TradeTech Europe 2025
13 - 15 May, 2025
Palais des Congrès de Paris
Day 1 | 14th May
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Registration & Networking Breakfast
8:30 am - 8:30 am
Welcome Address: Anna Andrews, Editorial Director, WBR
8:30 am - 8:30 am
Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
Julia Streets -
CEO,
Streets Consulting
Reviving European Capital Markets
8:30 am - 9:00 am
C-Suite Fire-Side Chat: Examining Europe’s competitiveness on the global stage: What is the financial services sector wish-list for the new regulatory and political regime that will enable UK and EU capital markets to grow and flourish?
Philippe Setbon -
Chairman, AFG and Chief Executive Officer,
Natixis Investment Managers
Drew Gillanders -
Head of International Equities, Europe,
Citadel
Delphine d'Amarzit -
CEO,
Euronext Paris
London’s share of IPOs has plunged in recent years. The UK now only accounts for just 5% of global IPO’s whilst the US claims around 40%. But it’s not all doom and gloom for the UK and EU public markets, with new legislative and regulatory reforms looking to transform Europe’s competitiveness in the battle for IPOs.
In this opening fire-side chat you will hear the candid views of top bosses from an asset manager, investment bank and stock exchanges on the state of the UK and EU’s IPO market, and what reforms regulators and governments need to prioritise to support the growth of European capital markets.
- How does policy and regulation need to evolve to reverse the outflow of capital and companies from the UK and EU’s public markets?
- What are the key reforms that the investment management industry need to see to help revitalise the LSE’s IPO market?
- How can industry tackle depressed investor interest in the UK and EU stock market?
- How can we re-balance our approach to equity risk- taking to help reinvigorate public markets?
9:00 am - 9:45 am
Market Structure Reform Panel: Reviving the stock market: How can policymakers, regulators and market participants work together to build a successful, efficient and integrated public equities market ecosystem?
Rupert Fennelly -
EU Head of Equities Electronic Trading & Sales,
Barclays
Simon McQuoid-Mason -
Head of Equity Products UK & Ireland,
SIX Swiss Exchange
Robert Miller -
Head of Market Structure and Liquidity Solutions,
Kepler Cheuvreux
- Exploring the economic importance of a functioning equities markets and the key drivers for success
- How does US and EU capital markets compare, and what lessons can EU markets learn from the US model?
- Why are UK entrepreneurs struggling to raise capital and therefore listing in other regions, and what structural reforms are needed to reverse this trend?
- Is a European consolidated tape, and a review of financial taxes and stamp duty, crucial for the growth of the public market?
- How has the FCA’s new simplified listing regime helped support firms seeking to list shares in the UK?
9:45 am - 10:05 am
Policymaker Keynote: Defining a fresh policy agenda: How are the latest legislative reforms by EU and UK policymakers enhancing the efficiency and resiliency of financial markets and improving access to capital for SMEs?
- What impact has the UK’s new listing rules had on the UK government’s economic growth mission?
- How has the EU listing act package been received and has it improved access to EU capital markets?
- How are European policymakers supporting SME’s and small cap funds, and why has there been a failure to grow this part of the economy to date?
- What progress had been made to advance the capital markets union and the aim to make public markets more attractive to SMEs?
Addressing the Liquidity Gap
10:05 am - 10:50 am
Liquidity & Trade Transparency Panel: Understanding the true liquidity picture: How can market participants boost reported liquidity and trading volumes to present a more accurate and appealing market for investors?
Fabien Oreve -
Deputy Global Head of Trading & Securities Finance,
Candriam
Simon Dove -
Managing Director, Head of Liquidity, EMRA,
Instinet Europe
Sam Railton -
Director of Business Development, EMEA,
Tower Research Capital Europe
James Baugh -
Managing Director, Head of European Market Structure,
TD Cowen
Rob Boardman -
CEO of Virtu Execution Services,
Virtu
- How can EU and UK market access a full picture of liquidity and volumes beyond lit markets?
- How can industry best define and report hidden liquidity?
- Which liquidity sources are accessible, and how is crossing and internalised flow being reported?
