Main Day 1 - Wednesday 4th
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Registration and Breakfast
8:30 am - 8:35 am
Welcome Address
8:35 am - 8:40 am
Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
Spencer Mindlin -
Senior Analyst,
Aite Group
Thriving in a New Market Order
8:40 am - 9:00 am
Buy Side Keynotes: Leading the way through change – Creating a dynamic team structure and trading strategy that encourages constant innovation and adaptability to growth on a global scale
Paul Whitehead -
Managing Director, Global Head of Equity Trading,
BlackRock
Ingrid Jacobs -
Chief Diversity Officer,
Eaton Vance Management
- Defining diversity - What does diversity mean to you as a global leader at you organisation?
- Building a trading desk – What are the newer skill-set requirements for successful trading desks and what are the tangible benefits of a well-rounded team? How can the industry better encourage a more inclusive workforce?
- How to think of the diversity externally – What is the most important to your clients and how do you as an organization engage with minority firms to deliver best execution strategy?
- How to align your internal diversity with your external clients and what are the ways of doing this - How do you provide clients with access to your business while also allowing them to be successful and profitable?
- How has Blackrock leveraged a dynamic organizational structure and leadership to create a global solution to your investors’ needs?
9:00 am - 9:40 am
All Star Panel: A brave new world for capital markets – What does it take to thrive in the ever evolving global trading environment where innovation, transformation and renewal wins?
Spencer Mindlin -
Senior Analyst,
Aite Group
Eden Simmer -
Head of Global Equity Trading,
PIMCO
Mehmet Kinak -
Global Head of Systematic Trading and Market Structure,
T. Rowe Price
Craig A. Hurl -
Director, Global Trading,
ONTARIO TEACHERS’ PENSION PLAN BOARD (OTPP)
Jennifer Hubbs -
Managing Director, Portfolio Trading,
Dash Financial Technologies
Roman Ginis -
Founder, Chief Executive Officer,
IntelligentCross
Market structure changes over the last decade have been defined by the 2008 financial crisis. In this post-credit crisis era with enhanced electronification, low volatility and the growth in importance of exchanges amongst many other things, the face of the equity market structure is changing for good. Join our first panel of the conference and find out what it takes to succeed in a new market order.
- Where are the opportunities being seen in the market given the constantly evolving regulatory landscape and how are the leading brokers preparing for long term survival?
- How has continued growth of systematic trading, the SEC evaluation of the maker/taker model and the enhancements to Rule 606 influenced the equities market structure in 2019 and what impact will this have over the next 12 months?
- Assessing the impact of new market entrants – What are the effects on fees, competition and the wider ecosystem?
- Dark pools vs. Exchanges – How is the Transaction Fee Pilot going to impact exchanges, ATSs and dark pools and what behavioural changes will happen as a result of this?
9:40 am - 10:00 am
Fireside Chat: Multilateral to bilateral - The future of high touch trading
Tim Mahoney -
CEO,
BIDS Trading
Isaac Chang -
Co-head of Trading,
AQR
The death of the trader is an exaggerated term that is thrown around equity markets, and there is no doubt the human element of equity trading is here to stay. While algorithms, AI and automation is a growing trend, they will not replace the human trader for need and importance, and voice communications remain a crucial element of execution. Join AQR Capital Management, Citi and BIDS Trading as they define how voice communications will always compliment automated flows and sit at the heart of global financial markets.
- With increased use of algorithms, dark pools and electronic market makers, what impact has this had on high touch trading?
- What are currently the most commonly used execution channels for the buy side?
- Is Central Risk Book (CRB) the optimal method for minimizing trading costs, managing risk, and, therefore, providing liquidity?
- Evolution of IOIs and the new ways of sourcing liquidity- How will this impact buy side trading flows?
10:00 am - 10:20 am
Sell Side Keynote: Moving towards a multi-asset desk – Assessing the technology and personnel requirements to move away from asset class-based silos to achieve true cross-asset integration
Josh Kulkin -
Global Co-head of Trading,
Jane Street
Paul Whitehead -
Managing Director, Global Head of Equity Trading,
BlackRock
- Evolution of the multi-asset desk - What factors are leading trading desks to cover more assets and giving rise to the multi-asset desk
- What are the biggest driving forces behind multi-asset trading which are pushing buy side desks to become truly multi-asset and what are the advantages of this model?
