Buy-side warns brokers on SOR rebates

Almost half of buy-side traders say their primary consideration when using brokers’ smart order routers (SORs) is that orders are routed to support best execution, rather than covering sell-side costs. A total of 47% of respondents to theTRADEnews.com’s June poll indicated that rebates for placing liquidity on trading venues should not skew routing by SORs at the expense of best execution.

“These results are very consistent with feedback we have received from our institutional clients,” said Michael Seigne, head of European algorithmic trading, Goldman Sachs. “Clients want to be sure that their brokers are prioritising client order execution quality over and above the brokers’ own cost when optimising smart order routers.”

Concept hires to grow Chicago sales and trading desk

US brokerage Concept Capital has expanded its institutional sales and trading team in the mid-west region of the country.

The firm has hired a five-member institutional sales team from Jesup & Lamont, a Chicago-based full-service brokerage and investment banking firm, to broaden its institutional sales and trading business in equities. The new hires are the latest in a series of senior appointments Concept Capital has made in the last six months.

Buy-side warns brokers on SOR rebates

Almost half of buy-side traders say their primary consideration when using brokers’ smart order routers (SORs) is that orders are routed to support best execution, rather than covering sell-side costs. A total of 47% of respondents to theTRADEnews.com’s June poll indicated that rebates for placing liquidity on trading venues should not skew routing by SORs at the expense of best execution.

“These results are very consistent with feedback we have received from our institutional clients,” said Michael Seigne, head of European algorithmic trading, Goldman Sachs. “Clients want to be sure that their brokers are prioritising client order execution quality over and above the brokers’ own cost when optimising smart order routers.”

Concept hires to grow Chicago sales and trading desk

US brokerage Concept Capital has expanded its institutional sales and trading team in the mid-west region of the country.

The firm has hired a five-member institutional sales team from Jesup & Lamont, a Chicago-based full-service brokerage and investment banking firm, to broaden its institutional sales and trading business in equities. The new hires are the latest in a series of senior appointments Concept Capital has made in the last six months.

Liquidnet Europe’s traded value up 30% in Q2

Buy-side dark crossing network Liquidnet’s total principal traded in Europe in Q2 2009 was £13.38 billion, a 30% increase over Q1 and a 21% year-on-year rise. The figure equates to an average daily principal traded of £219.3 million.

“We are delighted with these figures. They clearly show that European institutional investors have a healthy and increasing appetite for block-sized execution and execution quality,” said John Barker, managing director of Liquidnet Europe, in a statement.

Liquidnet Europe’s announcement closely follows fellow European dark pool NYFIX Euro Millennium’s news that its average daily matched value had increased 70% to €82 million in May, from nearly €48 million in December 2008.

Pipeline appoints senior European salesperson

Pipeline Financial Group, an operator of equity block trading venues in the US and Europe, has appointed Richard Gray as senior salesperson for its European operations as it moves ahead with its launch schedule in the region.

“Richard will be a key part of our team as we enter the latest phase of our launch roll-out and his track record in the trading environment will be a valuable addition to our European team,” commented Marcus Hooper, executive director of Pipeline Financial in Europe.

Gray has over 25 years experience in the capital markets industry, most recently at broker-dealer Millgate Capital, where he was responsible for the development and integration of technology based systems into order flow.

Investit releases new buy-side benchmarking tool

Investment management consultancy Investit has released a new integrated benchmarking tool to allow asset management firms to compare their processes with their peers and industry best practice.

“The industry has become far more competitive over the last two years with different players coming onto the market. It is more important than ever for firms to implement a best practice framework,” said Peter Ellis, managing director, Invesit, in a statement. “The challenge is how to do this in the current environment when the value of assets is being reduced and IT budgets are under pressure.”