From across the pond, we’re bullish 2025 could be a good year for UK equities. Firstly, with a new government and long-term fiscal policy, investors have greater clarity on the path ahead for the country. If they can successfully deliver the economic growth touted, we’re confident of a warmer reception by investors for UK equities.

Secondly, the relative value of UK equities provides additional upside should sentiment improve given their trend of undervaluation. US investors are always looking for value pockets, to which UK equites should be greater considered, particularly against their frothy US peers.

To achieve the rewards of such optimism, UK capital markets must continue evolving, and we expect London to still face challenges around perceived attractiveness. European and US exchanges will only continue to provide stiff competition, although we remain passionate believers in the potential of strong domestic markets.

The solution? Doubling down on efforts to make the UK an attractive investing hub, whether that be through listening to industry calls to scrap stamp duty reserve tax or better supporting the exchanges of Aquis and AIM to support small venture stage companies of tomorrow. These ideas alone would meaningfully improve attractiveness of UK equities further. Next year will bring no guarantees, and we’re expecting a few surprises along the way…  

Adam Conn, head of trading, Baillie Gifford  

I suspect this will be a year of index consolidation that will mask a further switch into high quality growth. I believe there will be a significant pick up in capital market activity, provided deals are priced realistically, leading to an increase in companies coming to the public markets through IPOs.

Brian Hyndman, chief executive officer, Blue Ocean Technologies 

The growth of 24-hour trading in equities has been a long time coming and a market structure development that first made headlines over twenty years ago. At that time, progress was limited to extending traditional trading hours slightly to the pre- and post-market. Also, given a lack of market demand and market infrastructure, the hours were never extended past 8pm eastern time.

Three years ago, Blue Ocean Technologies set out to solve this trading access problem that grew more apparent following the pandemic, a time that also helped fuel trading after hours in the US due to the increase in retail brokers, mobile technology, and geopolitical events. The launch of Blue Ocean ATS provided a complete modernisation of antiquated market hours during a time when investors around the world wanted the convenience of trading during unconventional market hours and in the case of Asia-Pacific, during their day-time business hours. This fuelled the geographical expansion among global investors with connectivity to retail and institutional brokers benefitting US equities trading.

As trading volumes continue to grow and new records are set, a new competitive landscape is emerging with the recent launch of another alternative trading system, OTC Markets, that will roll out their 24-hour equities trading capability and the NYSE’s announcement of their plans to roll-out this new trading offering. The entrance of new competitors is a positive trend for the global trading demand of US stocks that will only benefit investors. As the first platform to enter this space, we are encouraged by the new momentum and welcome the healthy competition.

Sylvain Thieullent, chief executive officer, Horizon Trading Solutions 

With a Trump presidency, it is fair to say that a lot of financial regulatory changes are completely up in the air. Right now though, the SEC has ratified changes to equity market structure including a move to reduce the tick sizes of trades. Smaller tick sizes would cause tighter spreads, which could have a knock-on impact on high frequency traders’ willingness to market-make US stocks while channeling large volumes of trading to technology firms like Robinhood.

This presents an opportunity for traditional retail brokers to win back the business that they have lost over the last decade if they are in a position to take advantage. They need to differentiate themselves and adapt to modern trading conditions. This means embracing technology, updating their internal operational processes, and ultimately creating the quality of experience that customers expect in 2025.

The post The TRADE predictions series 2025: Equities Equities Equities… appeared first on The TRADE.

By leveraging Broadridge’s Securities Finance and Collateral Management (SFCM) solution, FAB will be able to bolster its coverage of global fixed income and equities markets.

The development comes as part of the bank’s drive to expand securities lending in the UAE and wider Middle East.

“This collaboration caters for the growing demand for securities lending and borrowing within the Middle East and is aligned both with local regulatory needs and with international best practices,” said Darren Crowther, head of securities finance and collateral management at Broadridge. 

Broadridge’s provision of its SFCM platform — the first AWS SaaS deployment in the region — demonstrates a renewed focus in the Middle East and indicates readiness to support FAB’s strategic goals, the firm said in a statement.

As FAB navigates the evolving landscape of securities borrowing and lending regulations in the region’s markets.

The collaboration is also expected to yield new opportunities and efficiencies for FAB that will benefit clients across the globe – particularly as it navigates the evolving landscape of securities borrowing and lending regulations in the region’s markets.

The post Broadridge tapped by First Abu Dhabi Bank to build global agency securities finance business appeared first on The TRADE.

As part of the development, Northern Trust will provide outsourced trading primarily for Avanza Fonder’s global, emerging market, European and US equity market index funds.

