A new organisation which aims to facilitate discussion of cross-industry topics between European investment management firms and other market participants has been established in London with the support of brokers Barclays Capital, Instinet, Bloomberg Tradebook and ICAP.
The Alpha Trader Forum (ATF), run by financial markets consultancy K&K Global Consulting, will meet at Barclays Capital's offices in Canary Wharf in London on 21 June to discuss the impact of exchange consolidation on the buy-side.
Guest speakers at the event will include Hans-Ole Jochumsen, CEO of Nasdaq OMX Nordics and president of trade body the Federation of European Securities Exchanges, Rainer Riess, managing director, Deutsche Börse, and Nicholas Bertrand, head of equities and derivatives at the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
“The buy-side want an interactive forum where they can discuss interesting, relevant topics with as many of their peers as possible,” said Anita Karppi, managing director, Alpha Trader Forum.
Trading venues are presently engaged in a raft of merger discussions. Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext are currently hoping to gain regulatory authorisation from the European Commission for their merger, while Kansas-based BATS Global Markets is close to finalising its deal for multilateral trading facility Chi-X Europe. The LSE is also awaiting regulatory approval for its proposed merger with Canada's TMX Group, but faces pressure from the Maple Group, a consortium of Canadian institutions that is seeking to hijack the LSE's bid with its own hostile takeover. Mergers are also being sought between Japan's Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Stock Exchange – although this has been held up the recent earthquake – as well as Russia's RTS and MICEX stock exchanges.
The ATF says its core objective is to facilitate face-to-face discussions between buy-side representatives and the group's strategic partners to resolve issues related to trading and market structure. Twenty-five buy side participants will be admitted free of charge to the event.