.The post Fireside Friday with… Quoniam Asset Management’s Markus Ebner appeared first on The TRADE.

As many buy-siders continue global expansion efforts and increasingly branch into non-equity asset classes, not only is the adoption of OEMS solutions increasing, but so is the way these firms are interacting with the systems.According to The TRADE’s 2025 EMS Survey, when examining the asset classes commonly traded on EMS platforms equities continues to win out, however in the 2025 study, the findings also demonstrate an increase in all other asset classes outside of cash equities. As a result, the buy-side demand to leverage more than one EMS to meet daily trading needs is on the up. While more than half of respondents (55%) confirmed that they still use just one EMS, this is a drop of 10% in the number of firms using a single system. The latest findings show that the number of firms using two EMS solutions has increased by 9%.Notably, and perhaps expectedly, firms with higher AUM were found to use a greater number of EMS solutions.The 2025 survey showed that firms with between $10 billion and $50 billion were found to have the highest average at 1.77 EMS solutions, whereas firms with between $0.5 billion and $1 billion showed the lowest average at 1.35.However, comparing to results in 2023, and 2024, this gap appears to be shrinking year-on-year.Read more – Leaders in Trading 2025: EMS Awards shortlists revealed The evolving priorities on the buy-side, and its reflection in approaches to EMS’, was also clear in respondents’ ranking of key features.When it came to feature importance, the most significant year-on-year increase for 2025 was ‘breadth of coverage’ – up 8.88%, closely followed by ‘connectivity and integration’, increasing 6.66%. Other key areas also included ‘FIX capabilities’ (up 3.90%), and integration of ‘OMS’ (up 3.77%).Demonstrably, the demand for the EMS sphere to evolve in step with buy-side ambitions remains front of mind, with continuing diversification set to drive further evolution and innovation on the provider side.The full 2025 survey can be accessed here.The post Beyond the data: Number of buy-side firms using just one EMS declining in the face of continued diversification appeared first on The TRADE.

Euroclear and LCH SA are expanding their partnership to give clearing members greater flexibility in settling Italian government securities.Under the initiative, participants will be able to settle all Italian government debt traded on MTS and BrokerTec, and cleared through LCH SA, at Euroclear Bank, the international central securities depository (ICSD) of the Euroclear Group. The service, expected to launch in 2026, is designed to support more efficient balance sheet management and improve operational processes for market participants.  By allowing settlement through Euroclear Bank, users will be able to consolidate activity across a broader network of euro-denominated securities, potentially reducing fragmentation in the post-trade chain. Sébastien Danloy, chief business officer at Euroclear group, said: “We are extremely proud to bring this expanded solution to the market together with LCH. Given that Italian government debt represents a major segment of the European fixed income market, this represents an important milestone in our vision of advancing the Savings and Investments Union. This is centred around greater choice, open access models and the continued development of a resilient, interconnected European capital market.” The move also enables Italian government debt to be mobilised within Euroclear’s Collateral Highway, facilitating greater use of the assets in securities financing and funding transactions. The initiative forms part of a broader trend toward deeper post-trade integration in Europe, as infrastructure providers look to enhance cross-border efficiency and promote open access across capital markets. Michel Semaan, global head of RepoClear at LSEG, said: “As a leading provider of clearing services for Italian government debt, we are delighted to be working with Euroclear to bring even greater efficiencies and choice to our members, both key elements of a competitive European capital market.” The post Euroclear and LCH SA expand connectivity for Italian bonds appeared first on The TRADE.

The TRADE is thrilled to announce the shortlisted nominees for the Industry Person of the Year Award 2025. As one of the most anticipated awards of the year, the nomination aims to celebrate and recognise those who have made a significant impact in their own organisation and also across the industry as a whole. These individuals each bring a commitment to bettering and future-proofing the markets for years to come. The shortlisted individuals are repeated contributors to discussion across the markets, whether that be through panels, associations or schemes to support the next generation.Last year, James Baugh, managing director, head of European market structure, TD Cowen won the award after a competitive vote. In his speech, Baugh recognised the key individuals and organisations who had contributed to his career thus far and reminding the room that the industry is all in this together as it moves forward.Previous winners also include Goldman Sachs’ Ellie Beasley and Turquoise’s Robert Barnes. The winner of Industry Person of the Year 2025 will be decided by a live industry vote at The TRADE’s Leaders in Trading gala awards night on 6 November at The Savoy.Congratulations to this year’s shortlisted nominees! Industry Person of the Year 2025 shortlist:Alex Dalley, head of European cash equities, Cboe Alex Dalley is an established industry thought leader, often recognised for his keen insight into European equities. He has long been a point of reference in his field and has built strong relationships during his career in various client-facing roles. He boasts a wealth of experience across both equities and derivatives and has spent the last nine years at Cboe Global Markets. Dalley was promoted to head of European cash equities for Cboe Europe earlier this year, overseeing the largest pan-European stock exchange and equity trade reporting facilities. Dalley was in fact one of the first employees to join Cboe Europe back in 2008, where he leveraged his deep well of market expertise to build its MTF’s trading participant community as head of sales.Previous roles include stints as head of Cboe’s Netherlands-based exchange (which operates pan-European equities and equity derivatives exchanges) and also co-head of Cboe Europe’s equities sales division. His established relationship with the markets is long-standing, with his career having had a keen focus on client relationship management and development across continental Europe.  