Buy-side Perspectives Issue 8 | Page 28

Foreign exchange

A NEW PARADIGM FOR THE FX INDUSTRY

Christian Schoeppe , head of FX trading EMEA at Deutsche Asset Management

The impending arrival of MiFID II in January 2018 will be a watershed moment for FX markets in Europe , a time when some firms will embrace the future and succeed while others fall by the wayside , according to Christian Schoeppe , head of FX trading EMEA at Deutsche Asset Management . “ 2016 was a spectacular year ,” Schoeppe told the Buy-side Perspectives . “ The BIS triennial survey showed a fall in FX turnover for the first time . Markets have been normalising following the election of President Trump but geopolitical choices have clearly disappointed not only traders . Now the focus is shifting back to major upcoming elections in continental Europe , where investors are evaluating their business partners very carefully . Those that don ’ t support MiFID II will lose business to others that do .” Schoeppe is head of FX trading EMEA at DeAM , the Asset Management arm of Deutsche Bank Group , where he has been active since 2000 . The FX trading desk at the firm has an interesting history . There was a time when the firm didn ’ t have a dedicated FX desk ( see Buy-side Perspectives , Issue3 April 2016 ). Later , the firm began to automate FX trades arising from securities trades . These days , FX is an actively managed asset class in its own right , exceeding 750bn USD turnover p . a . for the first time last year .

28 www . buysideintel . com March 2017