- Will a European consolidated tape solve the liquidity transparency issue?
- How does the current post-trade transparency regime, under MiFID, need adapting to capture the full scope of equity trading activity in Europe?
10:50 am - 11:15 am
Morning Refreshment Break
10:50 am - 11:50 am
Morning Masterclass: Growth of the closing auction: How can you adapt your trading strategy at the close to optimise execution outcomes?
*By invitation only*
10:50 am - 11:50 am
Morning Masterclass: Outsourced trading: What are the pros and cons to different outsourced models, and how can you determine the right one for your firm?
*By invitation only*
10:50 am - 11:50 am
Morning Masterclass: Accelerating automation of primary markets: What are the latest developments in streamlining and automating deal demand workflows?
*By invitation only*
11:15 am - 12:00 pm
Liquidity Fragmentation Panel: Examining liquidity dynamics: What does the growth of bilateral streaming models, SIs and trading at the close mean for price formation and lit-continuous trading?
Vincent Boquillon -
Head of Equity Trading,
Euronext
Anish Puaar -
Head of European Equity Market Structure,
Optiver
Eric Stockland -
Managing Director, Co-Head Global Electronic Trading,
BMO Capital Markets
- Where is liquidity today, and where will it be in three years [predictions and polling question]? Where is liquidity shifting [dark pools, bank SIs, bilateral platforms]?
- What impact is the move away from lit markets having on price formation, transparency and intra-day liquidity?
- Examining the growth of bilateral liquidity provision and the buy sides experience of this alternative stream of liquidity
- What value do bilateral market makers and internalised bank liquidity bring to the buy side, and what does it mean for the marketplace and exchanges?
- Does the central limit order book still have a place in today’s market?
- What is the net impact on price formation in light of market models pulling liquidity out of lit continuous phases?
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
Retail Liquidity Panel: Increasing retail participation in Europe: How can equity market participants better attract and integrate retail flow into the trading ecosystem to help boost liquidity opportunities in Europe?
Jason Conan-Davies -
Head of Trading,
Nutmeg
Emilie Rieupeyroux -
Head of Market Strategy, Cash Equity & Data Services,
Euronext
- Examining retail flow in Europe, which countries have more retail investors and why?
- Outlining the differences in US vs EU market structure, and the key factors driving robust retail involvement in the US
- What efforts are being made to educate retail investors on how to trade futures and options to improve liquidity in both cash and equity derivatives markets?
- When is retail liquidity most available during the trading day [opening, throughout, at the close]?
- How are brokers leveraging retail flow for their clients, and what trends are they seeing?
- How are exchanges enhancing their services to attract more retail order flow and enabling institutions to better interact with this flow on-exchange?
Driving Automation with Data and Tech
12:30 pm - 12:55 pm
Keynote Interview
Douglas Cifu -
CEO,
Virtu Financial
12:55 pm - 1:25 pm
Automation & Analytics Panel: Realising the full potential of automation: How can you leverage the latest tools and platforms to increase automation of small orders and block trades to drive optimal and efficient execution?
Stuart Lawrence -
Head of Equity Trading,
UBS Asset Management
Joe Bellman -
Head of Dealing,
Arbuthnot Latham & Co
- How can you determine the rules set-up in your EMS and how often you should be reviewing them?
- What solutions are available to enable you to automate trades with special settlement instructions?
- What have been the experiences and approach of buy side firms implementing algo wheels, and have they done this in-house or via third party vendors?
- How are providers integrating AI into algo wheels to enable them to route new orders based on previous trading strategy results?
- How is the electronic block trading ecosystem evolving and which players are offering the buy side a unique model in addition to traditional high-touch sales trading?
1:25 pm - 2:15 pm
Networking Lunch
1:25 pm - 2:15 pm
Women in Trading Lunch
Join this Women in Trading Lunch to build a network of female traders
1:25 pm - 2:15 pm
Buy Side Lunch Workshop: Examining emerging market opportunities: The top 5 things you need to know when accessing and trading in emerging markets
*By invitation only*
1:25 pm - 2:15 pm
Buy Side Lunch Workshop: The latest ETF algo developments: What are the liquidity seeking capabilities of ETF algos, and what are the benefits to the buy side?