He is widely respected across the industry for his proven track record and the breadth of high-profile responsibilities undertaken in his career. Notably, Dalley previously served as head of membership and exchange trading at the London Stock Exchange and also led business development for the LSE buy-side/sell-side FIX hub and spoke service. Laetitia Visconti, head of market structure, Aquis Exchange   Laetitia Visconti is a market structure expert, boasting more than 20 years’ experience in equities execution, financial services advocacy, and regulatory change management. She joined Aquis Exchange in February 2025 as head of market structure, where she leads the firm’s advocacy and regulatory agenda, and contributes actively to the product innovation and strategy for the firm’s pan-European MTF.   Before joining Aquis, Visconti spent nearly 14 years at Barclays Corporate & Investment Bank, most recently serving as head of EMEA equities market structure and market connectivity. In this role, she oversaw Barclays’ low-latency market access product suite, led the firm’s EMEA equities market structure and policy agenda from advocacy through to implementation, and managed key relationships with EMEA exchanges and brokers. In addition to her corporate roles, Visconti is an active contributor in the broader market community. She has been a member of the AMF Markets and Exchanges Consultative Commission since December 2022, is co-chair of the FIX Protocol Equities Consolidated Tape working group and participates in several industry groups focused on equities market structure. She has also served as a member of the AFME Equities Board and as vice-Chair of the AFME Securities Trading Committee. Her 2025 research report titled ‘European liquidity could be bigger than you think’, which presents a contrasting view to the frequent portrayal of European markets as lacking liquidity, volumes and market depth, has been widely recognised and cited by peers across the market. Mark Montgomery, chief commercial officer, xytMark Montgomery’s international experience spans London, New York and Hong Kong, and his track record of building lasting relationships with institutional clients, deep understanding of the trading and investment community’s challenges, and experience delivering practical solutions has made him an important voice in the industry.  Having spent almost four decades working in the markets, his knowledge and client-focused innovation covers a range of bases. His expertise encompasses equities trading, sales, cash, portfolio trading and electronic execution, and a notable focus on market data. Montgomery currently serves as chief commercial officer at xyt, having joined the firm in 2018, responsible for the strategy and development of xyt’s smart data and analytics solutions to the global trading and investment community.  He began his journey on the floor of the London Stock Exchange in 1986 and his previous roles span both the buy- and sell-side. Career highlights include stints at: ITG, where he managed sales and trading from ITG’s European launch, working directly with institutional clients exploring electronic trading and transaction cost analysis at its inception; AllianceBernstein, where he established the European portfolio and electronic trading desk; and Barclays Capital, where he served as director of electronic trading sales.A familiar face at industry events and conferences, Montgomery is a consistent thought leader across the trading landscape, continually providing key insights and unpacking industry trends.Stuart Lawrence, head of European equities trading, UBS Asset Management   Stuart Lawrence has extensive experience spanning nearly 25 years in financial markets, holding varied roles on both the buy-side and sell-side throughout his career.  He currently serves as the head of EMEA equity trading for UBS Asset Management, having previously held the position of head of UK equity trading. During his six-year tenure at UBS, he has been the driving force of change behind the desk.  He carefully navigated the complexities of merging and integrating the Credit Suisse Asset Management trading desk into the UBS environment, and subsequently helped to lead the centralisation of all European trading within London.   Prior to joining UBS, Lawrence worked at Kepler Cheuvreux (now KCx), Principal Global Investors and spent six years at Instinet as a sales trader for US clients.Lawrence is an active member of the Investment Association’s Equities Trading Committee and is currently on the team working on the electronification of the IPO and secondary markets initiative which aims to update the market approach to ECM deals. He can often be spotted speaking at conferences and events, where he promotes the continued evolution of the broader market and collaboration between peers.  He is also committed to the nurturing of junior talent across the market. In recent times, Lawrence has taken part in two 100k ultra marathons to raise money for Macmillian Cancer Support and Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, charities close to his heart. The post Leaders in Trading 2025: Industry Person of the Year shortlist revealed appeared first on The TRADE.

