THETRADETECH DA I LY
Au revoir, Paris
T
he Eurostar back to London after a few days in Paris is always a
bit of a strange journey, particularly when you’ve been surround-
ed by colleagues and industry peers for 48 hours, only to then find
yourself with over two hours of downtime as you cross under the
English Channel.
And so, having rushed from the closing stages of this year’s Trade-
Tech conference to Gare du Nord in time to catch my train back to
London, I finally had time to digest the experience and sift through
my thoughts.
The big - and obvious - question leading up to this year’s edition of
TradeTech would be how the industry had been able to adapt to, or at
least cope with, the long-awaited arrival of MiFID II. In recent years
it has felt as if conference attendees were somewhat frozen in time, all
awaiting the same day when the clocks would resuming ticking and
everybody could move forward again.
Now that fated date had passed and with the first few months under
the collective belt, it’s reassuring to see that the dialogue has moved
on and those speakers on the buy-side were largely positive on the
new equities trading landscape. Of course, there were also conflicting
opinions on offer, which you may have already noticed from the front
page of this issue.
There certainly was a different atmosphere to this year’s conference
in comparison to the last few years, not least in the sense that many
“The buy-side were largely positive on the new
equities trading landscape.”
sponsors had clearly pumped more money into their stands and the
exhibition hall felt fuller than in previous years. Although for some
reason you still can’t get a decent cup of coffee at this event. Take note,
organisers.
Even more heartening to see where the number of copies of the
TRADETech Daily delegates were shuttling around the event or por-
ing over in between sessions. For us, the TradeTech conference began
weeks before 25 April in putting together the issue and it continues
after the event, with this wrap-up edition that pulls together all of our
coverage of this year’s conference.
Inside this issue you’ll find reporting on keynote discussion panels
and speeches dissecting the new MiFID II landscape and the trading
venues it has given rise to, as well as the latest developments in trad-
ing technologies, which thankfully do not focus on blockchain for a
change.
So until next year, it’s au revior Paris and TradeTech 2018, but the
wider discussions on the new trading landscape continues to roll
onwards.
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF TRADETECH 2018
In this issue:
4
TradeTech 2018: The key takeaways
Systematic internalisers, periodic auctions, artificial
intelligence, data and diversity were among the key talking
points at this year’s conference.
10 T. Rowe Price’s trading head dubious on
MiFID II and the emergence of new venues
Global head of systematic trading and market structure at US
firm throws doubt on systematic internalisers and periodic
auctions.
11 French regulator questions Cboe’s periodic
auction transparency
Chairman of the Autorité des marchés financiers called out
Cboe Europe’s periodic auction over lack of transparency.
12 Systematic internalisers see bright future
under MiFID II regime
Keynote panel discussion suggests the buy-side is becoming
more comfortable interacting with systematic internalisers.
13 Sell-side will seek ‘deeper partnerships’ as
margins shrink
Ever-increasing costs for sell-side institutions will see more
consolidation and deeper partnerships, according to keynote
discussion panel.
14 Market complexity growing alongside
periodic auctions and large-in-scale
Keynote discussion panel finds that while large-in-scale
trading and periodic auction activity is on the rise, so too is
market complexity.
15 Artificial intelligence must address
transparency concerns to realise benefits
Industry experts were keen to extol the virtues of artificial
intelligence and machine learning, but perceptions around
transparency must be addressed first.
16 Venues downplay pre-match activity on
periodic auctions
Industry leaders refute suggestions of pre-matching on
periodic auctions and say regulators need more education on
how venues operate.
John Brazier
Editor
The TRADE
18 Google advances its cloud services for
finance
Google Cl oud made its first appearance at this year’s
conference and the TRADETech Daily spoke to the firm to find
out more about its intentions for the capital markets.
Issue 2
TheTradeNews.com
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