[ M E E T T H E D E S K | R O B E C O ]
Jayson Suen
Bastiaan Berendsen are much more practical fast decision makers and they are quick on their feet . As a researcher , you have more time to dive into details , think about things , and build things from the ground up .”
The pair ’ s primary focus is analysing the firm ’ s interaction with the market and the impact they are having with it via how the trading team is taking positions . As a long-term investor , the institution is keen to avoid influencing prices in the market .
“ We started out with evaluating execution algorithms and trader behaviour but now we ’ re at the point where we started research on providing real-time recommendations to traders ,” says Ter Braak who joined Robeco in 2021 . “ Order allocation is an interesting challenge . First and foremost , you must ensure that you are comparing apples to apples , which we do through randomised controlled trials . Second , you should allocate most orders to the best performing brokers , while others should receive sufficient orders to determine which broker performs best in the next period .”
Central to much of the team ’ s work of late has been a focus on enhancing its use of real-time data to improve execution and aid the high touch decisionmaking processes . The driver behind it – using the data to assess whether alternative behaviours could have reduced the firm ’ s costs through back testing .
“ Over the years , we have stored data centrally in a database and we have continued to add carefully selected datasets to enhance our decision-making process ,” explains head of the equities trading desk , Wijgerse . “ Going forward with the use of new technologies , we ' d like to assist traders with their decisions during trading instead of post-trade like typical TCA [ transaction cost analysis ]. Originally TCA is more backward looking and we want to be forward looking .”
Trading research at Robeco for the last few years has been focused on automatically routed flow that goes to broker algorithms – importantly focusing
“ Part of the Asian trades will still be traded from Rotterdam because we have large quant programs and cash must be managed between regions .”
VALÉRY DERBAUDRENGHIEN
20 // TheTRADE // Q1 2024