Marex has entered an agreement to acquire European fixed income market maker, Valcourt.  Paolo TonucciSpecifically, the deal will integrate 700 clients into Marex’s business, from firms spanning banks, independent wealth managers and asset managers, and is expected to support Marex in bolstering its fixed income business. Additionally, the acquisition of the Geneva-based firm is set to allow Marex to bring the Swiss institutional community under the umbrella of its distribution offering, to help diversify the firm’s platform and its earnings.  “We are excited to welcome the team from Valcourt to Marex,” said Paolo Tonucci, chief strategist and chief executive of capital markets at Marex. “They bring a high level of expertise in the fixed income markets and will enhance our Capital Markets offering. The acquisition also brings us deep local knowledge and strong client relationships, particularly with Swiss institutions, where we see great potential to deepen these relationships by offering access to our broader range of products from across our platform.” The acquisition is currently scheduled to close in H1 2026, subject to regulatory approval.  Valcourt’s current offering specialises in fixed income instruments, including high-yield, subordinated, emerging markets, private, illiquid, and sustainable debt.  Mike Conway, chief executive of Valcourt, said: “We are delighted to join forces with Marex, a global leader in financial services. This partnership represents a fantastic opportunity for Valcourt clients to access Marex’s extensive network and expertise.” The deal follows other recent acquisition news for Marex in recent months. In July, the firm announced that it was set to acquire UK equity market maker Winterflood Securities from Close Brothers in a cash deal valued at approximately £103.9 million.  The acquisition is expected to support the growth of Marex’s UK cash equities business, and support the expansion of its services to UK institutional clients through a broader suite of products, particularly in asset and wealth management sectors.  The post Marex to acquire market maker Valcourt to bolster fixed income offering appeared first on The TRADE.

LSEG has partnered with 11 leading global banks, in a move which will see the Group receiving investment in its Post Trade Solutions business.  Daniel MaguireAs part of the deal, the investing banks will become shareholders in the business, taking a 20% stake in exchange for an aggregate cash consideration of £170 million, totalling the whole value of Post Trade Solutions to £850 million.  Specifically, the 11 banks included in the investment are: Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Societe Generale and UBS. Read more – LSEG and Microsoft extend multi-year partnership The move will also see LSEG gaining an increased proportion of revenue surplus from the SwapClear business, with revenue surplus share for the banks which are members of SwapClear reducing to 15% in 2025, and a subsequent 10% from 2026.  Daniel Maguire, head of markets at LSEG and chief executive of LCH Group, said: “Our SwapClear business was at the forefront of innovation when it was founded in collaboration with our clearing members 25 years ago – and that spirit of innovation and partnership continues today. Our clearing services have been highly successful in generating substantial growth and ensuring robust risk management for the OTC derivatives market. This has only been possible thanks to our long-term strategic partnership with our customers.  “With this proven track record of success, I’m pleased that our partners are committed to continuing the approach with our Post Trade Solutions business, where we collectively see an opportunity to bring material efficiencies across capital, risk and operations to the bilateral OTC derivatives market. The partnership is expected to allow the investing banks to benefit from their input into Post Trade Solutions, which spans Acadia, Quantile, SwapAgent and TradeAgent businesses. Read more – LSEG embeds REDI EMS directly into Workspace In addition, three directors nominated by the 11 investing banks will also become members of the board of Post Trade Solutions.  “Our partnership with SwapClear has been highly successful in growing and scaling the first interest rate swaps clearing service into an established and profitable business,” said Troy Rohrbaugh, co-chief executive, commercial and investment bank at JP Morgan. “We see great opportunity for the many benefits associated with clearing such as risk management, standardisation and efficiencies, to be replicated by those trading uncleared derivatives.” The post LSEG’s Post Trade Solutions to receive investment from 11 global banks appeared first on The TRADE.

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 his new role, and previously 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. His appointment aligns with the recent hire of Morgan Ralph as Clear Street’s head of outsourced trading to lead the firm’s new platform, launched in May 2025. Ralph also joined the firm from UBS, following news in March that the firm had made a shock departure from the outsourced trading game.  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.  Christophorou confirmed his new role in an announcement on social media.  Clear Street had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.  The appointment also follows further hires for Clear Street in the last few months. In October, the firm named Mark Daniels as its new head of platform sales, based out of New York. He joined the US broker from Marex, where he most recently served as head of prime clearing.  Similarly, in July, Clear Street brought in Chris Tufano to lead the firm’s clearing business, who previously spent almost nine years at Bank of America.  The post Clear Street brings in ex-UBS trader to lead European outsourced trading business appeared first on The TRADE.

Digital asset prime brokerage FalconX has entered an agreement to acquire ETF provider 21shares, as part of the firm’s effort to enhance its suite of digital asset investment products.   Raghu YarlagaddaSpecifically, the acquisition is set to combine 21shares’ asset management product development and distribution expertise with FalconX’s digital asset infrastructure and risk management platform, to deliver tailored investment products for both institutional and retail investors.  The move is also expected to support FalconX in building out its listed markets and digital assets offering, and bolster its footprint in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions.  Raghu Yarlagadda, chief executive of FalconX, said: “We’re witnessing a powerful convergence between digital assets and traditional financial markets, as crypto ETPs open new channels for investor participation through regulated, familiar structures. FalconX has built the institutional backbone for trading, derivatives, and credit, and extending that infrastructure into listed markets through 21Shares is a natural next step toward strengthening market efficiency.” Read more – FalconX launches new platform to enable 24/7 institutional OTC options trading Zurich-headquartered 21shares currently offers the world’s largest suite of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds and products (ETFs/ETPs) and manages more than $11 billion is assets across 55 listed products.  As part of the acquisition, 21shares will come under the FalconX umbrella, but will remain independently managed, and chief executive Russell Barlow will continue to lead the business.  “Our goal has been to make crypto investing available to everyone through industry-leading exchange-traded products,” said Barlow.  “Now FalconX will enable us to move faster and expand our reach. Together, we’ll pioneer solutions that will meet the evolving needs of digital asset investors worldwide.” The acquisition follows recent efforts by FalconX to enhance its global footprint, and in July, the firm expanded into Latin America, supporting two of the region’s largest financial institutions, investment bank BTG Pactual and Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin.  The post FalconX to acquire crypto ETF provider 21shares appeared first on The TRADE.

