[ C O V E R
and should be lobbying their own regulators and state
bodies.”
Wicks says that it has become an essential part of
the trading role to ameliorate what regulation might
look like going forward and that it has become a key
element of his own role with LGIM. He says he spends
significant time in dialogue with industry bodies such
as the Investment Association and Plato Partnership,
as well as LGIM’s internal compliance and legal
departments, trying to help regulators understand the
impact of changes to existing and future regulation on
the markets.
While MiFID II brought in a swathe of changes for
the buy-side to contend with, LGIM were already
handling much of these changes in the daily trad-
ing process anyway according to Wicks, such as the
expanded reporting requirements and moving towards
more electronic trading. Possibly the biggest change
for LGIM has been handling the new best execution
arrangements, for which the firm finalised its new
policies and sub-policies alongside establishing a best
execution committee in April 2017. Wicks says that
the original idea for the committee was to meet on a
monthly basis initially before moving to a quarterly
model, however the meetings – which incorporate le-
gal and compliance, portfolio management, operations
and investment teams – have proved so valuable that
LGIM has stuck with a monthly schedule.
Positive mental attitude
While there has been more time dedicated to regulato-
ry affairs, Wicks believes this is something that is hap-
pening throughout the asset management industry and
part of the continuing evolution of the head of trading
role. He states that this is not just “paying lip service”
to the regulators in terms of compliance, reiterating
his view that buy-side firms should be influencing the
future of regulation to the benefit of the industry.
On a more fundamental level, although still related to
greater complexity of market structures and regula-
tion, Wicks views the increasing level of interaction
with LGIM’s clients as one of the biggest changes to
how the head of trading role is evolving.
“It is our job to help clients navigate those markets
and explain to them, in easily understandable terms,
what’s going on and how it is going to impact both their
specific funds and the market structure as a whole,”
he explains. “I spend a lot of time with clients now, for
example. Every week I am probably spending time with
at least two or three clients in various roles, talking
to them about market structure, explaining various
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aspects of the impact of regulation
on markets, and I think that is an
interesting part of the job.”
Wicks also highlights the on-
going importance of technology
and governance – both in terms
of optimising electronic trading
processes and the overarching
framework that supports those
operations – but it all comes back
to an approach of incremental im-
provements that a head of trading
should embrace.
Having only joined LGIM less
than three years ago, it speaks vol-
umes about his approach regarding
the changes to the firm’s trading
processes and global model he
has been able to effect; clearly it is
“The trading protocols are coming
together, the market structure of
equity and FX is converging, which
are both high volume and macro
products for us and we have seen
real success with that.”
bearing fruit for the firm and will
form the basis of its trading strat-
egies going forward under Wicks’
leadership.
“To be successful in any trading
role, be it on the sell-side or the buy-
side, you have to have the mindset
or attitude to want to come into the
office every day and incrementally
improve the trading process,” Wicks
states. “That, to me, is what stands
a very good trader from an average
trader. It might be small changes
on a daily basis, or on some days
no change at all, but you have the
attitude to always want to make
things better, you will eventually
see tangible results that will be
recognised. I think certainly in my
experience that is how I have been
recognised.”
Issue 58 // TheTradeNews.com // 57