*By invitation only*
Conference Tracks and Workshops
Track A: Advanced Analytics
2:15 pm - 2:35 pm Gen AI Case Study: Practical application of Generative AI: How can you build a robust framework and roadmap to apply AI to your investment and trading processes to optimize performance? Timothee Consigny - Chief Technology Officer, H2O Asset Management- What are the key factors when building a governance framework to help mitigate security risk concerns?
- How can you build a business case to obtain buy in from senior management?
- How can you leverage internal expertise and data to build out your platform and models?
- Outlining current AI use cases on the trading desks and understanding the value vs costs
Track A: Advanced Analytics
2:35 pm - 3:15 pm Pre-trade Models Panel: Improving pre trade analytics: What advancements are being made by vendors and buy side to improve the accuracy of TCA and pre-trade models for large high-touch orders? Benjamin Mahe - Head of High Touch Trading, AXA Investment Managers Kevin O'Connor - Global Head of Analytics, Virtu Danielle Fregeau - Global Equity Trader, Impax Asset ManagementDuring this panel you will hear from buy side traders on the challenges they face with TCA for large high touch orders. And TCA providers will talk through improvements they are making for pre-trade analytics capabilities for large multi-day trades to help clients determine expected cost of execution.
- How can you create meaningful datasets to study high-touch trades?
- How are TCA providers improving their capabilities to benchmark performance and predict execution costs for large, multi-day high touch trades?
- How can you connect your TCA, data providers and internal systems to create a platform that connects data sources and shows you real-time information?
- How are TCA providers incorporating LLMs for efficient querying?
- What improvements need to be made in relation to the integration and connection between TCA and OMS providers to improve the dissemination of market data?
Track A: Advanced Analytics
3:15 pm - 3:35 pm Auto-execution & TCA Case Study: Applying advanced techniques: How can you integrate machine learning into your processes and routing logic to enhance trade automation and TCA capabilities? Matthieu Chomez - Equity & Derivative Execution Trader, Société Générale Luxembourg Mark Montgomery - Strategy and Business Development, big XYT- How can you use ML to cluster orders and adjust automation parameters?
- What tools and methods can you leverage to add data into your decision tree to increase automated execution?
- How to work collaboratively with your providers to build routing logic into your OEMS
- How to overcome internal push-back by educating compliance, risk and senior management on the benefits of ML
Track A: Advanced Analytics
3:35 pm - 4:05 pm Broker Performance Panel: Building a robust broker evaluation methodology: How can you improve your processes to better evaluate the performance and adaptability of broker algos to reduce market impact and trading costs? Nicholas Weber - Head of Execution, Indosuez Wealth Management Ilija Zovko - Principal Researcher, Algo Execution & Trading, Aspect Capital- (e.g. execution costs, slippage, speed, market impact) and how do you tailor these metrics to specific trading objectives and conditions?
- How can you effectively leverage your data and TCA capabilities to rank broker performance?
- What new customisable algo offerings are brokers developing to enable you to adjust algo strategies in response to market shifts?
- How best to communicate the algo performance and execution outcomes to your brokers to improve future results, and what feedback the brokers would find helpful
- What is the process for replacing brokers in your algowheel, and what criteria do you use to select a new broker you haven’t tested before?
Track Chair:
Jesse Forster, Head of Equity Market Structure & Technology, Coalition Greenwich
Track B: Workflow & Tech Stack Optimization
2:15 pm - 2:45 pm Cross Asset Infrastructure Panel: Harmonising systems & platforms: How can you integrate multiple systems to achieve a seamless and flexible cross asset trading desk? Ashwin Venkatraman - Global Head of Equity Trading Technology, J.P. Morgan Asset Management Michael Steliaros - Global Head of Equity Portfolio Engineering and Trading, ADIA- How to build a business case for consolidating systems
- How can you best collaborate with IT and operations to ensure the desk requirements are met?