What are some of the advances you’re seeing in options FX strategies?Even though OTC FX options volumes have been steadily increasing for the last couple of years, trading activity in G10 FX options in 2025 is rather subdued due to a noticeable shift toward increased use of Delta-1 products. This is against a backdrop of heightened political uncertainty and diverging central bank policies, as market participants reassess their USD hedging strategies.From a technical perspective, our liquidity providers are now able to offer auto-pricing for plain vanilla FX options in significant size, even though larger volumes still tend to be traded with manual intervention. Moreover, we’re observing that platform providers and banks are collaborating to offer new solutions such as API-based pricing for zero-cost structures. In our view, this significantly enhances flexibility in the e-trading of FX options and allows for a reduction in manual workload. In terms of OMS/EMS we’re seeing a continued effort to set up the necessary processes for trading FX options and have set a high priority for our own internal projects we are running with our IT department to leverage these new capabilities as soon as possible.When it comes to the surge in cleared FX options for many market participants, the primary advantage lies in the reduction of counterparty risk and potential for multi-lateral netting, which helps to optimise capital usage and reduce overall exposure. Additionally, clearing can optimise access to liquidity for some and significantly cut down the time and complexity involved in negotiating bilateral master agreements. This is particularly valuable for institutions looking to scale their FX options activity efficiently and with greater operational certainty.Others are more reluctant, due to the non-standardised nature of FX options and the existing setup of well-functioning bilateral relationships e.g. posting of collateral and receiving competitive pricing. There’s also the challenge of liquidity drain due to initial margin requirements, which can be significant and impact trading flexibility. On top of that, transitioning to cleared products often requires substantial investment in IT infrastructure, which can be a barrier for smaller firms or those with legacy systems.What is driving this development?Burdensome and error-prone manual workloads in the process of trading, booking and throughout the lifecycle of FX options are the main drivers in the development towards more electronification.In practice, this means increased operational risk when trading options via voice and chat and settlement issues e.g. due to a mismatch in strikes or premia, in particular when trading multi-leg options across several portfolios. A more automated and STP setup would drastically help to address these issues and to optimise low-touch options business in general.How could these be developed further and what is the next step in terms of advancement in options?Most important is that cooperation between OMS/EMS and trading platforms needs to intensify to allow for a streamlined process from trade initiation to order placement to final allocation including best execution data and TCA. In addition, work is being done to allow market makers to provide axes in a secure and customised manner, building solutions to address pin risk around option exercises and further development of CLOBs to provide more liquidity. On top of the existing limitations from our LPs on the notional size we are able to trade via auto-pricing, our main concerns to move junkier volumes to e-trading are the lesser flexibility in trading style e.g. fixing volatility before trading live and the potential market impact when trading without delta exchange. That said, we expect all of these hurdles to be lowered over time alongside the aforementioned advances we see right now in the markets.  How electronified are options in comparison with other FX instruments? What are the biggest hurdles?The combination of limited capabilities of some OMS/EMS e.g. not allowing for STP order processes and the non-standard nature of FX options with regards to the vast variety of delta levels, broken dates and different trading styles are amongst the main reasons for still lower automatisation levels in our view.The post The next stage for options automation appeared first on The TRADE.

Tradeweb has launched its alternative trading system (ATS), to facilitate the execution of Sukuk and Saudi Riyal (SAR)-denominated debt instruments within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Billy HultThe ATS is licensed by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) and marks the first regulated electronic bond marketplace to be operated in the Kingdom, following a competitive tender process which took place in Q1 2024.  As part of the launch, BlackRock and BNP Paribas have executed the inaugural transaction on the platform, followed by a subsequent trade which took place between BlackRock and Goldman Sachs.  Billy Hult, chief executive of Tradeweb, said: “The introduction of SAR bonds to Tradeweb’s multi-asset electronic platform marks not just a technological milestone, but also a foundational moment for fixed income market structure in the Kingdom, preparing the ground for greater international participation.” Specifically, the platform is set to support the Kingdom’s aim to build out the region’s capital markets, as well as attract further global investment and bolster Saudia Arabia’s economic development in general.  In addition, Tradeweb’s new ATS will allow users to access offerings such as protocol diversification, alignment with local trading conventions and flexibility for potential future product extension, alongside the existing emerging markets currencies currently available for Tradeweb clients.  Read more – Citi and Pension Insurance Corporation execute first fully electronic bilateral multi-asset package list trade via Tradeweb “As Saudi Arabia continues to make great strides in developing its capital markets, fixed income opportunities hold great strategic interest for international investors,” said Yudhveer Chaudhry, global head of emerging markets, foreign exchange, commodities, and digital assets trading at BlackRock. “This inaugural transaction on Tradeweb’s new alternative trading system, in collaboration with our global emerging markets debt team, not only marks a technological milestone for the Kingdom’s fixed income markets but also reflects our commitment to supporting innovative platforms that enhance global investor access and strengthen capital market infrastructure.” The ATS launch follows further efforts from Tradeweb to build out its offering across global markets in recent months. In November 2024, the firm unveiled a collaboration with the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) to expand liquidity in Japanese exchange traded funds (ETFs) through the launch of a new direct link. Specifically, the link will be between Tradeweb and TSE’s RFQ platform CONNEQTOR.  The post Tradeweb launches first electronic bond ATS in Saudi Arabia appeared first on The TRADE.

