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Joining forces on
MULTI-ASSET
When Unigestion formed a cross-asset solutions team several years ago , Eric Champenois and his team were tasked with evolving the trading desk . Here , Hayley McDowell finds that while the shift to multi-asset operations was challenging , it has since paid dividends .
Integrating trading of new asset classes in a straight through processing ( STP ) model is no mean feat . As buy-side trading desks continue to migrate towards multi-asset operations , harmonising workflows and ensuring talent across instruments being traded are at the same high standards can be a real challenge .
For Geneva-based specialist asset manager Unigestion , with $ 19.7 billion in assets under management , the formation of the cross-asset solutions team several years ago meant that Eric Champenois , head of the multi-asset trading desk , and Stéphane Marie-Françoise , senior vice president for equities trading , were about to tackle that challenge head-on .
“ As of today , we trade everything . The bulk of what we trade is definitely equities , but we also trade a lot of futures and options , rates , bonds , credit derivatives and FX ,” Champenois tells The TRADE . “ We are quite active in most asset classes now . When we moved to an STP model , it was absolutely vital the operational workflows across those additional asset classes were as good as what we had already established . For us , the challenge was replicating the stability we had achieved in equities .”
Handling new investment strategies with new asset classes meant handling and implementing new systems . Following a widespread review of its IT infrastructure and an in-depth due diligence exercise , Unigestion selected a global front-to-back portfolio and order management system ( OMS ), and several dedicated execution management systems ( EMS ).
The asset manager has a large proportion of clients based in Europe and the team decided the business would be best placed adhering to Europe ’ s principal , and arguably most burdensome regulatory regime , MiFID II . With this in mind , the trading desk was split . Champenois and Marie-Françoise are trading out of Geneva , while ex-BlackRock trader Frank Galouzidis and former British Steel Pension Scheme trader Edward Gladwyn operate from London . “ It made sense from a business perspective for us to have front-office activities in London ,” Champenois explains . “ We had
24 // TheTRADE // Fall 2020