Clearstream has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with The Securities Depository Center Company (Edaa), a subsidiary of the Saudi Tadawul Group, to jointly introduce new post-trade services in the Saudi capital market.The partnership between the two central securities depositories (CSDs) is aimed at strengthening the efficiency and competitiveness of the Saudi post-trade ecosystem for both domestic and international participants.It follows Clearstream’s earlier move in 2021 to connect its global client base to the Saudi domestic market via Edaa.Under the collaboration, Edaa and Clearstream plan to develop a range of new services covering collateral management, securities lending and borrowing, fund services, and digital securities.Hanan Alshehri, CEO of Edaa, said: “Our Partnership with Clearstream marks a vital step in our endeavors to enhancing the overall efficiency and liquidity of the Saudi capital market. It is a testament to Edaa’s continued commitment to strengthening the Saudi market infrastructure in line with international best practices.An initial area of focus will be the Saudi Collateral Management Service (SCMS), a centralised domestic triparty capability designed to automate and optimise financing and collateral management activities within the Saudi capital market.SCMS will facilitate greater operational efficiency for local financial institutions, support liquidity growth, and enable smoother connectivity with global markets.The initiative represents a further step in the ongoing modernisation of Saudi Arabia’s market infrastructure, aligning with efforts to attract cross-border investment and strengthen the country’s role as a regional financial hub.Sam Riley, CEO of Clearstream Securities Services, said: “Our collaboration with Edaa is a key part of our commitment to connecting global investors with emerging and dynamic markets. We are thrilled to work with Edaa to advance the local post-trade market’s infrastructure.”Riley added: “Providing our global expertise, we aim to boost market liquidity and efficiency, supporting market participants with sophisticated tools to meet their investment and growth ambitions.”The post Clearstream and the Saudi Tadawul Group partner to develop post-trade services in Saudi Arabia appeared first on The TRADE.

Stifel has expanded its execution services team in Europe, with the additions of Jack Harvey and Yannis Bouchakour, The TRADE can reveal. In their new roles, Harvey will work out of London, while Bouchakour will be based out of Paris, both focusing on low-touch trading.  They will also come under the leadership of Seema Arora, managing director and head of execution services at Stifel.  Harvey joins the sell-side firm from Tavira, where he spent over three years, most recently as an equity execution trader.  In addition, Bouchakour most recently worked at Societe Generale in London for over six years, serving in roles spanning portfolio trading and electronic sales, equity financing, quantitative investment and fixed income.  Prior to this, he also worked as a financial risk analyst at Milleis Banque. Speaking to The TRADE, Arora said: “With growing interest in both our US and EMEA execution, we have made additional hires to service our diverse range of clients. Jack and Yannis represent the next generation of quantitative talent, bringing strong technical skills that complement our experienced team and translate into sharper insights and superior execution outcomes for clients.” The hires follow further recent expansion of Stifel’s execution services business in the last few months. In September, the firm appointed Matthew McNestry as a managing director in low-touch trading, as revealed by The TRADE at the time.  He joins from Euronext, where he spent almost five years as head of sales, global buy-side and liquidity providers.   Additionally, Darryl Willoughby joined Stifel in August from Pareto Securities, to serve as a managing director, looking after pan-European trading. The post Stifel makes two new hires to bolster European execution services appeared first on The TRADE.

SIX has appointed Aquis Technologies as the technology provider for its forthcoming harmonised trading platform. The new system will bring together all exchanges operated by the group, including SIX Swiss Exchange and Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), onto a shared infrastructure. The project will establish a single trading framework designed to offer clients a unified connection point across multiple venues, with the goal of simplifying access, supporting interoperability, and improving liquidity. David Stevens, CEO, Aquis, said: “The decision by SIX – one of Europe’s largest exchange groups – to use Aquis’ technology only reinforces the strength and capability of the Aquis matching engine and related services. Alongside our work to build an industry-leading harmonised platform for SIX exchanges, we are excited to continue expanding our technology offering and client base in the coming years.”   The exchanges will operate on the Aquis Equinox matching engine, a system currently supporting several global trading venues.  The technology is known for its low latency and continuous uptime and will form the foundation of SIX’s planned pan-European trading environment, which aims to provide harmonised access across its markets. Tomas Kindler, global head exchanges & executive board member, SIX, said: “Harmonising all our platforms through Aquis’ cutting-edge, regulatory grade technology represents a major technological milestone for SIX and a defining leap in our evolution as a pan European exchange innovator.  Kindler added: “With the concept of ‘One Plug, Multiple Trading Venues’, our existing participants in the Swiss and Spanish markets will be able to benefit from a next-gen trading system, delivering innovation, new functionalities and unrivalled access to investment opportunities in multiple markets with just one harmonised connection standard to our multiple trading platforms.”  “This harmonisation will significantly reduce operational complexity and provide our participants with the best possible trading experience and access to services via some of the most advanced trading technology available today,” said Kindler. According to the firms, the new platform for equity and equity-like products is expected to launch in 2027, with additional asset classes to follow.  SIX said it is working closely with regulatory authorities to secure the necessary approvals ahead of implementation. Aquis was selected following a multi-stage evaluation process involving several vendors, and joint development work is already underway. The post SIX selects Aquis Technologies to deliver harmonised trading platform across European exchanges appeared first on The TRADE.

