THE HONG KONG WAY
Kent Rossiter, head of trading Asia, Allianz Global Investors
W
hen Kent Rossiter joined
Allianz Global Investors in
1999, he was the new guy.
Despite the passage of
time, that is a status he still holds among
the company’s senior traders, due to
the stability of the team which has not
changed too much in the years since.
The same cannot always be said for the
structure of the modern trading desk,
however.
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Originally, the company operated six
different trading desks in Asia; however,
these have long since been merged. It’s
a detail that hints at the increasing focus
on efficiency, as trading desks become
more proficient, more asset classes
are added and more local markets are
connected up. At the same time, the
availability of liquidity has combined
with pressure on costs to influence
the way the trading desk operates. In
www.buysideintel.com
Asia, the availability of liquidity is an
important factor.
“You can’t always trade when you
want,” Rossiter told the Buy-side
Perspectives. “That means being
patient at times and very aggressive at
other times. If the market’s not right,
you have to be willing to step out for a
few days.”
Globally, liquidity has been an issue
of debate for some time. While this
June 2016