BACK TO
BEST
Achim Walde, senior FX risk manager/currency overlay, Metzler
T
he words ‘best execution’ may
be gaining in importance as
FX increasingly becomes an
actively managed asset class.
But this simple phrase means a lot more
than just asking three brokers for a price,
according to Achim Walde, senior FX risk
manager/currency overlay, Metzler.
Metzler has a long and interesting
history. Based in Frankfurt, Germany,
the company can trace its origins
26
back to 1674, when Benjamin Metzler
established a trading company.
Metzler operates both a bank and an
asset management business. Achim
Walde has been making decisions on
FX for over 20 years. Now, however,
the industry is changing under the
pressure of unprecedented regulatory
and technological shifts. These have
highlighted the increasing complexity of
doing business in the FX space.
www.buysideintel.com
“Best execution is a must, but not
everybody agrees what it means,”
Walde told the Buy-side Perspectives. “If
I ask three brokers for a price and take
the cheapest one, I could say that’s
best execution. But that’s too simple.
To really offer best execution it’s not
enough to only offer the best price
right now in this moment, you also
have to offer best price execution over
longer time periods, such as the whole
August 2016