NEWS BITES
Kepler Cheuvreux inks equity re-
search distribution deal with CIBC
European equity broker Kepler Cheuvreux has
entered into an agreement with the capital markets
unit at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
(CIBC) for the distribution of equity research.
CIBC will distribute Kepler Cheuvreux’s European equity
research to its Canadian institutional client base,
with plans to expand the relationship in the future.
Trading Technologies to phase out flag-
ship X_TRADER futures trading platform
Derivatives trading software provider Trading Tech-
nologies is to phase out its flagship futures trading
platform X_TRADER beginning this year, according
to its chief executive. Trading Technologies has been
developing the successor trading platform, known as
the TT platform, for six years, with clients due to begin
migrating towards the new platform in the Q4 this year.
Deutsche Börse merges Eurex busi-
nesses as part of restructure
Deutsche Börse Group has combined the sales and
product design units for equity index and for fixed
income derivatives at Eurex as part of a restructure.
The newly-combined equity and index derivatives unit
will be led by Eurex’s CEO, Michael Peters. Eurex’s
current chief executive, Erik Müller, will head up
the fixed income, funding and financing division.
Aquis makes Brexit play with new
Paris venue application
Aquis Exchange is planning to set up a new venue
in Paris in order to provide services to its European
members following Brexit. The group which operates a
pan-European cash equities trading MTF, has filed appli-
cations with the relevant French competent authorities.
The new company, Aquis Exchange SA, will open an
office in Paris and will be classed as an investment firm,
authorised to operate a multilateral trading facility.
8 // TheTrade // Autumn 2018
DATA
TCA data on FX algo
performance winning
over the buy-side
TradeTech FX Europe panellists point
to increasing adoption of algorithms
in FX markets.
T
ransaction cost analysis (TCA) data on the
performance of algorithms in foreign ex-
change (FX) is proving a hit with the buy-side.
Speaking at TradeTech FX Europe in Barcelona,
a panel of FX market participants agreed that the
use of algorithms will likely increase. However,
uptake has been slow on the buy-side despite the
market moving towards an equities-style model
through greater automation.
“We were early participants in the algorithm
space at Schroders,” said Gordon Noonan, head of
FX trading at Schroders Investment Management.
“I’ve seen a lot of peers over the past six months
or so, who in the past have told me they would
never use algorithms, beginning to ask questions.”
“BestX, our TCA provider, has analytics on algo
performance, so I can see and estimate with rea-
sonable confidence when comparing various data
points if one algo is better than another, and that
wasn’t the case two or three years ago.”
The panel, which consisted of buy- and sell-
side market participants, as well as a technology
vendor, agreed that fragmentation in FX is a cause
of frustration across the industry, especially for
market takers that provide algo services.
“The market is moving more towards algorithms
and equities style, and there are numerous events
that took place where that particular segment was
really going to take off,” added Giuseppe Nuti,
head of rates at UBS.
“But the reality now is that a lot of trades happen
on a principal basis with the same counterparties
that firms have been using for five or six years.
There is an oversupply for small sized trades and
allocation for larger sized trades, which is prob-
lematic with less market maker appetite for risk.”