Founded in 2006, Avanza Fonder is a wholly owned subsidiary of Avanza Bank Holding which provides services for private clients.

The fund company manages funds in-house and in collaboration with other managers.

Read more: Fireside Friday with… Northern Trust’s Amy Thorne

 “After opting to bring the management of our index funds in-house, we aimed to find a solution that would streamline our trading processes so we could concentrate on what matters most, which is to achieve outstanding results for our clients,” said Jesper Bonnivier, chief executive at Avanza Fonder.

“By collaborating with Northern Trust and utilising their ITS platform, we’ve gained access to greater liquidity and scale, enabling us to drive growth and consistently surpass client expectations.”

The past year has seen multiple investment managers outsource their trading to Northern Trust.

Most recently, UK-based asset manager Artemis selected Northern Trust to provide outsourced trading services for its equities and derivatives activity, effective January 2025.

In August, Northern Trust was also selected to provide outsourced trading to global asset manager Nedgroup Investments via its Integrated Trading Solutions (ITS). Specifically, Northern Trust will support Nedgroup with its new in-house multi-boutique fixed income platform.

Read more: Northern Trust tapped by True Potential for outsourced trading solutions

“We are delighted to be working with Avanza Fonder, a leading fund manager in the Nordic region, to support them across the trading spectrum through an integrated middle-and back-office solution,” said Gerard Walsh, global head of client solutions banking and markets at Northern Trust.

“Our customised services will help Avanza Fonder navigate ongoing global market challenges, allowing them to focus on managing the assets entrusted to them, whilst we work with them to effectively manage the trade and post-trade lifecycle.”

The post Avanza Fonder outsources trading to Northern Trust appeared first on The TRADE.

The capital is set to “optimise growth and expand trading opportunities” as the company looks to bolster its core business segments and grow in new markets “where current trading mechanisms leave significant value untapped”. 

Specifically, OneChronos is planning to launch new Smart Markets for other asset classes and geographies in addition to equities. 

“This funding validates our team’s progress in traditional capital markets and will help us achieve our vision of leveraging advances in market design and AI to find trade efficiencies that grow the global economy,” said Kelly Littlepage, chief executive and co-founder of OneChronos. 

“We’ve demonstrated how Smart Markets can transform trading in equities. Now we’re ready to bring these same innovations to other markets where traditional trading mechanisms leave significant value on the table.” 

To date, OneChronos has facilitated more than $500 billion in institutional securities transactions.

The business also continues to see strong month-over-month volume growth according to recent statistics.

The post OneChronos raises $32 million in funding round appeared first on The TRADE.

The idea of the asset class following in the footsteps of the FX, crypto and retail markets – with increasingly 24-hour processes in place – was relatively dismissed, with a move even potentially in the opposite direction suggested. 

Byron Griffin, head of execution sales and microstructure at ODDO BHF, asserted that while extended hours works very well for crypto it would not work for equities. 

“I actually think we need to shorten the hours to make it more attractive to a generation that doesn’t want to sit there absolutely glued to their screens for eight hours a day. There’s a gap in the middle of the day between about 9.30 – 10am, when the US numbers come out, where volumes just plateau.

“You could take out that whole chunk of the day, the volume would still go through, nothing bad would happen and everyone would get hours back on the day.”

Simon Dove, managing director, head of liquidity at Instinet, agreed, asserting that as metrics and data suggest it doesn’t actually matter whether the markets are open for 4 hours or seven to eight, the priority for the equities market is more so the reality of work life balance.

“I don’t want to have to choose between work and family. The way our hours work, it’s not a very friendly environment for families. The market does not need to open until 9am, the market could close at 3pm and still have the same volume.”

Further, he reminded the room that the UK had tried to do something about market hours last year which was dismissed due to European players viewing it as an anti-competitive move for their own markets.

“Equities is different [to the FX and crypto markets] and though the buy-side have been very, very vocal, unfortunately it’s been dismissed.”

Read more: Does the industry really want to be on 24/7?

Jessica Morrison, head of market structure and quantitative analytics at the LSE confirmed that the topic is still “very much a live debate internally at the moment” for the exchange.

She added: “From a personal opinion, as there is not as much liquidity in the early morning, there doesn’t seem to be any benefit to shortening the end of the day as the US is going to wake up at the same time regardless, so you’re not going to move the liquidity earlier.”

The panellists further went on to add that it is vital to remember the difference between volume and liquidity; while extending hours means numbers are going to go up, this does not necessarily translate to the underlying bedrock of natural liquidity.

The post Expanding equity trading hours risks alienating the new generation appeared first on The TRADE.