- What’s the criteria for evaluating platforms and ensuring the individual asset class requirements and nuances are met?
- How to build a unification layer on top of your existing platforms
- How can you assess TCA requirements across asset classes and determine whether it is feasible to consolidate analytics capabilities?
Track B: Workflow & Tech Stack Optimization
2:45 pm - 3:10 pm OEMS Case Study: Lessons from an OEMS build out: How we evaluated and implemented a new OEMS with custom configuration to meet specific trading needs Stephen Strebel - Enterprise Architect, Trading, Zürcher Kantonalbank Medan Gabbay - Chief Revenue Officer, Quod Financial- Outlining the vendor selection process and how to build your criteria.
- How can you establish a collaborative relationship with your vendor to achieve the best result possible?
- How to build an implementation roadmap to integrate the new OMS with existing systems.
- How can you work with your vendor to build a configuration layer on top to improve system flexibility and meet specific trading needs?
- What were the results and lessons learned?
Track B: Workflow & Tech Stack Optimization
3:10 pm - 3:35 pm Next Generation Desktop Interview: Building seamless workflows: How can you connect disparate data sources and systems to build a consolidated view and unified workflow? Brad Levy - CEO, Symphony- How can you consolidate multiple disparate sources of data into your execution platform?
- What is the latest technology that is facilitating the integration of data sources?
- Which vendors are forging partnerships to improve interoperability across the investment management industry?
- How can integrated data and systems improve communication between PM’s and traders, and enable the desk to communicate real-time insights on liquidity and market dynamics?
Track B: Workflow & Tech Stack Optimization
3:35 pm - 4:05 pm ETF Panel: Examining ETF execution developments: What are the latest broker ETF algo offerings and how are they optimising trading outcomes?Track Chair:
Matt Howell, Global Head of Derivatives and Multi-Asset Trading, T. Rowe Price
Track C: Developments in Equity Derivatives
2:15 pm - 2:45 pm Market Structure Panel: Navigating market structure complexities: What are the latest market structure and product developments that will help drive interoperability and improve ease of equity derivatives trading? Matt Howell - Global Head of Derivatives and Multi-Asset Trading, T. Rowe Price Charlotte Alliot - Group Head of Institutional Derivatives, EuronextThe US has seen huge growth in derivatives volumes and retail participation in recent years, whilst the European market has remained flat. This is attributed to the lack of retail investor education, and a fragmented market structure with siloed liquidity and clearing models, creating a more complex and costly trading environment. The speakers will look to unpack solutions and ways to improve the current siloed model to lower the barrier to entry and to encourage greater participation, as well as product trends and the migration from OTC to listed.
- How do the EU and US market models differ, and can Europe achieve more competition whilst removing venue and clearing silos?
- What effort is being made to address the siloed liquidity and clearing model to bring more interoperability to the market?
- Examining the product complexities in Europe, and how products have different tax treatments
- How are liquidity dynamics shifting in OTC vs listed derivatives, and what are the benefits and disadvantaged to both?
- Are we seeing a greater push from OTC to listed due to regulation and balance sheet limitations, and what new innovative listed products are being developed as a result?
Track C: Developments in Equity Derivatives
2:45 pm - 3:05 pm Algo Case Study: Building algos for options: How can you build option algos in-house to suit your trading style and improve execution performance?- Examining in-house and third party algos, and what algo to choose depending on the scenario
- How can you leverage third party platforms to enhance algo customisation?
- What are the benefits of automating this flow, and are there any risks?
- What are the latest developments in electronic solutions for single stock options in Europe?
Track C: Developments in Equity Derivatives
3:05 pm - 3:35 pm Trade & Workflow Automation Panel: Boosting automation of derivatives trading: How can you overcome product complexities to automate trading, improve performance and workflow efficiencies? Mark Stacey - Head of Process Automation, Balyasny Asset Management Alexandre Kubiak - Head of Trading & Analytics, Nordea Life & Pensions Didier Van Heirstraeten - Head of IT Investment Management, Candriam Ian Mawdsley - CPO, Trading and Connectivity Solutions, Broadridge- How does automating derivatives execution compare to cash equities when considering the additional variables and product complexity?