Euroclear has announced it will extend the daily cut-off time for settlement instruction submissions – known as the Input Disable deadline – effective Monday 20 October from 20:00 to 21:00 (UK time). The change gives firms additional time to submit and match settlement instructions on trade date (T), improving readiness for the UK’s transition to T+1 settlement.  According to Euroclear, the enhancement aims to reduce the risk of settlement fails, offer greater flexibility for cross-time zone participants, and support early transaction matching. The update completes recommendation SETT 02 from the UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce’s implementation plan.  It also marks another step in enhancing operational resilience ahead of the upcoming move to a shorter settlement cycle in 2027. In October, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its final report on proposed amendments to settlement discipline rules in Europe, with a view to enhancing post-trade efficiency ahead of Europe’s switch to T+1 in 2027.    The post Euroclear extends instruction deadline ahead of UK’s T+1 shift appeared first on The TRADE.

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), the European Principals Traders Association (EPTA) and consulting firm Protiviti have co-signed a letter directed to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Commission, identifying gaps in the current EU shares and ETFs consolidated tape framework.  Within the letter, the associations have submitted new recommendations to enhance the current policy and implementation framework of the tape, following dialogue with the associations’ members. The proposals also align with current ongoing Savings and Investments Union (SIU) consultations, and aim to “accomplish the twin goals of having a fit-for-purpose tape and advancing EU capital markets integration,” said the firms.  Read more – Consolidated tape: Avoiding a ‘garbage in and garbage out exercise’ Specifically, the five new recommendations proposed include: expanding the depth of pre-trade quotes, including venue identifiers on pre-trade data, incorporating exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) instrument data on the tape, encouraging smaller venues to contribute data and implementing appropriate governance framework.  Speaking to The TRADE, Susan Yavari, deputy director for capital markets and digital at EFAMA, said: “As future users of a consolidated tape, we would like the upcoming SIU package to introduce  critical changes to the design of the tape in order to maximise the take-up and usability of the new tool.  Our proposed changes are not only relevant for European market participants, but also for global investors channelling flows into Europe.  We strongly urge the European Commission to take timely action on this.” The recommendations are also additive to previous suggestions made by EFAMA and Adamantia. In addition, the letter follows proposals suggested by a group of ten signatories in February, made up of the buy-side, sell-side, and industry associations, including BlackRock, Barclays and Societe Generale, which endorsed low pricing, speed efficiency and voluntary consumption of the tape, among other points.  Currently, EuroCTP is the sole confirmed bidder for the EU’s shares and ETFs, led by chief executive Eglantine Desautel, after big xyt dropped out in June 2025, citing a lack of necessary financial backing.   ESMA is expected to make a decision on the consolidated tape provider by the end of 2025.  The post Trade associations call on ESMA and the European Commission to strengthen consolidated tape framework appeared first on The TRADE.

What changes are you seeing in how fixed income traders are accessing liquidity? At Ninety One, we’re active across both developed and emerging markets, trading across rates, credit, and derivatives. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a steady rise in the number of liquidity providers across a number of these markets. That’s brought healthy competition and tighter pricing, but also more fragmentation. While competition is good for the buy-side, fragmentation can make it harder to source consistent liquidity efficiently. That’s why we’ve leant on the platforms’ ability to access alternative liquidity. As an example, on MarketAxess, roughly a quarter of European credit trades now execute via all-to-all protocols, where you can connect directly with non-traditional liquidity providers. Every major platform now offers some version of all-to-all protocols, and it’s become a vital part of how we find liquidity that might otherwise be hidden. How is technology improving price transparency in markets? In general, the more electronic a market becomes, the more transparent it gets. In highly liquid markets like US Treasuries, pricing is now effectively live and executable, you trade at or very close to the posted level for meaningful size. As you move down the liquidity spectrum into HY credit or EM debt, transparency naturally falls away, but technology is closing that gap. Execution platforms are getting much better at pre-trade price prediction and data-led analysis. The composite pricing models and TCA tools we now have are more sophisticated, driven by much deeper data pools. AI will only accelerate this in the future. The result is that even in less liquid bonds, traders are gaining clearer visibility on likely execution levels, and that’s a meaningful improvement over just a few years ago. Are buy-side traders gaining more control in protocol selection? Absolutely. From my seat, protocol selection is fully within my control, and that autonomy has expanded as electronic trading has matured. Often, the choice comes down to familiarity and comfort. Traders naturally stick to what they know, but that can mean missing out on protocols that might better suit a particular trade type. A good example is automation. It’s been around for years, but adoption is now accelerating and we’re integrating it directly into our workflow now. Platforms like Bloomberg RBLD, MarketAxess Auto-X, and Tradeweb AiEX are helping us systematise low-touch flow, while freeing up human traders to focus on more complex, illiquid risk. Automation adds efficiency and precision, but importantly, it also gives time back to the desk. That’s what makes protocol selection strategic rather than just operational. What advice would you give to traders preparing for the 2026 fixed income trading landscape? Over the past 12 to 24 months, we’ve gone through a lot of change at Ninety One, including onboarding a new OMS and migrating away from a legacy system. Change is rarely comfortable, but it’s often where the biggest gains come from. My advice to traders is simple: embrace change and stay curious. Try new workflows, new protocols, even if they feel unfamiliar. Every test or pilot you run teaches you something, and that feedback helps shape how the platforms evolve. The pace of innovation in fixed income trading is accelerating. Firms that engage with that change rather than resist it, will be the ones best positioned for 2026 and beyond. The post TRADE Talks: Ninety One’s Ed Wood appeared first on The TRADE.

