News Archive

Liquidnet has won the best agency broker category in this year’s Waters Rankings. Decided exclusively by WatersTechnology’s readers, Liquidnet was recognized for its recent investments in its data and analytics portfolio, and several prominent leadership changes to drive its technology, analytics and equities strategies.

FlexTrade Systems, a global leader in multi-asset execution and order management systems, announces direct availability of Liquidnet’s Targeted Invitations in its multi-asset trading blotter for equities.

Liquidnet is set to launch a new service to help money managers unearth hard-to-find information which could affect investment decisions. Investment Analytics will rely on AI to analyze financial reports and earnings calls. Vicky Sanders was appointed Global Head of IA at the end of January. Larry Tabb, founder of TABB Group, said combining the technologies in Liquidnet's recent acquisitions could make for a ‘powerful package'.

The rise of passive investing and trading algorithms is amplifying the daily closing auction on stock exchanges, creating a shift in the rhythm of daily trading on stock markets in Europe. A Liquidnet report suggests the proportion of each day's dealings done in these closing auctions rose to a record 25% in Q4 2019, up from 17% in Q1. This reflects shifts in market structure such as the rise of passive equity investing through ETFs.

Institutional investors in Asia have begun 2020 much more active in the financial markets than the second half of last year. Lee Porter, Head of APAC at Liquidnet, said investors are looking for trading opportunities as subsiding geopolitical worries have increased volatility. January was Liquidnet’s second-best month in Asia since operations began in 2007.

In a series of articles looking at the challenges facing the financial services industry over the next decade, Financial News asked London senior decision-makers whether a global or UK recession is likely in 2020. Mark Pumfrey, Global Head of Equities and Head of Liquidnet EMEA, said it seems unlikely that there will be a let-up in economic nationalism. Tariffs and higher prices could therefore restrict economic growth.

Traders are arguing that if a single desk can trade all liquid instruments for an asset manager, it could see significant cost and process efficiencies. A 2018 report found that buy-side firms with a centralized desk have a number of low-touch orders to which traders cannot add value. Constantinos Antoniades, Head of Fixed Income at Liquidnet, says currently only some asset managers split high-touch and low-touch flows.

Due to differing approaches to dark trading regulations from the FCA and ESMA, market participants are going to have to make important decisions as to where they want to trade, what jurisdiction they want to trade in, and how they are going to access future liquidity. Rebecca Healey, Global Head of Market Structure at Liquidnet, says in a so-called "hard Brexit" scenario, liquidity would fragment further.

With increased responsibility being given to computers for defining investment strategies, automated trading could change the dynamics of the stock market. Widespread adoption is more commonplace due to alpha generation, and increased efficiency. Chris Jackson, Global Head of Equities Strategy at Liquidnet, says the explosion of data has made the investment process substantially more complex.

Companies are turning to external assessments to fine-tune their communications. Algorithmic traders are using sentiment analysis to identify different opinions in bodies of text. Prattle is using natural language processing to catalog a company’s commonly used words, which helps investors to better understand a company’s tone and implications.

Liquidnet, the largest dark-pool operator in APAC, enjoyed a record year trading in Singpore. YTD, Liquidnet has generated in excess of US$1.5B in total value of equities bought and sold, or principal traded. Lee Porter, Head of Liquidnet Asia Pacific, says that these numbers should be looked at in perspective, as Singapore has much lower market turnover than Hong Kong and Australia.  

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's qualm with Wall Street over recession risks is backed by data showing that much of the talk is concentrated in a few industries, including banking. A Prattle analysis shows that Financial Services companies are talking about recession more than any other sector. Prattle's analysis shows that consumer-oriented sectors such as healthcare are barely mentioning recession or similar terms.

WatersTechnology reports on Liquidnet’s new business line that will run alongside its equity and fixed-income businesses. The new line, named Investment Analytics, will combine the company's most recent acquistions, and is set to be rolled out next year. Liquidnet says the target audience for the Investment Analytics platform is long-term investors and analysts, with the aim of fitting the product within investors' workflows.

Financial News has presented its 13th annual list of women making their mark on the financial services industry in Europe. Vicky Sanders, Head of Investment Analytics Sales and Co-Founder of RSRCHXchange was named on the 100-strong list, which recognizes women who are influences within their company or industry, with the capacity to shape their business over the next year.

As Sibos 2019 approaches, leaders in technology and asset servicing talk to Funds Europe about the issues likely to be discussed at the conference in London. Tom Doris, Chief Data Scientist at Liquidnet, says when it comes to improvements in trade analytics, AI can help track the relationships between points of evidence, hypothesis testing, and speeding up the data analysis cycle.

Brummell has released its annual ‘Inspirational Women in the City’ listing, celebrating 30 women who are exceptional leaders in their respective fields. Rebecca Healey, Global Head of Market Structure at Liquidnet, and Vicky Sanders, Co-CEO of RSRCHXchange, both made the list. Brummell said that each woman on the list is an example of how determination and drive are at the core of business success.

Seth Merrin, CEO of Liquidnet, talks to Financial News about the growing uncertainties within the trading industry. Low interest rates and geopolitical concerns have increased pressure on big banks, with severe margin compression for both buy-side and sell-side institutions. However, Liquidnet has gained market share since the introduction of MiFID II.