Buy-side Perspectives Issue 12 Updated | Page 14

AT THE HELM OF A GLOBAL BUY-SIDE TRADING DESK Sailing into a new and exciting market structure with more data and closer sell-side relationships Mark Denny Head of Trading – Global Equities, Investec Asset Management Managing a global trading desk and adapting to local nuances I nvestec Asset Management was founded in South Africa in 1991. Since then the firm has been built from start-up into an international business managing more than $141 billion on behalf of third party clients. The acquisition of Guinness Flight Hambro Asset Management in London in 1998 provided the firm with a platform from which to access global markets. 14 I am responsible for equity trading in global markets with the exception of Africa and the Middle East region which are managed by our trading desk in Cape Town. In the London team, we cover Pan Europe, Asia and the Americas. Trading strategies applied to Pan European markets can often be broadly similar. The Asian markets however are more unique in their own right so accessing liquidity is a stand- www.buysideintel.com alone process where no one size fits all. Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong, for example, all have different regulatory structures that require engagement in different ways; not all of them have closing auctions for example and some regions require client identification prior to trading in order to meet local regulations. We trade regularly in multiple Asian markets which requires a deep knowledge in each market. Spring 2018