C O V E R
I N T E R V I E W
invited to take over as chair of the
Investment Association’s buy-side
trading committee. Through that
profile Baillie Gifford became a
founding member of the Plato Part-
nership and the idea of a non-for
profit, buy-side, sell-side and asset
owner organisation looking to en-
hance the difficulties that exist in
the equities market structure really
is a fantastic opportunity.”
Promoting change
Conn gave a rather moving accep-
tance speech at The TRADE’s Lead-
ers in Trading awards ceremony
at the Savoy Hotel in London. He
mentioned the meritocracy of the
industry as being something he has
always admired and respected. “At
Leaders in Trading it was great to
see the younger end of the spec-
trum, certainly there’s equality and
diversity which I think is just great,”
Conn says.
“One of the Baillie Gifford shared
beliefs is that we should promote
the highest standards of service
and professional behaviours to help
enhance the reputation of the in-
vestment industry. I think there are
a lot of trust issues around gender
for various reasons that need to be
built up, but the industry is going
about that the right way. The fact it
is a meritocracy is perhaps its big-
gest single strength. It’s great there
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A D A M
C O N N
MiFID II regulation although he
takes a more positive slant than
perhaps others would. He believes
it’s an opportunity and the general
premise of transparency is one that
should be applauded. Conn says he
has been encouraged by the prag-
matic approach regulators have
taken to ensure that whilst there’s
transparency in the industry’s pro-
cesses, there is an understanding
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TheTrade
Winter 2017
Moving in the right direction
Speaking to some of his trading
counterparts, bodies like the In-
vestment Association and his head
of trading peers, Conn is confident
there are sufficiently smart people
out there to ensure the industry
will end up with a market structure
“The buy-side must be prepared to adapt to a
new paradigm and those firms who are more
prepared to embrace change will benefit.”
that transparency in trading is not
always a good thing.
“Probably the biggest take-away
of the last two years has been the
way that different parts of the in-
dustry have collaborated to try and
come up with sensible solutions
that benefit the end investor. Yes
we have dark pool caps and we
may all have our different views on
those, but we do have a structure
and it’s interesting to see how firms
are looking to address the way we
will be trading equities moving for-
ward and doing so in a compliant
fashion,” Conn says.
“There will likely be hiccups and
that’s difficult to predict. It may
be that trading stutters for a short
Women were certainly becoming more
successful in the industry, which I view now
as a very significant moment in my career.
are far more opportunities for
women in the industry and women
are very much treated as equals. I
have worked now for three female
bosses and I think it’s great.”
Conn, like any other senior
buy-sider, has his views on the
already commented on the need for
MiFID III.”
period but I also have confidence
that there are good people in our
industry who will end up with a
market structure that works. There
may need to be some changes to
efficiency moving forward and I
know Kay Swinburne MEP has
where clients aren’t disadvantaged,
something he says is his biggest
fear. Conn considers navigating
that new market structure and the
rise in passive investing as other
challenges for the buy-side at the
moment.
“We have to be sure we have ac-
cess to sufficient liquidity and have
to be open to change; I think that’s
probably the biggest thing. The
buy-side must be prepared to adapt
to a new paradigm and those firms
who are more prepared to embrace
change I think they will benefit,
whether that’s change through
technology or the way people do
things. It’s difficult to tell but I think
if a firm has the right ethics and
ability to embrace change they will
be in a strong position,” he says.
“As asset managers we are acting
a fiduciary on behalf of other peo-
ple. We need to set a positive exam-
ple not just within our industry but
within our communities as well.
Our actions and our behaviours
should support society as a whole.
The industry has tightened its
controls and we are moving in
the right direction to uphold and
promote those standards.”