While European markets are occupied with the imminent move to T+1 settlement at present, an eventual shift to T+0 is not completely out of the conversation, confirmed expert panellists at FILS on 16 October. Nina Suhaib-WolfPlans for the move to T+1 settlement are well underway across Europe following alignment on a proposed date for the shortened settlement cycle – set for 11 October 2027 in the UK, EU and Switzerland.Compared to the US shift, Europe’s own transition is a decidedly different game, full of diverse jurisdictions, exchanges, and complex market structure – but attention is also being paid to what will come next – a potential for immediate settlement.Read more: Inside the UK’s blueprint for the move to T+1 settlementSpeaking to this, Nina Suhaib-Wolf, director, market practice and regulatory policy, ICMA, affirmed that though her own fintech teams are “really engaged” in the notion, long-term plans for the move will be highly tech-driven and likely to emerge steadily, rather than through a sudden shift. “T+0 is somewhere on the horizon, it’s a question of whether it would come with a big bang or more gradual move and maybe to complement existing processes […] whereas T+1 is really to improve existing settlement processes and make them more efficient, T+0 would really mean introducing new product digital ideas.”Other panellists echoed this notion, highlighting both the potential of new innovations when it comes to digital products, and the possibility of leveraging other technologies in order to facilitate processes, such as blockchain. Sven Rudolf, head of trading at Oddo BHF Asset Management, further added that current limitations in other markets are proof that the industry is not ready for T+0 adoption in full, with technological developments set to determine asset readiness on a class-by-class basis.“I think it’s a question of tech, of blockchain, of really just getting it going. In general we have T+0 already in the future market because normally a future trades T+0, but does it always work? Everybody knows that it doesn’t always, it’s much more T+1. This demonstrates that it’s not there yet.“So, if you want to replicate it for the whole market, there will still be some which will not trade T+0, and you have to consider them. Let’s see how the tech develops first is my point of view, then you can see which assets you can put on this T+0 journey and which ecosystems can do it.” Read more: EU finalises high-level road map for T+1Overall, panellists recommended a cautious approach, balancing innovation, proactivity, and careful consideration of the empirical market state of play.Speaking to this pragmatic view, Christopher Bonnet, deputy director of data and supervision, AMF, said: “When I think about T+0, I think about someone running really fast […] This is something that, even if we can do, we have to be cautious about and question whether it’s really adding value, or if it’s just ‘adding’.” The post A shift to T+0 is likely to initially complement T+1, rather than replace it, say experts appeared first on The TRADE.

Across the industry, appreciation of the benefits the fixed income consolidated tapes for the UK and EU may reap is widespread, however for experts speaking at FILS on 16 October, some uncertainty still remains. A particular point of apprehension lies with the aggregation of data, reiterated speakers, with fears regarding poor-quality data being pushed through the tape and risking delivering little to no benefits for the industry still present. Speaking on this, one expert said: “For the buy-side, it’s the quality of data that is fundamentally important. If we end up aggregating bad data, this entire process would have been for nothing. [The industry] relies on clean, accurate data to feed through in all processes and deliver best outcomes for end clients. That needs to be firmly looked at.” Discussions also called on regulators holding data contributors accountable for the quality of data coming in “from day one,” and ensuring regular data quality reports are provided, emphasising the vital nature of governance in the delivery of the tapes. “Governance is incredibly important. We want to make sure that this tape is governed by a variety of actors and not just one particular entity of interest being voted for,” said one speaker.” “We want sell-side, buy-side and the end investor to be part of their construction and for there to be some kind of feedback loop on what we’re getting.” Realising the potential The premise of tapes in both the EU and UK of course offers a multitude of opportunities, with a key benefit related to democratising access to the fixed income world and opening up investor interest.  “What I like about the tape is that it will be available to everybody,” enthused one panellist. “Some investors that are not as naturally interested in fixed income, like retail for instance, find more interest as a result of having a tape and having access to the data that they cannot see today. This democratisation of data will also allow to give scale.” Read more: The consolidated tape – getting the show on the road Moreover, as global fixed income markets become increasingly competitive, the role that a tape can play in elevating Europe and the UK on the international playing field was a further benefit emphasised at the conference.  “In the EU and the UK, competition is taking place at global level. When investors look at Europe, they also look at the US and APAC, and those markets have been incredibly innovative,” affirmed one speaker.  “For Europe as a hub, it’s very important that these windows we’re going to present to the world are clean, appealing and attractive, so that investment and issuance can come our way.” Demonstrably, though concerns around certain aspects of the two tapes remain prevalent within industry discussions, the benefits are also widely recognised. For the panellists at FILS, early engagement between market participants and providers, imbued with a sense of collective responsibility is the key to achieving the success the industry hopes for.  The post As consolidated tape plans continue, governance and data quality remain the most prominent talking points across the market appeared first on The TRADE.