The Swiss exchange group has agreed to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Aquis at a price of 727 pence per share, valuing the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Aquis at approximately £207 million (based on treasury stock methodology).

The deal implies an enterprise value of approximately £194 million.

Alasdair Haynes, chief executive of Aquis, said: “I am immensely proud of the business we have built over the past 12 years. Since launching as a start-up subscription based exchange in 2012, Aquis has become a diversified multi-product European exchange group that creates and facilitates more efficient markets for a modern economy.

“Aquis has a clear path of growth ahead; however, the board recognises there are always some operational, commercial and market risks associated with the timing of future value creation. The cash offer de-risks this future value creation and provides Aquis shareholders with certain value at a material premium.”

Founded in 2012, Aquis has headquarters in London and Paris, operating across several business segments including a pan-European multi-lateral trading facility (MTF) for cash equities which covers 16 European markets (Markets), licensing of proprietary market infrastructure technologies (Technologies), an UK primary listing growth market (Stock Exchange), and market data derived from Markets and Stock Exchange (Data). 

“As part of SIX, we have an exciting opportunity to accelerate the development of our business and compete more effectively on the European stage, while retaining our entrepreneurial spirit. SIX shares our deep commitment to capital markets innovation and together we will be better placed to assist SMEs and growth companies in accessing capital markets,” added Haynes.

SIX added that it considers the acquisition of Aquis to be a “compelling strategic opportunity which will complement its strategy to scale the exchange business beyond its home markets”.

The combined resources and capabilities of SIX and Aquis create a pan-European exchange across traditional primary exchange and MTF businesses.

Bjørn Sibbern, global head of exchanges at SIX, said: “The combination will add Aquis’ strong offering to our traditional primary exchange and data businesses, complementing SIX’s existing growth listing segments.

“As part of SIX, Aquis will continue to operate under its existing brand and business model with maximum agility while benefitting from our resources, scale and further investment, enhancing Aquis’ ability to continue to develop its business. We look forward to welcoming the Aquis team to SIX and continuing to build a diverse, pan-European Exchange Innovator.”

More to follow…

The post SIX agrees to acquire Aquis Exchange appeared first on The TRADE.

Luca Carollo, Paolo Sturlese

Carollo brings 25 years’ experience from both Milan and London to the role. He most recently served as head of equity sales and sales trading for Italian clients at Société Générale.

As part of his new role, Carollo will focus on expanding Kepler’s Pan-European and international product offerings, particularly in the US and APAX markets, for domestic investors.

Meanwhile, Strulese has been promoted to the role of head of Italian equities, having been with Kepler for nearly 20 years. He brings expertise as an Italian country specialist to the role.

Kepler added that his deep understanding of the Italian market has enabled him to build strong relationships with investors across the UK, US, and APAC regions.

Carollo and Strulese’s appointments follow that of Oliver Mudie, who was named head of sales trading, US client zone, KCx, last month.

Mudie joined the firm from Bank of America (formerly Bank of America Merrill Lynch), where he spent the last 18 years, most recently serving as manging director, sales trading.

Elsewhere, in August, Robert Miller joined Kepler Cheuvreux’s execution leadership team as head of market structure and liquidity solutions. He was previously head of international trading analytics and strategy at Vanguard, having joined in 2019.

The post Kepler Cheuvreux makes key additions to Milan office appeared first on The TRADE.

Mike Bellaro, chief executive at Plato Partnership

The new standards have been developed by Plato member firms with discussions having taken place between European exchanges including Deutsche Börse, Euronext, SIX Swiss Exchange and Nasdaq OMX.

Among the five proposed standards is the communication of order and trade status, in which trading venues are obliged to communicate order and trade status to members within 30 minutes of an outage.

Plato added that the communication will include an outage timestamp marking orders placed, and trades executed, before the outage timestamp as valid while those placed after will be void and cancelled upon service restoration.

Read more: FIX Trading Community’s Jim Kaye on the ins and outs of market outages

Elsewhere, as part of the new standards, all orders in the order book at the time of an outage will be purged prior to market re-opening, without exceptions for different order types. Plato highlighted the importance that some Exchanges may decide, depending on the order integrity, not to perform a global purge.

Following an outage, the new standards would require market re-opening protocols, wherein a standard 15-minute notification period to re-open will be provided to market participants and an additional 15-minute pre-open period will be applied for insertion, amendments and cancellations.

“At Euronext, we are committed to upholding the highest standards of market integrity and operational resilience,” said Nicolas Rivard, global head of cash equity and data services at Euronext.

