John Krog
vp client relationships,
SunGard’s Brass business unit
In June, I attended the FPL Canadian Electronic Trading Conference in Toronto, where I had the chance to sit down and talk about SunGard’s acquisition of GL with Automated Trader. While this was a typical Q/A type interview and I appreciated the chance to sit down, when I was done I thought there was more I could share about the industry and about this acquisition in particular.
While the Canadian trading industry has a set of challenges; not many of them are that unique. In a nutshell, fragmentation = liquidity challenges = higher transaction costs = increased market data = lower profit margins and price improvements = costs growing faster than revenue. However, this also presents numerous opportunities for Canadian firms. This is the time firms should align their trading technology with market opportunities so they are at the forefront of this movement and can capture additional business and revenue.
When analyzing the Canadian market it is imperative to express the importance of a platform that can handle cross-border and multi asset trading because of the close economic ties Canada shares with the U.S. Sell side firms need to be able to conduct business efficiently and optimize their efforts to manage their expanding global presence. It’s also important to start investing in advanced technologies, such as sophisticated algorithms, DMA and TCA.
I am interested to hear to hear your perspective on the Canadian marketplace and some of the challenges traders face today and moving forward.