Tradeweb Markets has completed a fully electronic request-for-market (RFM) swaption package trade, a first in the industry.Specifically, institutional clients on Tradeweb’s Swap Execution Facility (SEF) can now request and receive a two-way market (as opposed to a price based on one direction) for a series of swaps and swaptions in one single electronic quote.Troy Dixon MD, co-head of global markets at Tradeweb, said: “This trade signals the expansion of Tradeweb’s electronic trading capabilities into a previously untapped area of the rates market […] this is a significant step forward in the evolution of bilateral derivatives trading and the broader electronification of the swaption and broader derivatives markets.” This latest development is able to protect client intent and exclusively share potentially sensitive and valuable trading information between counterparties. Swaption’s give participants the choice to enter into an interest rate swap in the future at a pre-determined rate – thus allowing traders to take nuanced views on future interest rate movements as well as market volatility, explained Tradeweb. In addition, RFM is particularly beneficial to traders’ processes in times of volatility, allowing for maintained control of trading intent as well as benefiting from transparency, customisation and flexibility.The counterparties on the first trade executed on SEF were Citadel and Barclays. Since, 20 dealers are now providing RFM swaption package pricing.John Niccolai, chief operating officer for global fixed income at Citadel, affirmed: “Electronically trading swaptions is an important first step in the evolution of electronically trading OTC rates options, which will increase transparency, improve execution workflow, reduce counterparty risk and strengthen liquidity, making this an easier product to access and trade.”The post Tradeweb completes first-ever fully electronic RFM swaption package trade appeared first on The TRADE.

Though pre-hedging has been lauded by some across the markets as a keyway to improve market efficiency, the buy-side continue to have reservations as to its empirical use.Will MittingThe mechanism allows dealers to offer tighter spreads thanks to the fact that they can better manage risk, however respondents to Acuiti’s latest report showed that asset managers as a whole believe that pre-hedging has the potential to disadvantage their trade, creating a conflict of interest between dealer and client. In this vein, when questioned around the empirical use of pre-hedging, only 4% of the buy-side confirmed that they were confident they knew for sure when a dealer is pre-hedging.Of course, dealers must manage risk, however 80% of asset managers believe that dealers should only hedge trades after they have been awarded the trade, found the study.As attention ramps up, the buy-side is demonstrably taking action, confirmed Acuiti, with 55% considering implementing mechanisms to detect pre-hedging (notably 20% already have these in place).Looking to the growing attention on the strategy, asset managers are cognisant of its real potential, however, calls for regulators to set clear rules governing pre-hedging is front of mind, found the study.Speaking to The TRADE, Will Mitting, founder of Acuiti, explained: “Our study found that there are strong calls across European asset managers’ for global standards and greater transparency around the process of pre-hedging.“While senior asset management executives were sympathetic to the need of dealers to hedge risk, there are very real concerns around the market impact of pre-hedging.” Specifically, 78% responded that they “want stricter regulations and a more comprehensive framework around its usage” in order “to avoid detrimental market impacts”. Read more: ESMA’s latest shot at ‘pre-hedging’ must now bring a clear set of rulesFor now, European asset managers continue to have reservations around the practice. For example, the majority agreed that pre-hedging creates a conflict of interest between the dealer and the client (88%), and that firms should have to give consent for a dealer to pre-hedge a trade they are submitting (65%) – clearly indicating ongoing uncertainty for the time being. Acuiti’s ‘pre-hedging in focus’ study is based on insight from senior executives (majority in senior trading roles) across 34 asset managers within Europe.The post More than half of the buy-side considering implementing pre-hedging detection mechanisms, finds report appeared first on The TRADE.

The Pictet Asset Management fixed income trading team is a well of insight, experience, and reputability. Spread across four desks in two continents: London, Geneva, Hong Kong and Singapore, its 15-member team boasts a combined 250 years of experience and counting.The desk is led by PAM’s co-heads of fixed income trading, James Frew and Patrice Guesnet – both industry stalwarts and based out of London and Geneva respectively. The duo took up the reigns in 2022, and since then the team has gone from strength to strength.Over the years, PAM has evolved from its roots as a boutique, strategy-specific trading setup into a semi-centralised platform. Currently, the Pictet Group’s AUM is at $893 billion, with the asset management arm managing $333 billion.On a notional basis, the team trades more than $500 billion a year in fixed income, some 90,000 trades. Speaking to how they balance the leadership of the team, Frew and Guesnet explain: “While co-heading can sometimes be seen as challenging, for us it has felt entirely natural. We bring different but complementary skill sets to the table, which allows us to advance the desk more effectively and adapt to new challenges as a team.“This structure also means that both of us remain actively involved in the business, while jointly managing and developing the team.”Guesnet’s trading career began in FX sales before expanding into FX and emerging market rates, an atmosphere which he describes as “fast paced, demanding, and at times quite unforgiving, but also full of energy and teamwork”. When he landed at PAM in 2012, Guesnet explains that much of the workflow was still manual and regulatory changes like Mifid II were close on the horizon. It was here that Guesnet’s interest in automation and using technology to enhance both individual and team performance were born.For Frew, his career began as an assistant swaps trader in 1993 before making his way through the sales environment in the subsequent years.He credits this experience with building a strong foundation in market engagement, client management, and relationship building.As Frew explains: “In 2015, I moved to the buy-side and joined PAM, a client I had covered since 2009. This move was rooted in trust and longstanding partnerships – values that have guided my career at every stage. Whether working on the trading floor of an investment bank or on the investment floor of an asset manager, I have always viewed finance as a people-driven business.