- How have trader skillsets had to evolve to account for the development of a multi-asset desk?
- What similarities are there between trading equities and ETFs?
10:20 am - 11:00 am
Morning Networking Break
10:20 am - 11:00 am
Morning ETF Masterclass: How active managers can use ETFs - what trading strategies and technologies should you implement to reap the benefits from the get go?
James Maund -
Vice President,
State Street Global Advisors
- How active managers can utilize ETFs to gain desired exposure - what tooling style active managers use versus passive?
- How the ETF rule has changed the way that the ETFs operate and the entire landscape - who is benefitted from the changes and how?
- How ETFs are used to help in trading and get faster and easier access to liquidity?
- Analysing the latest Innovations in trading platforms and ETF trading tools
- The latest developments in the use of AI in ETFs space – examining AI Powered Equity ETF
11:00 am - 11:20 am
Technology Keynote: What are the top 3 innovation trends shaping the future of the equity trading landscape and how can you position yourself to capitalize on these trends?
Jon Glennie -
Global Head of Equites Trading Technology,
JP Morgan Asset Management
- Preparing for the next big thing – Where is the next paradigm shift coming from and how can you position yourself to capture its benefits?
- Buy side resource allocation in 2019 – How are you connecting to new trading venues, managing resourcing constraints and keeping up to date with a constantly changing market structure?
- How can new data and automation tools enable you to speed up processes, record information in a quicker, more structured format, and address issues related to regulatory reporting, compliance and trade reconstruction?
- Focus on technology, algorithms, and connectivity – Which tools are crucial to enable traders to lower their transaction costs and improve efficiencies across the full trade lifecycle?
11:20 am - 12:00 pm
All Star Panel: Addressing the liquidity conundrum - How can you ensure you are building a liquidity sourcing strategy that will enable you to thrive in ever-changing market conditions?
Spencer Mindlin -
Senior Analyst,
Aite Group
Michael Warlan -
Global Head of Trading,
Third Avenue Capital Management
Vlad Khandros -
Managing Director and Global Head of Market Structure and Liquidity Strategy,
UBS
Jim Ross -
Managing Director, Institutional Equities,
CODA
The US equities market is becoming increasingly efficient, and is now commonly regarded as the best in the world; spreads are reducing, execution costs are dropping and liquidity is increasing. Join our equity leaders as they outline how you can benefit from this evolution and increased industry competition, which will enable you to ensure you are tapping into the right pools of liquidity.
- New exchanges – Is this beneficial for liquidity seeking or will bring even more fragmentation to the market?
- The effects of MiFID II – How is it changing the liquidity pools; is there a material change in terms of the availability of sell-side liquidity?
- How has the focus on best execution impacted liquidity formation in the market as institutions gravitate towards venues where they can achieve the best possible execution?
- Assessing the best avenues to market – How is the buy-side currently interacting with the markets both directly, indirectly and what are the results from this?
Vlad Khandros
Managing Director and Global Head of Market Structure and Liquidity StrategyUBS
12:00 pm - 12:40 pm
Spotlight on Innovation: Rise of the robots – How should modern AI be used to empower your trading teams to thrive in an increasingly complex equities market?
Dave Weisberger -
CEO,
CoinRoutes
Alex Shindich -
Head of Equity OMS &Trading, Cross Asset Compliance and Legal Technology,
Capital Group
Jon Glennie -
Global Head of Equites Trading Technology,
JP Morgan Asset Management
Enrico Cacciatore -
Head of Market Structure and Trading Analytics,
Voya Investment Management
John Adam -
Senior Vice President, Senior Director, Portfolio Management & Trading Solutions,
FactSet
We are now at the forefront of the AI industrial revolution, and buy side firms are looking to combine AI with the human touch to augment human intelligence in decision making. Traders worldwide are looking to apply AI now to enhance their trading capabilities and give them a competitive edge. Join our industry leaders who are in pole position to capitalize on this revolution.
- Empowering your trading teams with AI and machine learning – How are the buy side practically applying this now to generate alpha and move them ahead of the competition?
- Overcoming the current challenges of AI for equity trading – How has AI developed to overcome the transparency, speed and information leakage challenges to offer new frontiers in equity trading?
