Keeping you informed with the
latest industry news
ICYMI
In case you missed it, here’s the top
five stories from thetradenews.com
over the last quarter
1
Execution team reshuffled
JP Morgan has laid out a new markets execution
team, as it looks to refocus its trading strategy
towards electronic execution. Richard James and
Peter Ward have been appointed as co-heads for
the division’s macro products.
2
Clients cut off
Deutsche Bank is cutting around 3,400 clients
from its global markets business in fixed income
and equities sales trading, according to a leaked
memo. Execution of equities trading orders and
all debt and equities sales trading activity will be
closed for some financial institutions and hedge
funds, the memo said.
“Consortium aside, the crux of the issue is not to do
with the interest in or potential of blockchain tech-
nology, but to do with the commercials of the business
model,” Weisfeld said.
“It’s not yet clear how this is going to work, other
than that the banks are adamant that they are not go-
ing to create another commercial entity that can hold
them over a barrel when it comes to operating fees.
These departures show that there is a real question
over the value being generated by R3, and an even big-
ger question over their ability to commercialise.”
An R3 spokesperson described the comments as
“odd.”
Peter Randall, chief executive officer of blockchain
firm, SETL, also commented on the departures from
R3 and said: “In my direct experience, multi-bank con-
sortia rarely deliver what they set out to deliver.”
“Lets think about consortia which we have seen be-
fore. There have been many examples, some of which
have worked out, some of which haven’t.
“I remember the Global Straight Through Process-
ing Association, a big consortium that eventually did
not work because participants could not align the
right business person with the right process,”
he added.
3
Derivatives exposures reduced
Hedge fund giant Citadel has become one of the
first buy-side clients to use TriOptima’s swap
compression service, as firms look to reduce their
derivatives exposures.
4
Banking blockchain start-up
A FinTech start-up - launched by industry veter-
ans from the likes of BlackRock and UBS - has
unveiled a blockchain enabled trading platform
for the buy-side community.
5
Best Ex scaled back
The best execution requirement under MiFID II
does not need to be obtained for clients on every
single occasion, but firms will need to verify ef-
forts on an “on-going basis”, according to ESMA.
Winter 2016
TheTrade
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