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Beyond MiFID II:
LSEG focusing on
the future
Brian Schwieger, global head of equities products at London Stock Exchange
Group (LSEG), talks to The TRADE about the group’s impressions of the early
days of MiFID II and its initiatives for the rest of 2018.
“I
n terms of trading, 2018
will be a period of adjust-
ment and experimenta-
tion,” says London Stock Exchange
Group’s (LSEG) global head of
equity products, Brian Schwieger,
referencing the sweeping changes
the markets are adapting to under
the new MiFID II rules.
Like most in the industry,
Schwieger says that life in the new
trading landscape has proceeded
relatively smoothly, with some
issues around reference data in
particular having largely been
addressed since the new regulation
came into force on 3 January.
While data concerning how much
order flow is being transferred
into systematic internalisers (SI)
won’t be fully available for some
time, the host of new venues and
functionalities that have come to
market specifically for MiFID II
are already making their presence
42 // TheTrade // Spring 2018
known, especially for large-in-scale
(LIS) trading.
“In January, we saw a seven-fold
increase in volumes executed using
LSEG hidden-midpoint order
The LSEG’s hidden-midpoint
order is a LIS undisplayed order
type that pegs the midpoint of
the order to the primary best bid.
LSEG saw a significant increase in
“When reviewing current trends in trading and
execution, it is important to remember that we
have experienced a prolonged period of relatively
low market volatility. Should that change and
volatility increase, history suggests that trading
preference and styles might also change”
compared with the average across
the previous quarter,” he says. “On
larger volume days we see upwards
of €50 million trading above LIS
using this order type, which can
be compared to the ADVT in UK
names on well-known electronic
platforms.”
the number of brokers coding to
this functionality throughout the
last few weeks of 2017, which has
contributed to the volumes LSEG is
already seeing this year. Schwieger
says that the group expects access-
ing larger blocks of liquidity to be
a key theme throughout 2018, but