- Examining current use cases for AI, ML and RPA in equity trading – Assessing the key competencies of modern AI and insights into what it takes to succeed while implementing AI and reinforcement learning
- Incorporating reinforcement learning and AI to remove trade bias – Where is AI driving efficiencies across the full trade life cycle from investment idea to order placement?
- Assessing the core optimisation frameworks behind machine learning – How is this driving buy side strategy selection, urgency, and participation levels?
Alex Shindich
Head of Equity OMS &Trading, Cross Asset Compliance and Legal TechnologyCapital Group
John Adam
Senior Vice President, Senior Director, Portfolio Management & Trading SolutionsFactSet
12:40 pm - 2:00 pm
Lunch and Networking Break
12:40 pm - 1:10 pm
Lunch Tech Masterclass: Make technology your partner, not your replacement- Strategies for the 2020 equity trader
Kapil Phadnis -
Global Head of Algorithmic Trading Research,
Bloomberg
- Overcoming information overload
- Adopting automation
- Using unique peer-universe data sets for insights
- Finding the outliers with search queries and alert catcher
Tracks
TRACK A- Building A Best-In-Class Equities Desk
2:00 pm - 2:40 pm 360 Perspective: The human touch in a digital era- How to balance the use of technology and human element for equity trading? Shane Swanson - Senior Analyst, Market Structure and Technology, Greenwich Associates Christopher Fiorito - Director of Trading, River Road Asset Management Tereck Fares, CFA - Equity Trading Director, Chicago Equity Partners Joseph Bacchi - Head of Multi-Asset Trading and Investment Operations, Acadian Asset Management Vincent Catalano - Chief Markets Strategist, Stuyvesant Capital Management- 10-year anniversary of algorithms and we are still here – Do we still need humans to build relationships?
- The use of quantitative technics versus human judgement - Do we need a human intuition and experience in the era of decisions drawn on years of data?
- Balancing technology with a human touch - Is there a way the two can coexist and add to one another?
- Will trading be outsourced in the future?
Joseph Bacchi
Head of Multi-Asset Trading and Investment OperationsAcadian Asset Management
TRACK A- Building A Best-In-Class Equities Desk
2:40 pm - 3:20 pm 360 Perspective Analysing pros and cons of outsourced trading and infrastructure management: How to establish whether outsourcing can bring cost efficiencies, compliance and best execution benefits to all aspects of trading Jeffrey Estella - Principal, Estella LLC Bill Skutch - Head Trader, Scopus Asset Management Aaron Hantman - Chief Executive Officer, Tourmaline Partners Guy Cirillo - Business Development, Fixnetix- The outsourcing of your people, processes and technology- How is the industry view changing with outsourced trading and why?
- What trading functions are currently being outsourced and how it can be added to a trade desk? (overnight trading, TCA, infrastructure, support, networks, regulatory compliance and reporting)
- How have changes in broker fees driven the appetite for more transparent services and what does this mean for the future of asset management and outsourced services?
- How can outsourced trading bring wider efficiencies across the industry to improve the trading environment for all participants?
- How do you incorporate an outsourced trading desk into your operational model so that you are managing that relationship rather than being displaced by it?
TRACK B- Implementing Next-Gen Trading Technology
2:00 pm - 2:40 pm 360 Perspective - Adapting your approach to algos in a new trading landscape – How should you use modern algos to consistently achieve best execution and increase trader productivity? Spencer Mindlin - Senior Analyst, Aite Group Robert Dynan - Managing Director, Global Head of Equity Trading Technology, Wellington Management Katherine Chairez - Head of Execution Strategy, Harris Associates Craig A. Hurl - Director, Global Trading, ONTARIO TEACHERS’ PENSION PLAN BOARD (OTPP)- Redefining an Algo Wheel – Can we all define an algo wheel and its usage in the same way?
- How to focus on trends and use PM profiling to align PM biases with effective trading strategies?
- With the increase of high touch automation how can we increasingly bring constituency around IOI flow and block trading to make it more systematic?
- How can you measure and analyse your data and what sample size would be required to derive a meaningful conclusion about your brokers?