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.  Most recently, Citi appointed a new Germany and Austria head of markets, with Sophie Landry joining the firm in October from European Investment Bank, where she spent over four years as head of portfolio and asset and liability management.  Similarly, in September, Austin Winter joined Citi as a vice president, futures and derivatives clearing after spending more than 11 years at BTIG across various roles, most recently as vice president, outsourced trading.  The post Citi hires from Goldman Sachs for equities algo trader appeared first on The TRADE.

JP Morgan JP Morgan has named Will Jeffries as global head of sell-side trading services sales, as part of a push to enhance the firm’s international coverage and client engagement.   In his new role, Jeffries will assume the responsibility for integrating JP Morgan’s regional teams, and the Americas team will now also align with the EMEA and APAC teams and report to Jeffries.   The position marks an expansion of Jeffries’ previous capabilities at the firm, where he has been since 2019, working across both director and vice president roles leading the firm’s APAC sell-side trading services sales.   Previously in his career, he also spent over seven years at BNY, working across relationship management and sales leadership roles in Sydney and Hong Kong.   Jeffries’ role also coincides with the addition of Guy Dipper to the firm’s trading services sales team, where he will step into the position of APAC head of sell-side trading services sales.  Dipper will report to Jeffries in his new position, which will see him relocating from his current role as a vice president, tri-party relationship manager at JP Morgan in Sydney, to move to Hong Kong in early 2026.   State Street  State Street has made a number of senior appointments across Frankfurt and London, as part of an effort to bolster its partnered trading footprint in Europe.   The hires all join the firm in vice president, partnered trading, portfolio solutions positions. Among the appointments based out of Frankfurt is Dirk Heim, who brings more than 20 years of buy- and sell-side experience to his new role. He joins the firm from UBS, where he headed up the EU Execution Hub.  Prior to this, he also worked in trading positions at firms including Quoniam Asset Management, Kepler Cheuvreux, BTG Pactual, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs.   Also joining from UBS’ Execution Hub is Nicole Lindermayer, who spent more than three years at the service, most recently as a multi-asset trader.   Previously in her career, she has also worked at fintech and private equity firms, and spent over 12 years at Goldman Sachs, in roles spanning program and equity sales trading.   The additions of Heim and Lindermayer follow news in March 2025 that UBS has made a shock exit from the outsourced trading game, with its Execution Hub focussing on the bank’s global wealth management and bank for clients.  The expansion of State Street’s Frankfurt team also includes Daniel Eichhorn, who is shifting from his Lisbon-based position, where he served as the firm’s head of EU trading. He has also worked extensively across the industry, at firms including BNP Paribas, Berenberg, Aquila Capital and Baader Bank.  The appointments also include the addition of Matthew Hodges to State Street’s London office, joining the firm from Western Asset Management where he worked for over two decades, most recently as a senior trader and senior portfolio analyst.   Kepler Cheuvreux Andrew Alder has joined Kepler Cheuvreux’s execution platform, KCx, as a portfolio trading (PT) sales trader, to help build out the firm’s execution footprint.   Alder will be based out of London in his new role, and will work alongside a team which spans key financial centres across Europe, the US and the Middle East, including Amsterdam, Dubai, Madrid and New York.   Speaking to The TRADE on the appointment, Bobbie Port, global head of low touch and portfolio trading said: “As we continue to advance our strategic priorities, portfolio trading remains a key area of focus for us. Bringing Andrew on board will play an important role in driving this strategy forward at KCx.”   Alder joins the firm from Barclays Investment Bank, where he spent the last eight years, most recently as a director, EMEA equities electronic sales trading.   Previously in his career, he also spent more than 10 years at Instinet, in senior roles spanning global portfolio trading, product sales.  Prior to this he also worked at UBS, joining the bank in an operations-based role in 1997, before moving on to global portfolio trading and restructuring positions in locations spanning London and Stamford in the US.   The post People Moves Monday: JP Morgan, State Street and Kepler Cheuvreux appeared first on The TRADE.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has expressed his support for the creation of a single pan-European stock exchange in order to deliver a more unified European market and address issues around fragmentation. Friedrich MerzSpecifically, Merz cited the benefits a single exchange could bring, such as deeper liquidity and greater investor interest in the region to bolster Europe’s position as a competitive player in the global markets.  Speaking to the Bundestag on Thursday, Merz highlighted that a single European stock exchange is key to ensuring that successful companies (such as German biotech firms) are not obliged to list on the New York Stock Exchange, ensuring that value creation from German and European research remains in Europe. He added that such companies require sufficiently broad and deep capital markets – in order to finance themselves not only better but also faster. The news indicates German support for a unified European market and follows recent interest in creating a less fragmented European landscape across the industry.  Notably, Stéphane Boujnah, chief executive of Euronext, expressed his support for Merz’ remarks, commenting in an official statement: “I welcome Chancellor Friedrich Merz’ call for deeper and more attractive European capital markets and for more consolidation in the markets infrastructure sector, ultimately benefitting European companies. “Euronext has always been driven by the strong conviction that in Europe it’s always possible to succeed together rather than fail separately. Euronext is ready to contribute to the next level of consolidation of markets in Europe to create a deeper liquidity pool to finance the growth of European companies.” Recently, Euronext has made clear its intent to deliver a consolidated offering for unified markets across Europe, and in October, launched an exchange offer to acquire all ATHEX shares If successful, the move would integrate Greece into Euronext’s model which also spans companies listed in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan, Oslo and Paris.  Although many across the industry recognise that a single European stock exchange would bring many benefits to the region, the challenges and cost of doing so have also not gone unnoticed by many. Read more – ESMA unveils 20-point plan for ‘more effective and attractive capital markets’ Speaking to The TRADE about the market structure implications of Merz’ comments, Sylvain Thieullent, chief executive of Horizon Trading Solution, said: “A single European stock exchange is an exciting vision. One deep pool of liquidity, lower trading costs, and stronger global visibility for European companies. Europe’s exchanges all operate on different infrastructures, with their own rulebooks, tick sizes, and market practices.  “Harmonising all that would take time and close collaboration between market participants and technology providers. But if the political will is there, the payoff could be significant. “ With calls for unifying Europe’s markets now beginning to come from both industry players and governments, the European landscape is set to be one to watch over the next few months and years.  The post German Chancellor Merz calls for a single European stock exchange appeared first on The TRADE.

