The TRADE 63 - Q1 2020 | Page 16

[ I N - D E P T H | T C A ] Unlocking TCA Hermes Investment Management was the recent winner of mid-cap trading desk of the year at The TRADE’s annual awards. Here, head of trading, Daniel Nicholls, tells Hayley McDowell about the asset manager’s process for effective use of transaction cost analysis. I t’s no secret that trade or transaction cost analysis (TCA) has become one of the most important components of the buy-side trading desk. In light of market structure changes due to increased regulation and the all-encompassing endeavour for best execution, it has never been more critical for traders to get to grips with in-depth analysis of exactly what has happened with each and every execution. The idea is that with effective TCA processes, not only can traders confidently showcase to regulators that they are indeed meeting best execution requirements, but they can also gain once-shrouded insights into broker routing decisions, algorithms, and trade performance 16 // TheTRADE // Spring 2020