Robert Dynan
Managing Director, Global Head of Equity Trading TechnologyWellington Management
TRACK B- Implementing Next-Gen Trading Technology
2:40 pm - 3:20 pm Case Study Revolution: The Use and Abuse of VWAP: Are VWAP strategies truly commoditized? Henry Yegerman - Global Head of Sales, LiquidMetrix- A detailed understanding of the behavior characteristics of VWAP strategies
- Debunking the myth: Are all sell side VWAP Algo's essentially the same?
- Examining data from different VWAP algorithms analyzing how they are similar and how they differ
- Comparing sell side VWAP’s in respect to risk, seasonality, trading efficiency and post-trade price movement - what are the implications for topics such as Algo wheel selection?
TRACK C- Buy Side Only Workshops *Open to a maximum of 20 buy side attendees*
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Interactive Workshop: Leveraging ETF Options- Analysing the construction, use cases and avenues to trade them in an efficient and cost effective manner Justin Rothberg - Vice President, Equity Derivatives, Tradeweb Dave Kovtun - Options Sales & Trading, Jane Street Jonathan Oliva - Vice President, iShares Market Coverage Group- How is the landscape of ETF options growing in light of increased completion and new offerings available to the buy side?
- Assessing the volume growth in ETF options- why are more buy side turning to these instruments?
- What are the portfolio use cases for ETF options and how can you take advantage of these?
- Improving your access to liquidity- bringing RFQ execution to the options industry
TRACK D- Head Trader VIP Boardrooms *Invitation only- Open to a maximum of 12 buy side attendees*
2:00 pm - 2:50 pm Buy Side Boardroom: Trader and portfolio manager collaboration – How are the traditional skillsets becoming more aligned as buy side firms reduce silos and create a more streamlined investment division? Ted Drury - Global Head of Trading, UBS O'Connor- Creating greater alignment between PM and traders – How the trader skillset is evolving to assist more in the investment process (order intentions, alpha profiling, factors at work in the market, etc.)?
- What are the value-creating qualities of the trading desk?
- How can traders enhance the fund performance not only preserving it but also generating alpha?
- Deconstruction of alpha and different trading strategies - How the alpha profiles of the stocks you are trading affect your trading strategy and trading style?
TRACK D- Head Trader VIP Boardrooms *Invitation only- Open to a maximum of 12 buy side attendees*
2:40 pm - 3:20 pm Buy Side Boardroom: Restructuring your desk in an age of margin pressures – How can you define a growth agenda to generate greater alpha to serve the needs of your investors? Michael Warlan - Global Head of Trading, Third Avenue Capital Management Leonid Hmelnitsky - Independent Expert, former Head of Global Equity Trading, Mellon Capital- Evolution of the trading desk – What steps can you take to withstand increasing margin pressures
- In the light of the fee pressures how are US equity asset managers disclose and manage costs with the shrinking assets?
- New realities of a trading desk – How to do more with a smaller budget?
- Assessing the technology, people and processes to set yourself apart in 2020- what now constitutes a best in class equities trading desk?
3:20 pm - 4:10 pm
Afternoon Networking Break
3:20 pm - 4:10 pm
Afternoon Masterclass- Last call, research and solutions for trading the most important 10 minutes of the day
Rob Maher -
Head of Americas Electronic Sales,
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Ana Avramovic -
Americas Market Structure,
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
The continued growth of passive investment strategies benchmarked to the close coupled with interesting market structure idiosyncrasies have created compelling opportunities for active investors to source liquidity at the end of the day. We present our comprehensive research on end-of-day trading dynamics along with a variety of solutions to help solve any trader’s end of day objectives.
Tracks
Track A
4:10 pm - 4:30 pm 360 Perspective: The changing face of high and low touch execution - How can you best combine humans with machines to increase efficiencies across your desk? Shane Swanson - Senior Analyst, Market Structure and Technology, Greenwich Associates Bill Skutch - Head Trader, Scopus Asset Management Theodore R. Lazo - Managing Director & Associate General Counsel, Equities, SIFMA- What skill-set is required from the modern-day equity trading floor compared to the last decade and how the trading teams have been adjusted on the back of this?
- Balancing technology with a human touch - what is your current ratio in terms of the technology and people?
- Re-thinking low touch vs high touch trading – Is it possible to create a hybrid model where electronic and high touch become the same desk?