“One’s professional journey is often intertwined with one’s personal journey; my journey has been challenging and rewarding, underscored by purpose, resilience, and pride in building trusted relationships across the industry.”Both co-heads make sure to imbue their desk with those very principles, and together have made sure to keep their fingers on the pulse whilst finding time to cultivate the continued progress of the desk.“Pictet benefits from a longstanding reputation for excellence, and within fixed income our strength lies in experience, professionalism, and structure,” adds Guesnet.One unified groupWhilst the PAM fixed income desk is spread across bases in both Europe and APAC, one of the overarching focuses for co-heads Frew and Guesnet is to foster a team which operates as a cohesive group.As Frew explains: “While in the past we worked through differing personalities and localised approaches, today the desk operates as a unified group across four locations. The combination of strong connectivity, mutual respect, and rigorous professionalism allows us to leverage collective expertise and deliver best-in-class execution for clients.”For the co-heads, the majority of their time remains trading on the desk – whilst Guesnet is focused on EM macro products with a bias toward Latin America and frontier markets, Frew trades Latin American hard currency and US/European distressed credit.For Frew, whose career has been centred on credit from the beginning, the sector he focuses on is at the less liquid end of the credit spectrum, with success dependent on anticipating liquidity, monitoring axes and flows, and maintaining continuous dialogue with counterparties.“Patience is key when it comes to trades in this area of fixed income, as positions can remain live for days before liquidity emerges,” explains Frew.The importance of both co-heads maintaining an active role in the trading and execution side of the desk is clear to see, with a hands-on approach lending itself to a keen eye for the details. Guesnet explains: “This daily involvement is critical as it helps to stay in touch with our traders’ day-to-day reality while at the same time being engaged with our portfolio managers, our brokers and market technology providers. It’s a dynamic that has strengthened our ability to innovate and respond to the evolving needs of our clients and the market.”Whilst both Frew and Guesnet spend around 80% of their time trading, the remaining 20% is dedicated to managing the team.Specifically, the team trades all asset classes within fixed income and each trader or pair of traders own their asset class, explain the co-heads, adding that the desk continually coordinates with portfolio managers, compliance, operations, client onboarding teams, technology partners, and senior leadership.Frew and Guesnet add that their approach differs from a light-touch management style – for senior colleagues, to a more hands-on approach when it comes to junior traders.Speaking to the trading team’s dynamic specifically, Guesnet enthuses: “We are supported by a great team of both highly experienced traders, that brings a lot know-how, and younger ones that come from a more tech-oriented mindset.“Although no two days are alike, the common threads of execution excellence, risk management, and strategic oversight ensure that we remain both reactive and proactive in shaping our team’s success.”Also important for the co-heads is a robust backup network which they stress is vital to the work being done. Specifically, this refers to having complete confidence in designated backup team members in order to ensure business continuity.“In my case, my trusted backup is Mark Parmar [senior credit trader at PAM] whom I have maintained a professional relationship for 20 years,” asserts Frew.“We have collaborated in various capacities, including as a client, colleagues in two firms, and as a referral when he was recruited by another firm. Our entire team operates with this structured backup approach, underscoring organisational resilience and reliability.”Indeed, when it comes to ensuring the desk’s longevity and continued success, a well-rounded, balanced approach is decidedly key for both Frew and Guesnet.Sharing their perspective on what makes for the best performance on an individual level, both are in agreement that the strongest traders combine technical ability with humility, adaptability, judgment, and relationship management.“At Pictet, we benefit from a diverse mix of backgrounds: some traders with deep sell-side experience, others homegrown within Pictet, and several with advanced technology and coding expertise. This blend allows us to approach markets holistically.”In this vein, sell-side experience is valued particularly highly at PAM, and is sought out for the way the knowledge gleaned from that world lends itself to a broad view of the markets.As Frew highlights, “it fosters an appreciation for how liquidity and relationships are managed, which remains invaluable on the buy-side.“The ability to balance portfolio manager objectives with productive counterpart relationships is often the differentiating factor between a good trade and a great one.”Innovation at the foreThe desk is clear that one of its key advantages is its blend of deep asset-class expertise – thanks to the insights of more seasoned traders – coupled with the younger generation’s technological fluency.“This enables portfolio managers to benefit from both market expertise and execution consistency, while external counterparties can better understand our flows. This structure improves collaboration, reduces silos and creates clearer engagement,” assert Frew and Guesnet.Of course, as the fixed income sphere continues its march towards increased electronification, the benefits of having technological fluency on the desk is only set to become even more vital.However, both co-heads make clear that a measured approach is necessary when it comes to growth and modernisation, explaining that “innovation must be purposeful: simplifying processes, streamlining workflows, and adding measurable value”.Expanding on this, Frew highlights that there are particular areas within the fixed income sphere which would benefit from closer attention – namely, that of the credit new issue market.“Here, legacy inefficiencies remain widespread. I have experience from both the sell- and buy-side perspectives and little has changed in what is a pretty painful part of the market.