“These proposed guidelines align with our ongoing efforts to enhance market stability and provide our clients with the assurance they need during volatile periods.”

Read more: Tech glitches should not be the cause of stock exchange outages in this day and age

The new standards will also require all trading venues in an outage to apply a standard cut-off time to declare the closing price of 17:00 UK / 18:00 CET.

In an instance where an outage prevents a closing auction taking place prior to the cut-off time, Plato stated that the determination of the official closing price should be applied in the following order by the trading venue: last traded price where the continuous phase has commenced; opening price where the continuous phase has not commenced; prior closing price where the market has not opened.

Rounding off the five proposed standards is enhanced trading venue communications. This would require trading venues to maintain resilient communication channels, including providing status updates every 15 – 30 minutes during an outage, even if there are no new updates.

Plato stated that while not all standards have been agreed by all exchanges, where standards have been agreed, venues will amend their market outage policies and/or playbooks in the coming weeks.

The standards seek to bolster the resilience, consistency and transparency of market operations during outages.

They were developed in close collaboration with the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) working group on market outages, who are developing standards for UK trading venues, ensuring consistency across both UK and European trading venues for market participants.

“By working closely with Europe’s leading exchanges, we’re making a tangible step toward ensuring markets can function smoothly despite unexpected challenges,” said Mike Bellaro, chief executive of Plato Partnership. 

“This isn’t just about improving procedures – it’s about safeguarding the trust and integrity of the entire trading ecosystem.”

Read more: Market outages are one area where UK and EU could collaborate amid divergence, says Cboe

Earlier this year, a liquidity landscape report from Liquidnet highlighted market outages and resiliency as one of the ‘must watch’ areas for both regulators and market participants.

To combat these issues, the market must take an approach of individual responsibility in making the eco-system function optimally, the firm noted in its report.

The post Plato Partnership proposes new standards for tackling market outages appeared first on The TRADE.

Specifically, the update will allow for clearer definitions of rotation trade equity, credit, and duration in bonds as iFlow will be able to generate on-demand charts for shorts, holdings, and positioning.

“The new indicators are designed to provide transparency into unexpected market moves and show how markets have acted historically, helping to determine the potential vulnerabilities around shock events,” explained BNY. 

iFlow Shorts aggregates short interest metrics that log borrowing and lending behaviour, while iFlow Holdings demonstrates investor exposure to stock and bond markets. This includes a holistic view into how investors have allocated capital across factors such as country, sector, credit rating and maturity. 

iFlow Positioning measures investment preferences – comparing capital deployment across countries and sectors.

Read more: Fireside Friday with… BNY Mellon’s Geoffrey Yu 

Jason Vitale, head of global markets trading at BNY, said: “Finding ways to distil and understand market data continues to be one of the most important priorities for our clients. The challenge of today is no longer about getting access to vast market data sets but finding ways to unpack and generate those insights.

“Given our unique vantage point, touching around one fifth of the world’s investable assets, and through our expanded iFlow capabilities, we’re able to help clients better understand global markets.”

The post BNY bolsters iFlow’s fixed income and equities data appeared first on The TRADE.

Named SimpliCT, the new venture will be based in the Netherlands and co-owned by Cboe and Aquis as equal shareholders.

Alasdair Haynes, chief executive, Aquis, commented: “This proposed joint venture would not only represent a cost-efficient, robust business model that integrates advanced complementary, proprietary technologies, it would also be designed to deliver fair compensation for data contribution, aligning the interests of contributors and consumers.” 

Once established, the new venture will explore developing a bid for the tape. The pair confirmed it would be supported by a commercial and governance framework designed to ensure fair treatment of both data contributors and consumers. 

A dedicated SimpliCT management team and industry advisory committee would be appointed in due course once the JV is launched.  

The pair confirmed that if SimpliCT is successful in the selection process, both firms will each contribute expertise, technology and capabilities. 

Natan Tiefenbrun, president, North American and European Equities, Cboe Global Markets, added: “As one of the most important market infrastructure developments the EU has introduced for many years, it [the consolidated tape] requires a provider that has the necessary technical, operational, and commercial expertise, and is aligned to policy makers’ vision and objectives for the tape. SimpliCT has been created to meet this ambitious goal.” 

The European Commission has mandated the creation of a single entity to operate a real-time pre- and post-trade CT for equities for five years as part of the Mifir Review, which came into force in April earlier this year.  

The European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) will begin the selection process in June 2025 and choose a successful applicant by the end of 2025. 

The post Aquis and Cboe to form joint venture intent on exploring consolidated tape bid appeared first on The TRADE.