[ M E E T T H E D E S K | N I N E T Y O N E ]
to the Ninety One team is Liam Hagan – formerly recognised as one of The TRADE ' s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution in 2023 . In the same year , Hagan joined Ninety One from Amundi where he had been serving as an FX trader for almost four years . He now trades foreign exchange for the G10 and emerging markets , while acting as a backup for the emerging markets fixed income traders when necessary .
“ You ' re looking at news headlines and the news flow really matters and can have massive ramifications on the day to day workflow in FX ,” he explains . “ Oftentimes your family sees the six o ’ clock headlines , and they ask have you heard about this ? and you say yeah I ' ve been living that over the course of the last eight to 10 hours .”
Previously in his career , Hagan also spent four years on the sellside at Société Générale in various FX sales roles . He moved to the buy-side in 2019 for a change of pace , looking to be more holistic in his approach to execution .
“ The sell-side tends to operate on a 24-hour basis ,” he adds . “ And what happens in one 24-hour period doesn ' t necessarily have a bearing on the 24-hour periods either prior or post , which can be a little bit frustrating at times because you are somewhat chasing the narrative , whereas on the buy-side , your approach becomes much more long dated and holistic .”
The frontier Ninety One specialises in trading the emerging and frontier markets , an area of expertise that brings with it a layer cake of nuance that the team must incorporate into their day-today workflows . Frontier markets are more established than LDCs [ least developed markets ] but are less established than the emerging markets . They ’ re newer in terms of access to capital but less developed in terms of how feasible it is to get into them .
It means workflows aren ’ t always as straightforward , explains emerging markets trader Richard Willis . Willis is one of the longer serving members of the trading team in London . In nothing short of a baptism of fire , he took his first steps into trading in January 2007 in the build-up to the global financial crisis .
“ Historically , investment banking and trading was fairly wild and there was a lack of control generally in terms of the way banks managed traders , P & L and risk ,” he adds . “ Post the GFC [ global financial crisis ] things have changed 180 degrees in terms of regulation and compliance regimes .”
Starting his career at Absa Capital on the Africa trading desk , Willis explains that as a junior market maker he was given a book of business - Nigerian and
“ Oftentimes your family sees the six o ’ clock headlines , and they ask have you heard about this ? and you say yeah I ' ve been living that over the course of the last eight to 10 hours .”
LIAM HAGAN
Ugandan bonds among other things - and told to face off against seasoned asset managers and peers .
“ Working at a bank , on a market making trading desk is arguably one of the most fun , but also one of the most stressful roles you can play ,” he says . “ You ' ve got competing market makers that you are up against . You ' re also going against very sophisticated investors who are no longer naïve . For example , if they look at a country like Poland , the buy-side research analysts and portfolio managers are analysing the nuances of each of these bond curves , so they ' re probably know things a lot of time better than the sell-side trader .”
He moved to the buy-side and his current role at Ninety One in 2016 after five years at Barclays in an emerging markets trading role . He explains that he left the sell-side for a change of pace but that his ex-
46 // TheTRADE // Q3 2024