- How are providers developing their capabilities to enable greater automation of larger sizes, and to capture the nuances of each product?
- What are the nuances of vol products, in terms of different legs, and is there a way to automate under strict parameters?
- How can you integrate complex instrument data and expiry information into your system, and how can your system handle rolls and strategies?
Track C: Developments in Equity Derivatives
3:35 pm - 3:55 pm Futures TCA Case Study: Building robust TCA capabilities: How can you improve your processes and tools for measuring trade performance for your futures trading activity? Ash Sharma - Multi-Asset Trading Analytics Manager, Aviva Investors
Track C: Developments in Equity Derivatives
3:55 pm - 4:05 pm Emerging Markets Interview: Examining opportunities in MENA: What are the latest developments in market structure and execution services that are driving trading efficiencies and reducing costs? Julian Bruce - Head of Institutional Equity Trading, EFG Hermes Chris Edwards - Managing Director, Prime Services, Index and ETF, Absa CIB
Track Chair:
Rebecca Healey, Managing Partner, Redlap Consulting
Track D: Preparing for Regulatory Changes
2:15 pm - 2:25 pm Opening Remarks & Recap on MiFID II Review: MiFIR/ MiFID II- making sense of the key amendments and examining UK- EU divergence Darryl Cornelius - Head of Business Regulatory Change, State Street Global Advisors- A quick update to remind participants on the key 2024 revisions to MiFIR and MiFID; PFOF, order execution policies, SIs, double volume cap, share trading obligation
- What is the current state of regulatory divergence between the UK and EU?
- Will the UK continue to unwind from MiFID II rules post- Brexit to become more competitive, and how far will divergence go?
- Will the EU follow UK’s lead?
- How can firms navigate dual regulatory regimes, and what challenges will this bring?
Track D: Preparing for Regulatory Changes
2:25 pm - 2:55 pm Market Reform Panel: Examining Consolidated Tape progress: What are the latest developments in establishing a UK and EU consolidated tape for equities and ETFs, and what benefits will it bring to the market? Virginie Saade - Head of Government and Regulatory Policy, Citadel Arjun Singh-Muchelle - Executive Director, Government & Regulatory Affairs, EMEA, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Mikko Andersson - CEO, Scila Rebecca Healey - Managing Partner, Redlap Consulting- Outlining the latest regulatory developments and milestones, including cross-border coordination between EU and UK authorities
- What are the expected timelines and key deliverables?
- What will the tape look like and how will cost allocation work?
- Will the tape require rules around reporting hidden liquidity, and could this help provide a consolidated view of liquidity in Europe?
- How will the tape enhance transparency and improve price discovery to benefit market participants?
- What are the key challenges in implementing the tape, such as data standardization, costs and governance?
Arjun Singh-Muchelle
Executive Director, Government & Regulatory Affairs, EMEAGoldman Sachs Asset Management
Track D: Preparing for Regulatory Changes
2:55 pm - 3:25 pm Market Hours Debate: Reviewing stock market trading hours: What is the case for and against reducing the trading day? Chris Collins - Senior Vice President, Trading Europe, Lazard Asset Management- What are the key concerns around the potential impact to volumes and liquidity?
- If Europe was to shorten market hours, how would the implementation work and what are the risks around misalignment between stock exchanges?
- Examining other markets, such as Norway, and how the move to shorter trading hours has impacted volumes and market functioning?
- What impact will shorter trading hours have on talent retention and improving the diversity of the investment management industry?