“For years, sales have fought each other for allocations, syndicate managers have been harangued by sales for more bonds and sales credits, portfolio managers or buy-side traders have had a good yell at sales or syndicate. Occasionally trading lines have been pulled.”He tells The TRADE that over the last year, Pictet has developed a workflow which integrates Bloomberg PREL, Interop, CRD and TSOX in order to capture, monitor, and process orders digitally from inception through compliance checks, order transmission and ultimately to allocation.Through this, manual intervention has been reduced, as well as enhancing transparency, and creating a scalable workflow aligned with compliance and operational teams.Importantly, Frew explains that the goal in the end is to help promote and extend this framework further, with the support from global industry partners, adding that of course the sell-side can also play a part, suggesting that they also join the negotiation table.Guesnet agrees that integrating data and technology into the workflows is essential for optimising trade execution, highlighting several priorities when it comes to growth and innovation.“By employing advanced execution algorithms and real-time analytics, we empower our traders to make informed decisions, regardless of the trade size. This approach enables thorough analysis to determine the most suitable brokers, timing, and strategy.“We incorporate a blend of macroeconomic data, significant events, behavioural biases, market flows, and trading axes to guide our traders, providing clarity on whether to execute a trade now, in five minutes, an hour, or even in two days. While this framework works for all trades, it offers enhanced insights for larger, less liquid transactions.”Notably, the co-heads explain that the aim for the desk is of course to add tangible value to the fund, but also to foster constructive discussions between traders, fund managers, and brokers.Elsewhere, the topics of data and related innovations – including artificial intelligence – are also front of mind for the desk at present.Discussing exactly why these are such dominant themes, Frew and Guesnet explain that this is “particularly in terms of maximising the value of [our] internal datasets in relation to third-party offerings and harnessing AI to extract meaningful insights and efficiency gains”.They add: “Because every asset manager’s needs are distinct, there is no universal solution, and budget realities require us to be thoughtful in how we leverage and share data. ‘Give-to-get’ data arrangements are a recurring discussion point, but that data has to be useful for decision-making and execution.”When the discussion moves to the desk’s empirical approach to trading, the co-heads explain how they are ensuring PAM remains ahead of the curve, positioning themselves for continued success in the evolving market.One key area for the duo is best execution, an area in which both Frew and Guesnet stress that the team is “extremely thorough”.“We have four levels of check: trader, desk head, co-head, compliance. This is done weekly. We follow this up with a quarterly best execution committee with random extracts demonstrating our oversight.”Demonstrably, the desk is leaving no stone unturned, and this is also true of their approach to broker reviews – the duo explain that these are conducted via Tableau “with a focus on quantitative and qualitative granularity – widely regarded as one of the strongest review processes in our peer group.“This approach fosters more meaningful conversations that ultimately strengthen our relationships with our top brokers.”Elsewhere, the co-heads also highlight automation and the implementation of SimCorp as key focal points, explaining that PAM uses both vendor solutions and its own proprietary systems, continually aiming to refine aspects such as: trade sizing, timing, and broker selection through the use of AI-driven insights. Specifically, the team leverages Interop.io to develop tools that support traders in their day-to-day operations and improve analytics, and SimCorp’s role as a strategic initiative “impacts the entire business from front to back, streamlining processes and future-proofing our technology stack,” add Frew and Guesnet.The critical differenceTaking a look at the other side of the coin – the co-heads are quick to point out that when it comes to the desk’s dynamic, it is an approach which places the traders themselves at the fore.As Guesnet asserts: “Strong communication and solid relationships are invaluable, they can make the critical difference when it matters most.”Though both co-heads concede that trading will continue to move towards greater digitisation and automation, they maintain that human side of things will remain extremely valuable in the future.“Today in credit, the 10 – 100 million tickets are still very much bilateral or voice traded, and this won’t disappear any time soon. Yes, efficiency and transparency will improve with faster data prints, but it risks eroding the interpersonal dimension of market engagement – the instinctive read of tone, conviction, or urgency that comes through voice interaction.”“While technology will empower traders with more data and streamlined workflows, the art of relationship-building and real-time negotiation may diminish. The challenge for the next generation will be balancing digital efficiency with the human connectivity that has historically underpinned effective markets.”In the same vein, Frew adds that the two most important lessons which stand out when reflecting on his career thus far relate to exactly those personal skills, specifically patience and relationships. “Patience is essential in managing illiquidity, volatility, and timing – knowing when not to act is as important as knowing when to act [and] equally vital is the cultivation of strong sell-side relationships. Liquidity can evaporate in times of stress, and it is during crises that trusted relationships prove their worth.”Evidently both Frew and Guesnet have their fingers firmly on the pulse of their sphere, both committed to continuing to foster Pictet AM’s highly collaborative culture, embracing oncoming innovation and continuing to prioritise the high level of industry insight at their disposal.The co-heads’ leadership philosophy, built on transparency and partnership, with “no rivalry, no silos, and open communication,” looks set to continue to be a successful one.As Frew attests: “The trick is trust – we are joined at the hip as HR inform us and this co-head structure is one that is promoted […] we complement each other’s strengths both professionally and personally, and that cohesion cascades across our global team.”The post Pictet Asset Management: ‘The trick is trust’ appeared first on The TRADE.

