3:15pm - Registration & Networking
3:45pm - Welcome Remarks
Panel 1: Regulation NMS: What Have We Learned?
4:00pm - 4:35pm
Moderator: Vlad Khandros, Managing Director, Global Head of Market Structure & Liquidity Strategy, UBS
Panelists:
John Ramsay, Chief Market Policy Officer, IEX
Enrico Cacciatore, Senior Quantitative Trader, Head of Market Structure & Trading Analytics, Voya
Morgan Melchiorre, Director of Sales, US Equities and Product Strategy, CBOE Global Markets
Phil Mackintosh, Global Head of Economics & Research and Senior Vice President, Nasdaq
Regulation National Market System was meant to ensure that investors always receive the best price for their orders and to encourage new innovation. Since 2005, the rules have positively affected investors and issuers as well as spurred a technological revolution for capital markets. Many influential market participants, however, have been extremely critical of the rules as markets evolve and become more complex. The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission has also recently voiced concerns, bringing a holistic review of Reg NMS to the table. Key discussion points include:
- The impact of Reg NMS on U.S. market structure and its unintended consequences
- Areas that need to be focused on and the challenges to address them
- Order Protection Rule, continued exchange fragmentation, and new Alternative Trading systems
- Upcoming transaction fee pilot, off-exchange trading, market data and market access concerns, and alternative opportunities to tweak NMS
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Panel 2: Market Data Fees, Which Side Are You On?
4:35pm – 5:10pm
Moderator: Matt Simon, Senior Analyst, Aite Group
Panelists:
Kirsten Wegner, Chief Executive Officer, Modern Markets Initiative
Greg Babyak, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, Bloomberg
Douglas Munn, Head of Elektron Real Time, Refinitiv
Michael Mook, Senior Managing Director, Program Trading Group, Weeden & Co.
The data that empowers the decisions of all market participants, from computer-driven traders to large asset management firms, is critical. But the data-access fees that U.S.-based exchange groups charge brokers and investors have become a serious source of contention. Brokers and investors complain that exchanges are price gouging their customers. Exchange groups defend prices as a function of supply and demand, and participants should compare value propositions by looking at the total cost to transact on exchanges. Key discussion points include:
- Overview of the current landscape for market data products and market access services, and their associated fees; exploration of the potential steps to improve products and services
- Discussion of current market data products, market access services, and their associated fees
- Assess core data infrastructure along with a review of public transparency
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5:10pm - Networking Break (Sponsor Showcase)
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Panel 3: The Controversy Over OMS/EMS Connectivity Fees
5:30pm – 6:15pm
Moderator: Spencer Mindlin, Analyst, Aite Group
Panelists:
Jeff Estella, Former Director of Trading Analytics & Investment Operations, MFS Investments
Brian Mullane, Director, Buy Side Execution (REDI), Refinitiv
Brian Nathan, Global Manager, ITG Net, Virtu Financial
Amy May, Executive Director, Morgan Stanley
Brokers, their buy-side clients, and buy-side order management system vendors have become mired in complicated compensation structures that include many variables, such as bundled pricing, soft dollars, and blends of fixed and transaction-based fees. Products and services are sometimes paid for by parties that do not always consume the services but are their sponsors. Vendors compete vigorously to win desktops and must deliver mission-critical technology to multiple parties among the trade life cycle. And now the revenue models for how OMS vendors are paid are under the spotlight. Some of the key points of discussion include:
- Aite Group estimated brokers paid US$1.23 billion globally in 2017 for client connectivity
- The sell-side is under pressure and being forced to rethinking the viability of many of its traditional lines of business; net client profitability is a key metric
- Regulations and standards for best execution are putting pressure on the buy-side to understand the value of what they receive from their partners as well as who is paying the bill
- The true cost of buy-side technology is largely unrecognized across the industry