After years of being overlooked, are bonds finally regaining their place in multi-asset portfolios?We believe bonds always have a place as a core investment in multi-asset portfolios, but with hindsight there were plenty of reasons to hold back in the past few years. Philosophically we like to think in terms of risks and scenarios. Scenarios can be imagined, preferred, but eventually we can face a multiplicity of scenarios in the future, and we must accept that forecasting or timing them is an impossible task. If we think back to six years ago, who planned for COVID-19, the inflation shock, or this trade war?  Meanwhile we know that similar scenarios, often variations of the past, will happen again and will trigger growth and inflation and liquidity shocks – up or down. We look at the progressive evolution of a variety of indicators on a daily basis and some data for bonds has improved recently: risk indicators are normalising, trend indicators are stabilising, valuation indicators are getting more attractive. At the same moment, risky assets reach hot levels, higher valuations for equities, tight spreads for credit, the macro picture is still relatively solid but cracks and tensions appear. This justifies neutralising bonds at the least and waiting for more confirmation to turn outright positive.How should multi-asset investors approach bond exposure in the current environment?Diversity is the keyword, and I would recommend to not necessarily follow market cap indices as they are often too concentrated. We should remember that bond indices are more concentrated in those countries that have more debt, which is somewhat counterintuitive from a risk management standpoint. Investors should remain aware of home biases too and it may be worth exposing to a broader universe, even if it may involve some currency hedging.When it comes to the implementation of our portfolios, our preference is for highly liquid instruments and we trade major bond futures such as 10-30 year bonds, while we trade credit separately through index CDS in order of have a better hold of duration and credit risks separately. These can also be used as overlays on a cash bond portfolio to increase agility and efficiency.Sizing exposure should remain dynamic, and we don’t believe it is sound to calibrate a portfolio exposure on the basis of a single scenario preference. As I mentioned, we prefer to look at a variety of indicators and acknowledge their progressive confirmation of an improvement, locally or globally, which may guide also regional allocations.  How is the correlation between bonds and equities evolving, and what does this mean for diversification?That’s a hot topic! As risk-based investors, we have always looked at correlation measures with some kind of suspicion. First, we like to evaluate correlations in terms of long-term regimes. Correlation evolution tends to be influenced by aggregate macro indicators like growth and inflation, while monetary policies obviously may have an impact.We often hear that negative correlation is gone and diversification doesn’t work anymore, but it is important to note that correlation has been positive in the past, like in the 70s and 80s. It may be that the 2000-2020 period was the anomaly. What matters more is whether correlation would spike in a recessionary scenario for example, this would be an indication of ‘something new’.Also, sometimes we observe a positive correlation that is actually good: remember 2019 when all assets were rising together, that was a particularly good year for cross asset portfolios. To manage the risk of positive correlation in downward markets, such as 2022, we believe other tools should be considered, such as including diversifying assets like commodities, tail strategies across both rates and equities, and ultimately, what we call drawdown management techniques that care about sizing exposures dynamically. Ultimately there’s not a one-size-fits-all portfolio as we know and we must have the variety of tools and techniques to adapt to changing conditions or maybe to a ‘this time is different’ scenario.  What trading opportunities could emerge as bonds regain diversification potential? It depends on the global markets path looking ahead. Short-term, redeploying capital across high quality bond markets is a way to maintain your exposure to risky assets and enjoy the ride, while implementing a better portfolio diversification and hopefully something to help in case of macroeconomic deterioration. Eventually it is all about trying to preserve capital of your portfolio and have more capital to redeploy into risky assets when valuations get more reasonable and credit spreads more generous. The real challenge is, as we know, that bull market conditions can last much longer than we expect and there is potentially a high cost of staying on the sidelines. We should also keep an eye on rates curves, the 10-2 has steepened a bit across major blocks, usually close to 0.5%, which is now not far from the long-term average of 1%, but still far from the 2% levels that we have typically reach before major turning points that were more supportive to risky assets long-term returns.Ultimately, it is important to remember that diversification helps stay fully invested while valuations start to look frightening. And even more so as no G10 central bank is giving any signs that it is willing to hike rates!The post Fireside Friday with… Lombard Odier’s Aurèle Storno appeared first on The TRADE.