Clear Street Paul Christophorou has joined Clear Street as head of outsourced trading for Europe, following a three-year tenure at UBS.   Christophorou will be based in London in the new role. Previously he has worked as a multi-asset trader at UBS, joining as part of the firm’s expansion of its EMEA outsourced trading offering in 2022, as revealed by The TRADE at the time.   Speaking to The TRADE, Andy Volz, chief commercial officer at Clear Street, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Paul as we expand our global outsourced trading capabilities in Europe. This reflects the strength of our core infrastructure and our ability to move quickly and capture opportunities to enhance the client experience.  “Operating as one global team across all products and markets, we’re ensuring Clear Street is the one-stop shop for sophisticated investors who value speed, reliability and a full suite of solutions built for scale and transparency.” Prior to his time at UBS, Christophorou had a one-year stint at Axia Futures, where he worked as a proprietary futures trader.   He also spent 19 years on the buy-side at Odey Asset Management, where he served as a multi-asset senior trader, responsible for trading equities, ETFs, equity and bond futures and commodities.   Citi Matti Konsala has joined Citi as a vice president, equities algo trader, sitting on the firm’s EMEA equities algorithmic trading desk.   London-based Konsala brings several years of equities execution systems experience to his new role, and joins the firm after more than seven years at Goldman Sachs, where he most recently served as a vice president in equities algo strategy.   Prior to this, he also spent over two years at ITG, working as an algorithmic trade support analyst, where he provided technical and business support for ITG’s clients and electronic trading desk.   Previously in his career, he has also worked at Societe Generale and Amplion Asset Management.   Citi confirmed Konsala’s new position when contacted by The TRADE.   Tourmaline Europe Guillame de Chabaneix has joined outsourced trading solutions firm, Tourmaline Partners, as an equity trader at Tourmaline Europe. London based-de Chabaneix brings more than 15 years of industry experience to his new role, and joins following a nearly 14-year tenure at BTIG.  He initially joined the sell-side firm as part of its equity sales and trading business, working across senior leadership roles and specialising in international trading, dual-listed companies and event-driven trading.  Following this, he then later joined BTIG’s outsourced trading division in London in January 2020.  Previously in his career, de Chabaneix spent more than two years at MF Global, working across equities roles in London and Sydney.  The post People Moves Monday: Clear Street, Citi and Tourmaline Europe appeared first on The TRADE.

Trading data and analytics provider, BMLL, is set to be acquired by private equity investor, Nordic Capital.  Paul HumphreyThe firm is set to receive a “meaningful injection of primary capital” to support BMLL’s growth, specifically to expand the firm’s global venue coverage, enhance its historical depth, and build out its multi-asset class capabilities. Additionally, the firm will use the investment to bolster its go-to-market capabilities and strengthen its partnerships across the industry, specifically with exchanges, technology platforms and market infrastructure providers.  Speaking to The TRADE, Paul Humphrey, chief executive of BMLL, said: “With Nordic Capital’s backing and Optiver remaining a key shareholder, we now possess the strategic capacity and financial resources to truly compete with established data providers. “We are absolutely committed to continuing our mission to elevate data standards across capital markets, ensuring that poor-quality historical data is a thing of the past. This investment ensures we can rapidly expand our geographical reach and historical depth across assets like futures and options, democratising access to the most granular data and helping participants worldwide navigate complex and rapidly evolving market conditions.”The investment will be made in close partnership with the BMLL management team, as well as the firm’s minority shareholder, Optiver, which led an investment round in October 2024, delivering a $21 million injection into BMLL.  Read more – BMLL launches Trades Plus dataset to enhance execution analysis and market transparency It has been confirmed that Humphrey will continue to lead the business and that the current management team will remain shareholders.  “Nordic Capital sees a clear opportunity to invest in content, analytics and partnerships that extend BMLL’s reach globally, helping more firms harness the power of harmonised, high-quality data,” said David Samuelson, partner at Nordic Capital Advisors. “Leveraging Nordic Capital’s long-standing expertise in capital markets software and data, we will work closely with Paul and his team to seek to expand BMLL’s footprint, elevate the product and analytics offering, and scale distribution and partnerships.” The post BMLL acquired by Nordic Capital appeared first on The TRADE.

