MAGAZINE
Published quarterly, The DESK provides buy-side traders with precise detail on the macro-drivers, events and plans that are shaping liquidity and price discovery in fixed income markets. Contact us for your copy.
On the desk : Paul Squires : AXA IM
PAUL SQUIRES: ON CALM AND THE STORM. AXA Investment Managers’ global head of trading & securities financing displays a steady hand as his trading function begins servicing new investment models while navigating turbulent markets. There is considerable disruption to fixed income market structure currently; how are your trading operations handling that? We feel clear about
Derivatives : Viable alternatives : Anna Reitman
VIABLE ALTERNATIVES. Tougher capital and liquidity constraints for OTC assets are boosting exchange-traded products appeal to the buy side. Anna Reitman reports. As trading over-the-counter (OTC) for fixed income instruments becomes more costly, some buy-side trading desks are looking to exchange-traded alternatives that provide greater liquidity and are not subject to the same capital costs for
Corporate bonds : How big is credit? : Joel Clark
STANDING ROOM ONLY FOR CREDIT PLATFORMS. As corporate bond trading platforms do battle, the size of the prize is not clear. Joel Clark reports. How much profit can a credit trading venue actually make? Getting a new trading platform off the ground is not easy even in transparent asset classes. Chi-X Europe made just £800,000
Technology : Making a mark on TCA : Lynn Strongin Dodds
FIXED INCOME TCA IS OVERCOMING DATA PAUCITY. Transaction cost analysis is becoming more sophisticated despite data limitations. Lynn Strongin Dodds looks at the current offerings. Fixed income markets are becoming more transparent. That provides one part of the solution to transaction cost analysis (TCA) for bond trading. Yet fixed income TCA is still at a
Tony Russell leaving head trader role at Newton Investment Management
The DESK understands Tony Russell is to leave Newton Investment Management as head of trading. Russell, who has worked since 1997 at Newton IM, a boutique asset manager and part of BNY Mellon Investment Management, was not contactable for comment. A press spokesperson for BNY Mellon Investment Management declined to comment. According to industry sources,
Lead feature : Will dealers budge? : Dan Barnes
ICAP AND THE BUY-SIDE: THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING. A consensus-led approach has allowed the interdealer broker to overcome political challenges, as brokers open a channel for their investment management clients. The ICAP Sponsored Access Model (ISAM) is poised to go live, allowing asset managers to trade fixed income on the interdealer market for the first time,
Government & municipal bonds : Electro muni : Chris Hall
GLOBAL WINDS OF CHANGE FUEL MUNICIPAL BOND AUTOMATION. International interest is pushing the municipal bond market towards greater electronification and transparency. Chris Hall reports. A new era dawned in the US municipal bond market in August, when the Upper Mohawk Valley Regional Water Finance Authority became the first US issuer to receive a green bond
On the desk : Jim Switzer : AllianceBernstein
JIM SWITZER: ON TAKING CONTROL. The AllianceBernstein credit trading desk has been refocused to handle market fragmentation and the withdrawal of dealer liquidity, giving its traders a commanding presence in tempestuous markets. Jim Switzer is the New York-based global head of credit trading at AllianceBernstein. He joined the firm in 2011 and manages 12 credit
On the desk : Juan Landazabal : Deutsche Asset Management
ON TRADER EVOLUTION. Juan Landazabal, global head of Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange Trading at Deutsche Asset Management describes the internal and external pressures that are shaping the role of head trader. Juan Landazabal is global head of Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange Trading at Deutsche Asset Management. His team includes approximately 25 fixed income traders/sector managers
Industry viewpoint : The rise of electronic trading : Banca IMI
TACKLING THE CHALLENGES IN FIXED INCOME HEAD-ON. Monica Cammarano and Umberto Menconi, Market HUB E-Commerce Distribution Banca IMI. In recent years, the global fixed income landscape and its trading facilities have had to adapt in order to meet clients’ and issuers’ needs, to deal with the aftermath of the financial crisis as well as technological
Industry viewpoint : Constantinos Antoniades : Liquidnet
THE CORPORATE BOND MARKET – WHERE NEXT? Constantinos Antoniades, Global Head of Liquidnet Fixed Income. With a large portion of the government bond market at negative or near zero yields, corporate bonds have taken the mantle in the search for yield. Investment portfolios, pension funds and savings accounts now rely heavily on corporate bonds for
MarketAxess : Buy-side price makers?
THE RISE OF THE BUY SIDE AS A PRICE MAKER. Gareth Coltman, Head of European Product Management, MarketAxess. In the second quarter of 2016, over 600 buy-side firms across the US, Europe and Asia offered liquidity via MarketAxess’ all-to-all Open Trading protocols. Has the age of the buy-side price maker finally arrived Basel III has
Industry viewpoint : James Dale : Tradeweb
ACTIVELY IMPROVING EFFICIENCY ON THE TRADING DESK. James Dale, Director, Head of Product Strategy & Implementation at Tradeweb, explains how advances in electronic trading are helping the buy-side. Where do trading desks struggle with efficiency in the trade lifecycle? Pain points inevitably vary from desk to desk, but some themes are common: the sheer volume
Industry viewpoint : Mark Goodman : UBS
THE PERILS OF NOSTALGIA. Mark Goodman, Managing Director, Global Head of Electronic Trading – FX, Rates and Credit at UBS. ‘Nostalgia’ is a modern word, coined by a Swiss physician in the 18th century as the designation of a mental disorder. Johannes Hofer of Basel applied this diagnosis to soldiers on military campaigns who suffered intense homesickness,