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ficient these days and the head of
trading role is just a go between...
clearly as we are seeing in a
climate of cost cutting and margin
squeeze it makes sense to have
traders interacting directly with
the gate keepers,” adds the former
trader.
MiFID II is perhaps having the
greatest impact on global head
traders, as they look to get to
grips with the mountain of work
required to be compliant from Jan-
uary 2018. One global head trader
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between 35-40% of his time. The
majority of head traders surveyed
by The TRADE said around a
quarter of their time is spent on
MiFID II since January this year.
Another reason cited by global
head traders has been scale. As
trading teams expand as a result
of consolidation, it has become
more common for global heads of
trading to take a step back.
One head trader says: “As my
team has expanded and my
involvement in projects has
“Regulation is very
important and takes a
lot of my time up.”
A GLOBAL HEAD OF TRADING
commented that around 20-30%
of his time is taken up attending
meetings on MiFID II and com-
pliance, while another said MiFID
II and EMIR has accounted for
30
TheTrade
Summer 2017
increased, it is very rare for me to
execute order flow.”
Another told The TRADE: “We
trade infrequently, but when we
do it generally needs ‘all hands on
deck’. The trading is split approx-
imately 50/50 but I can see my
share shrinking as we get busier.
If we hired a third trader, my time
would be better spent on higher
level tasks.”
Redefining the role
Certainly the role of the buy-side
trader has become significantly
more complex and carries far
more responsibility than it may
have done in the past, requiring a
broader range of analytical skills
to scrutinise their sell-side coun-
terparts.
On the one hand, regulation has
diminished the trading abilities
for global head traders, but on the
other it has made their role more