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again . Giving the traders the tools to make the right decisions .”
From 2011 / 12 onwards , electronification of fixed income started to become more prevalent , as did the use of data to access new parts of the market . As time went on , 2014 / 15 saw the advent of open trading .
“ There ’ s nothing wrong with being dropped in the deep end , as long as you have the right support network .”
All-to-all became the hot topic , and Poole has always been a big advocate of accessing new counterparties . “ Jupiter doesn ’ t really have the scope to broaden out its remit to 25 local LatAm brokers ,” he admits . “ So it was handy to have access to different pools of liquidity by utilising these platforms . In doing so , we then had capacity to hire additional traders .”
Then in 2017 , Poole was made manager of the fixed income team – and that ’ s when things started to get interesting .
Leading by example “ I felt empowered to bring more change in ,” he explains .
“ I think I ’ m more of a carrot than a stick person . I want my team members to come on the journey with me . I don ’ t want to tell them how to do things . Buy-side traders don ’ t like being told what to do . They do like the idea of trying something that works , and then doing it again . My job is to encourage them to try something new . If it works , let ’ s go with it . If it doesn ’ t , let ’ s figure out why .”
Poole is a fan of the film Inception , and he likes the idea of planting the seeds , the ideas , in people ’ s heads , and then watching them grow . “ That slow dawning that perhaps technology can help you , that perhaps automation isn ’ t turkeys voting for Christmas ,” he illustrates .
“ I believe in leadership that empowers members of staff to do new things , who are willing to learn . What happens if you make a mistake ? We have a very open and collaborative process around that . If there ’ s an error , or something we call a ‘ near miss ’, it gets logged in the system and we look at why it happened and how we can fix it . It ’ s very much a process , and it ’ s something that I very much encourage within the team . If anyone sees a gap in the process , I want to move away from the ‘ oh , it ’ s always been done like that ’ mindset towards ‘ why is it done like that , and how can we do it better ?’ That is what I see as my remit – to ensure that processes are as efficient and as streamlined as they can be .
“ I don ’ t look at things on a tradeby-trade basis , or ever want to say to a trader : you did a bad job . I want to look at trend analysis and understand why they ’ re making that decision over time , to trade that stock or that bond . Because if it ’ s sub-optimal , then we need to look at the decision-making process , and then determine whether they ’ ve got the right tools to access the market . Have they got the equipment to make that decision , or are they doing it just because it worked once , so they try it again .”
Wag the tail , not the dog But there are shades of grey – and for Poole , automation is a monochrome rainbow .
“ Automation ,” he muses . “ There is undoubtedly a place for automation in fixed income . But automation is very dependent on how you execute your firm ’ s book of business . Jupiter is entirely active . Every fund manager lives or dies by their decisions , and by their alpha-generating capability . I see the trading desk as being part of alpha retention . If automation allows us to make our workflow more efficient , which means we can focus more on those alpha generative trades where we can actively add value , then I ’ m all for it .
“ What I ’ m not in agreement with , is using automation for the sake of it . I ’ m not in agreement with technology changing your process . I think you should use
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