News

Morgan Stanley trader banned for front-running clients

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned and fined a senior trader employed on Morgan Stanley’s London trading floor for “deliberately disadvantaging his customers by 'pre-hedging' trades without their consent”.

Crisis and competition straining Asian exchanges – Celent

The effects of the global recession and a growing competitive threat from alternative trading venues are increasing the pressure on Asian stock exchanges, according to a new report from research and consulting firm Celent.

Nasdaq keeps top spot in US equities trading

Nasdaq Stock Market, the US arm of global exchange group Nasdaq OMX, has retained its position as the largest venue for trading US equities, reporting a matched market share of 20.8% of the total US equity volume in April.

Australia lifts shorting ban for financial stocks

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), the country’s securities regulator, lifted its short-selling restrictions for financial securities on Monday, but said it would not hesitate to reintroduce the ban if market conditions required.

BlocSec cuts minimum order size to US$250,000

BlocSec, a non-displayed block-trading platform for Asian equities, has reduced its minimum order size to US$250,000 from US$1 million in response to falling block sizes in the region.

Moving with the times

Buy-side traders’ execution decisions are arguably under greater scrutiny than ever, with clients expecting every penny spent on investment strategy implementation to be justified. This places great importance on the ability of global asset management firms to identify and manage a suitable benchmark for their trade execution performance across multiple countries and indeed portfolio managers.