- What buy-side desks are focusing on right now to up their performance game?
- How is the increased reliance on data and analytics enhancing the decision-making process?
Track A
4:30 pm - 4:50 pm Fireside Chat: Building winning teams - What steps are crucial to recruiting, developing and retaining top talent to give you a competitive edge? Jennifer Litwin - Senior Vice President, Head of Relationship Management, Greenwich Associates Eden Simmer - Head of Global Equity Trading, PIMCO- What is the perfect recipe for hiring, training and retaining top talent in today’s highly competitive market conditions?
- What are the newer skill-set requirements for successful trading desks and what are the tangible benefits of a diverse team?
- Overcoming unconscious biases - What benefits can this really bring to your organisation?
- How can the industry better encourage a more diverse and inclusive workforce?
Track B
4:10 pm - 4:30 pm Fireside Chat Transformation through technology - How can the buy-side adapt to the technological demands of modern-day financial markets? David Firmin - Managing Director, Head of Global Trading Research, Instinet Keri Tusa - Director, Global Head of Trading Technology, Lazard Asset Management- What challenges do the buy-side face given the speed of advancement and innovation in global equity markets?
- How can modern computational techniques, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, help the buy-side become more efficient?
- Case Study: How are Lazard Asset Management adapting to the ever-changing demands placed on large financial institutions?
Track B
4:30 pm - 4:50 pm Case Study: Succeeding in data driven markets- How to move your TCA beyond just venue analysis and routing performance to improve performance? Miles Huffman - Head of Equity Analytics and TCA, Vanguard- Beyond box ticking- Where can modern TCA help you achieve significant cost reductions on your desk?
- How can you ensure your TCA goes beyond price and gives you increased scrutiny across the full investment process?
- Practical applications – How does the data we produce affect our trading decisions, change the way we trade and reduce transaction costs?
- How can you move from reporting and analysing the numbers to focusing on reducing your costs?
- Is there a new solution that could offer a new look or a new feel to venue analysis or order types?
- Managing your cost vs. real time TCA - What is driving increase in real time TCA
Track C
4:10 pm - 4:50 pm Interactive Workshop: Investing in a data-driven future – How can you ensure the alternative data sets you are using can enable you to outperform in an increasingly competitive market? Olga Kokareva - Managing Director, Synthesis- Are alternative data sets really the Holy Grail? How to ensure the data you have is cost efficient and can help you find alternative alpha
- Assessing the costs of alternative data- How can you ensure you are disciplined enough to use the right alternative data in your portfolio?
- How can you establish the right sources of alternative data to ensure they are adding significant value to your investment process?
- Assessing the alternative data landscape and how to approach different types of data in terms of pre-processing and cost analysis
- What people and processes need to be in place to extract insights from the data and apply them to the particular investment process?
Track D
4:10 pm - 4:50 pm Diversity and Inclusion Networking Group: Improving opportunities for all in capital markets - Covering everything from communications, self-branding and career progression and how diversity can be used as a competitive advantage on your equity trading desk Jennifer Litwin - Senior Vice President, Head of Relationship Management, Greenwich Associates Ingrid Jacobs - Chief Diversity Officer, Eaton Vance Management Spark Nakamura - Executive Director, Equity Trading, JP Morgan Asset ManagementWe encourage both men and women to attend this session to discuss this hugely important topic in the industry
4:50 pm - 5:20 pm
Fireside Chat: Volatility as friend or foe – How can you turn market swings from a challenge into an opportunity to set your equity division up for success in 2020?
Win Thin -
Global Head of Emerging Markets Strategy,
Brown Brothers Harriman
Heather Heldman -
Managing Partner,
Luminae Group
- Assessing the main events of 2019 - What impacted your views of investment opportunities and risks in today’s markets?
- Outlining the impact of trade wars, tariffs on US growth – What are the implications for equity investing?
- Rise of global populism- Should investors to adopt more defensive positions and seek out diversified sources of income?
- Analysing volatility trends - Do we see it more or less and how can you best prepare your desk to react to volatility swings?
- The impact of volatility on markets - how to de-risk your portfolio?
- How can you use volatility to help strengthen portfolio resilience?
- How can applying a dynamic adaptive strategy reduce risk exposure in difficult equity markets while strengthening long term return potential?