The TRADE is delighted to announce the shortlists for this year’s Leaders in Trading New York Buy-Side Awards. The winners will be announced at the Leaders in Trading New York glittering awards night, taking place at Chelsea Piers in New York City on 18 November, returning for a second year after the event’s inaugural launch in 2024. The shortlists for the Leaders in Trading New York Buy-Side Awards have been produced following input from The TRADE’s editorial and research teams, as well as nominations from key industry players across North America, recognising those amongst their peers that stand out as the most deserving of these nominations.  This year, the categories for the Buy-Side Awards include the coveted Trader of the Year, as well as Trading Desk of the Year, Fixed Income Trading Desk of the Year and Buy-Side Market Structure Expert of the Year.  Also set to be recognised on the night are this year’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution, North America – to be announced in due course.  Many congratulations to all the shortlisted individuals and teams, it will be a night to remember!  If you are a member of the buy-side community and would like information on attending Leaders in Trading New York then please contact Karen Delahoy at karen.delahoy@thetradenews.com.  For sponsorship opportunities or to book a table for the dinner, please contact Daljit Sokhi at daljit.sokhi@thetradenews.com . Trader of the Year  Cole Barrett, M&G Jules Boletis, Robeco Brendan Gorman, Lazard Asset Management Michael Roberts, Columbia Threadneedle Investments Trading Desk of the Year Clearbridge Investments Jennison Associates Legal & General Ninety One Fixed Income Trading Desk of the Year  AllianceBernstein BlackRock NuveenT. Rowe PriceBuy-Side Market Structure Expert of the Year  John Bright, Fidelity Investments  Hubert De Jesus, BlackRock Susan Joyce, AllianceBernstein Carlos Oliveira, Brandes Investment Partners The post Leaders in Trading New York 2025: Buy-Side Shortlists revealed appeared first on The TRADE.

Is T+1 an opportunity for innovation in the industry or more of an operational obstacle? It can probably be looked at as potentially both. Most organisations would say that to some degree or other they’re ready to settle T+1 today. If you don’t invest, you’ll probably get there just with some operational tweaks and some small changes, but that would be a bit disappointing as a market if that’s as far as we go.  The way our markets function and are structured has been a buildup of process and evolution over 20 or 30 years. But if you were to start from scratch now, would you build the processes and the end-to-end connectivity in the way that we have it today? Possibly not, because technology now would allow you to do it differently.  We can use T +1 as an opportunity to really invest in new technologies, whether it’s artificial intelligence, APIs or data and analytical tools. If we don’t do it now, when will we do it? What would be the catalyst?  How is BNP Paribas preparing for a shift to T+1 settlement in Europe? We have a lot of experience in markets that are already on shorter settlement cycles than the European norm, so part of what we are doing is looking at how those markets are functioning on an ongoing basis and looking back at how we managed the North American migration and learning from that as much as we can. It’s safe to say that at the very base level, we can settle transactions that we receive today if we need to on a T+1 or even T+0 basis.  But there’s a need to go further than that and help our clients and our clients’ customers to really understand what the impact for them is and what areas they need to focus on. We’re hosting a lot of forums, working groups, papers etc to really make sure they’ve understood the areas that impact them as well as what they need to do.  There is a unique point around day one of T+1, which is that the first day of settlement under T+1 is the last day of settlement under T+2. It’s a dual settlement day and that impacts on liquidity and financing requirements. So again, it’s about making sure you’ve got the right eyes around that first day of settlement.  Read more – ‘The clock is ticking’ remind experts as the 24 month countdown to T+1 in Europe looms Alongside the move to T +1, there’s also a lot of focus on evolving markets to incorporate digital issuances and tokenisation. Do you think these two priorities are complementary or competing? If you take it at the highest level, you’ve got traditional markets and new markets, and therefore there’s a competitive element there, particularly with digital issuances. If you take that a bit further, a lot of tokenisation is focusing on creating new solutions around assets from traditional markets.  A lot of the focus has been on tokenising traditional assets so that they can be used as collateral in a more 24/7 cycle and allow coverage of financing needs in a more global framework. The other part is again; digital markets and new markets have an ability to perhaps integrate new technology quicker and rework how the market framework simpler than what traditional markets might be able to do.  It’s not going to be a rapid shift from traditional markets to digital markets. So therefore, with T+1 we can learn from some of the values that are being created in these new markets.  Is T+1 the end game? If we are going to T+0, that’s going to be a fundamental shift in the way that markets work. There’s a potential to use the step towards T+1 as the reason to change your operating model and then scale it back a little bit so that it works for T+0. There’s been enough commentary around the market that suggests that T+1 isn’t the end game, but let’s be careful before deciding what the end game is, to ensure that we’re doing it with the interests of investors and issuers in mind.  At the end of the day, for an investor, the time frame of settlement is the timeframe that makes it easier for them. For some parties, that might be T+0. For others, it might not be. Once we get through T +1, we need to have a market conversation about what should be the end game. And maybe the end game should be a choice, not a mandate.  The post Fireside Friday with… BNP Paribas’ Gary O’Brien appeared first on The TRADE.