Andrew Alder has joined Kepler Cheuvreux’s execution platform, KCx, as a portfolio trading (PT) sales trader, to help build out the firm’s execution footprint.  Alder will be based out of London in his new role, and will work alongside a team which spans key financial centres across Europe, the US and the Middle East, including Amsterdam, Dubai, Madrid and New York.  Speaking to The TRADE on the appointment, Bobbie Port, global head of low touch and portfolio trading said: “As we continue to advance our strategic priorities, portfolio trading remains a key area of focus for us. Bringing Andrew on board will play an important role in driving this strategy forward at KCx.”  Alder joins the firm from Barclays Investment Bank, where he spent the last eight years, most recently as a director, EMEA equities electronic sales trading.  Previously in his career, he also spent more than 10 years at Instinet, in senior roles spanning global portfolio trading, product sales. Prior to this he also worked at UBS, joining the bank in an operations-based role in 1997, before moving on to global portfolio trading and restructuring positions in locations spanning London and Stamford in the US.  Alder’s role follows further recent hires and promotions for Kepler Cheuvreux’s execution offering in recent months. In September, the firm promoted Robert Miller to the position of global head of equity execution sales, moving on from his previous role as head of market structure and liquidity solutions.  Additionally, in August, Kepler Cheuvreux made three new additions to its global team based in London and New York, with the roles covering areas including high touch sales trading and execution.  The post Kepler Cheuvreux taps Barclays for PT sales trading role appeared first on The TRADE.

Primary markets are undergoing a gradual digital transformation, and the fixed income world is no exception, however whether the buy-side will fully digitise their workflows was up for debate at the FILS conference in Amsterdam.  During discussions, Olivier Dermaux, executive director, fixed income strategy at S&P Global Market Intelligence, highlighted that over the last two decades, syndicated bonds have grown to be increasingly processed through electronic rails, and over 50% of European bond issuance books stem from electronic sources. Despite this, for Cathy Gibson, global head of trading at Ninety One, although the technology exists, buy-side workflows are still largely archaic and fragmented, delaying the possibility of a full digital overhaul.  She said: “We’ve been talking about upgrading and making electronic primary market since I started my career more than two decades ago. It hasn’t happened, not from a buy-side perspective anyway. So is it going to happen anytime soon? “The buy-side workflow is as archaic as it was when I first started in the industry. You have multiple different book runners. We have to contact each and every one of them, adjust our limits as mid swaps, etcetera. It’s inefficient.” In addition to this, Gibson added that for the buy-side, its not a question of digitisation being possible, but rather, that there is no collective will to make this happen.  She said: “The bottom line is my core belief is that there are vested interests between the counterparties at play. You have large asset managers which are not incentivised to actually make the buy-side workflow digital or electronic. They like the human contact that the primary forces the buy-side to have with the banks.  “And there’s vetted interest between the amount of money that banks make or new issuers make of the primary and that is in the billions every year. So any risk of those players being sidelined or removed from that workflow process is too big a threat.” Read more – There is no such thing as zero touch trading When probed on further pain points limiting the full digitisation of the primary market, both Gibson and Dermaux also recognised that fragmentation also poses a challenge by adding complexity to the ability to digitise.  However, Dermaux also highlighted that despite this obstacle, emerging partnerships and integrations between the buy-side and OMS/EMS providers, such as Charles River and Bloomberg is increasingly unifying workflows, and driving a push towards digitisation.  “There’s a real appetite for as much of a straight through processing method in primary as possible. You’ve seen through the partnerships that integrations have been done effectively. Although there’s fragmentation, which is a huge frustration in the market, I believe that there will be a model where through partnerships across the vendor space, you’ll be able to do all your primary. You’ll see all your deals in one place and execute it straight into the book electronically.” Although the buy-side may not be open to full primary market digitisation now, increasing discourse on this possibility is gaining traction across the industry, and the space is set to be one to watch in the coming months and years. The post Buy-side concerns around vested interests and fragmentation remain for full fixed income primary market digitisation appeared first on The TRADE.

Primary markets are undergoing a gradual digital transformation, and the fixed income world is no exception, however whether the buy-side will fully digitise their workflows was up for debate at the FILS conference in Amsterdam.  During discussions, Olivier Dermaux, executive director, fixed income strategy at S&P Global Market Intelligence, highlighted that over the last two decades, syndicated bonds have grown to be increasingly processed through electronic rails, and over 50% of European bond issuance books stem from electronic sources. Despite this, for Cathy Gibson, global head of trading at Ninety One, although the technology exists, buy-side workflows are still largely archaic and fragmented, delaying the possibility of a full digital overhaul.  She said: “We’ve been talking about upgrading and making electronic primary market since I started my career more than two decades ago. It hasn’t happened, not from a buy-side perspective anyway. So is it going to happen anytime soon? “The buy-side workflow is as archaic as it was when I first started in the industry. You have multiple different book runners. We have to contact each and every one of them, adjust our limits as mid swaps, etcetera. It’s inefficient.” In addition to this, Gibson added that for the buy-side, its not a question of digitisation being possible, but rather, that there is no collective will to make this happen.  She said: “The bottom line is my core belief is that there are vested interests between the counterparties at play. You have large asset managers which are not incentivised to actually make the buy-side workflow digital or electronic. They like the human contact that the primary forces the buy-side to have with the banks.  “And there’s vetted interest between the amount of money that banks make or new issuers make of the primary and that is in the billions every year. So any risk of those players being sidelined or removed from that workflow process is too big a threat.” Read more – There is no such thing as zero touch trading When probed on further pain points limiting the full digitisation of the primary market, both Gibson and Dermaux also recognised that fragmentation also poses a challenge by adding complexity to the ability to digitise.  However, Dermaux also highlighted that despite this obstacle, emerging partnerships and integrations between the buy-side and OMS/EMS providers, such as Charles River and Bloomberg is increasingly unifying workflows, and driving a push towards digitisation.  “There’s a real appetite for as much of a straight through processing method in primary as possible. You’ve seen through the partnerships that integrations have been done effectively. Although there’s fragmentation, which is a huge frustration in the market, I believe that there will be a model where through partnerships across the vendor space, you’ll be able to do all your primary. You’ll see all your deals in one place and execute it straight into the book electronically.” Although the buy-side may not be open to full primary market digitisation now, increasing discourse on this possibility is gaining traction across the industry, and the space is set to be one to watch in the coming months and years. The post Buy-side concerns remain around further digitisation of fixed income primary markets appeared first on The TRADE.

