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“ The natural order flow that we see has allegedly been pre-matched through these venues, but we need to educate regulators that this is simply not the case,” he said.
However, chairman of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, Robert Ophéle, specifically targeted Cboe Europe’ s periodic auction during a keynote address at the conference, stating his concerns about how the industry currently views periodic auctions as lit venues and calling into question the level of transparency these venues provide( see page 15).
“ Periodic auctions are considered to be lit trades, but the level of transparency is indeed very limited. There is practically no pre-trade transparency and no means of fully understanding the order book,” Ophéle said in his address.
“ The auction duration is unknown and the European Best Bid and Offer( EBBO) provides the corridor where all trades are executed, so one could be led to believe that many trades on periodic auctions are actually pre-arranged trades.”
Of those asset managers surveyed, 54 % said they are in favour of implementing a minimum order size in periodic auctions, and 49 % said a minimum pre-matched period based on the liquidity of the instrument should be introduced.
Liquidnet’ s report also found that 88 % of senior buy-siders believe the shift towards block trading under MiFID II has been a positive outcome of regime. It said that while regulatory focus remains on lit price formation, a key challenge for asset managers is uncovering liquidity given the need to execute in size.
Rebecca Healey, head of market structure for EMEA at Liquidnet and author of the report, explained that under MiFID II the use of various methods of execution for the buy-side, including block trading and periodic auctions venues, is crucial.
“ The argument for trading sub-LIS( large in scale) orders in the dark may be just as valid for those asset managers looking to improve execution performance for a portfolio rebalancing or when facilitating institutional crosses,” Healey commented.
“ The reality is that asset managers need multiple methods of execution available given the variety of orders, differing market conditions, and execution objectives required. Hence the rise in use of periodic auctions and SIs as alternative methods of sourcing liquidity.”
Deutsche Asset Management’ s global head of equity trading and buy-side industry veteran Mike Bellaro is leaving the firm after 30 years.
Bellaro is set to depart in the summer and Deutsche Asset Management will find his replacement in due course, a spokesperson confirmed.
The former chief information officer at Cowen in New York will relocate to London for a new role with the London Stock Exchange Group.
Ann Neidenbach joined the exchange operator in mid-June as chief information officer for shared services.
The first female president has been appointed at the New York Stock Exchange( NYSE).
Stacey Cunningham took on the role in May following the departure of Thomas Farley. Cunningham has been chief operating officer at NYSE since June 2015, and has formerly held various senior positions at the exchange.
Peter Thompson has been hired as a managing director and head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’ s European ETF business in London.
Thompson rejoins Goldman from Source ETF, which was acquired by Invesco in 2017 to sit alongside its PowerShares business, where he was formerly interim chief executive and founder.
Barclays has appointed Matt Pecot from Credit Suisse as head of its equities business in Asia Pacific.
Pecot will oversee Barclays’ equities sales and trading activities in the APAC region which focuses on derivatives after the shuttering of its cash equities business in 2016.
Issue 56 // TheTradeNews. com // 7