Primary markets are undergoing a gradual digital transformation, and the fixed income world is no exception, however whether the buy-side will fully digitise their workflows was up for debate at the FILS conference in Amsterdam.  During discussions, Olivier Dermaux, executive director, fixed income strategy at S&P Global Market Intelligence, highlighted that over the last two decades, syndicated bonds have grown to be increasingly processed through electronic rails, and over 50% of European bond issuance books stem from electronic sources. Despite this, for Cathy Gibson, global head of trading at Ninety One, although the technology exists, buy-side workflows are still largely archaic and fragmented, delaying the possibility of a full digital overhaul.  She said: “We’ve been talking about upgrading and making electronic primary market since I started my career more than two decades ago. It hasn’t happened, not from a buy-side perspective anyway. So is it going to happen anytime soon? “The buy-side workflow is as archaic as it was when I first started in the industry. You have multiple different book runners. We have to contact each and every one of them, adjust our limits as mid swaps, etcetera. It’s inefficient.” In addition to this, Gibson added that for the buy-side, its not a question of digitisation being possible, but rather, that there is no collective will to make this happen.  She said: “The bottom line is my core belief is that there are vested interests between the counterparties at play. You have large asset managers which are not incentivised to actually make the buy-side workflow digital or electronic. They like the human contact that the primary forces the buy-side to have with the banks.  “And there’s vetted interest between the amount of money that banks make or new issuers make of the primary and that is in the billions every year. So any risk of those players being sidelined or removed from that workflow process is too big a threat.” Read more – There is no such thing as zero touch trading When probed on further pain points limiting the full digitisation of the primary market, both Gibson and Dermaux also recognised that fragmentation also poses a challenge by adding complexity to the ability to digitise.  However, Dermaux also highlighted that despite this obstacle, emerging partnerships and integrations between the buy-side and OMS/EMS providers, such as Charles River and Bloomberg is increasingly unifying workflows, and driving a push towards digitisation.  “There’s a real appetite for as much of a straight through processing method in primary as possible. You’ve seen through the partnerships that integrations have been done effectively. Although there’s fragmentation, which is a huge frustration in the market, I believe that there will be a model where through partnerships across the vendor space, you’ll be able to do all your primary. You’ll see all your deals in one place and execute it straight into the book electronically.” Although the buy-side may not be open to full primary market digitisation now, increasing discourse on this possibility is gaining traction across the industry, and the space is set to be one to watch in the coming months and years. The post Buy-side arguably not keen for further digitisation of fixed income primary markets appeared first on The TRADE.

When it comes to the empirical implementation of AI, what should trading desks bear in mind?If we look back at the previous generation of AI models, their success largely depended on the availability of large and relevant datasets for training. With the emergence of Generative AI, a new component has entered the equation: the user. In addition to the model and its data, the human interaction layer now plays a decisive role in shaping outcomes.The main challenge of Generative AI is therefore less technological than cultural. Governance, accessibility, and integration are key. Firms should focus on embedding the technology into existing workflows such as internal messaging systems or portfolio management platforms, so that users can engage with it naturally. At H2O AM, we learned that it’s better to start small, with simple, verifiable tasks, and gradually evolve from productivity gains to actual innovation. For instance, instead of ingesting the largest possible dataset of research documents, we asked our portfolio managers to manually curate what truly mattered. The result was a smaller but far more relevant dataset which also created a stronger sense of ownership and engagement from users.How helpful are discussions around the theoretical use cases for AI in trading – is the sky really the limit?There is no shortage of speculation about what AI might one day accomplish, from agentic models to fully autonomous trading, but the real transformation is already underway. Today’s large language models are more than capable of reshaping how we work.In practice, each new and more powerful model release doesn’t necessarily solve the fundamental challenge of integration. What matters is not the model’s size or complexity, but how intelligently professionals use it within their workflows. The key question has shifted from “what can AI do?” to “how do we use it purposefully?”. The real opportunity lies not in dreaming about the limitless future, but in mastering the practical applications available right now.Looking at the current state of play, how are LLMs and ML driving traders’ strategies today?The influence of AI varies by investment style, but for discretionary managers like us, Generative AI is becoming an integral part of our existing investment process rather than a replacement for it. It provides us with a new set of tools to observe both ourselves and the market, acting as what we call a mirror and a sensor..As a mirror, it supports our work in behavioural finance which remains a cornerstone of our discretionary approach. By analysing transcripts of our internal meetings, AI helps identify cognitive and group biases such as confirmation or overconfidence, offering an objective lens on our decision-making. As a sensor, it processes vast amounts of unstructured data, summarising external research, identifying consensus, and highlighting contrarian insights. Together, these applications sharpen judgement and deepen market understanding without eroding the human element.From your perspective, what market structure change will have the biggest impact on the buy side going forward – AI, or something else?The most significant change ahead for the buy side could be the emergence of what we call Generative Finance. Instead of investing in AI, for instance through exposure to technology stocks, a new management style will aim at investing with AI, embedding it directly within the investment process. This evolution will blur the divide between quantitative and qualitative analysis, enabling managers to combine human insight with machine reasoning more effectively.Generative Finance could mark a shift from automation to augmentation, helping discretionary portfolio managers to think faster, see broader, and decide more rationally.The post TRADE Talks: H2O Asset Management’s Timothee Consigny appeared first on The TRADE.