Track D: Preparing for Regulatory Changes
3:25 pm - 4:05 pm T+1 Panel: Assessing UK/ EU’s approach to T+1 settlement: How is settlement misalignment between regions impacting trading dynamics, and what are the latest UK/ EU timelines for migrating to T+1? Rob Chapman - Senior Trader, American Century Mark Austin - Principal, Head of Trade Support, Connor, Clark & Lunn
*Max 20 attendees*
Track E: Skills Workshop
2:15 pm - 3:00 pm Presenting 101 Workshop: Mastering the art of presentingIn this 45- minute skills workshop you will learn 4 key things to help build your presentation skills:
- Learn how to tailor your message to the specific needs of your audience
- How to craft a compelling and clear narrative and the fundamentals of structuring your presentation
- Discover best practice for creating visually compelling slides
- Gain tips on how to build confident delivery skills
Track E: Skills Workshop
3:15 pm - 4:00 pm Demystifying AI Workshop: A practical guide for traders on the application of artificial intelligence in asset management Gareth Shepherd - Co-Head of Machine Intelligence & Portfolio Manager, Voya Investment ManagementIn this 45- minute workshop you will learn the basics of artificial intelligence and how it’s being applied to asset management and trading:
- Clarifying the distinctions between AI, ML and Gen AI
- Exploring practical examples of AI-driven approaches in portfolio management, risk management and trade execution
- Exploring the steps to integrating AI into existing workflows, including data requirements and model performance evaluation
- How to navigate potential pitfalls such as data biases, explainability, and regulatory compliance
Gareth Shepherd
Co-Head of Machine Intelligence & Portfolio ManagerVoya Investment Management
Track E: Skills Workshop
4:15 pm - 5:30 pm VIP Head Trader Think Tank: Daniel Nicholls - Head of Trading, Federated HermesThis is an invitation-only session hosted under Chatham House, open to 15 buy side Global/European Heads of Trading.
Limited availability so please register by emailing Anna on: anna.andrews@wbr.co.uk
4:05 pm - 4:25 pm
Afternoon Refreshment Break
4:05 pm - 5:05 pm
Buy Side Workshop: Adopting next generation algo suites: How can you customise algo strategies to best react to market movements and to improve execution outcomes?
*By invitation only*
Adapting to New Tech Trends
4:25 pm - 4:45 pm
CTO Keynote: AQR’s data transformation journey: How can you embrace cloud native services to empower your traders and adapt quickly to new tech trends?
Steve Mock -
Principal and Chief Technology Officer,
AQR Capital Management
In this case study presentation, AQR’s CTO, Steve Mock, will share AQR’s cloud and data journey, lessons learned and best practices in adopting cloud capabilities. Steve will unpack the process, from conceptualization to delivery and the challenges in-between, as well as what’s next in their AI journey.
- How to weigh up the pros and cons of moving from on-prem to the cloud, as well as associated costs vs value generation?
- What are the key concerns around data security and regulatory compliance, and how to overcome them?
- How will the cloud enable AQR to adapt to new technologies like Gen AI and LLM?
Disrupting the European Trading Landscape
4:45 pm - 5:15 pm
The Disruptor Panel: Examining the rise of alternative trading mechanisms: How will new European trading models innovate an already fragmented market and offer new ways to source unique liquidity whilst minimising information leakage?
Scott Bradley -
CEO,
OneChronos Markets UK
Roman Ginis -
Founder & CEO,
Imperative Execution
Peder Viervoll -
Head of Quantitative Trading,
Norges Bank Investment Management
During this panel we will hear from four new alternative trading systems who have recently launched in Europe. The buy side moderator will quiz the speakers on their USP, how they are differentiating their model, if they are truly offering unique liquidity, what makes their trading style different, and what problems they are solving for.
- What will the European market models look like, and how will they differ from their US offering?
- Why are these new venues emerging at this time, and what will it take for them to be adopted and successful?
- Exploring what opportunity they see in the EU market and why they are entering now, and why they didn’t launch in Europe first
- What is missing from the European market that would make innovation and technology better?
- Examining what challenges they expect to come up against in terms of market integration
Quizzing Heads of Trading
5:15 pm - 5:45 pm
Head of Desk & Rising Star Q&A: Putting heads of desk under the spotlight- an in-depth look at how heads of trading are structuring their desks and nurturing the next generation of leaders
Jeffrey Bolduc -
Head of Trading and Portfolio Implementation,
AQR Capital Management
Ines de Tremiolles -
Global Head of Trading,
BNP Paribas Asset Management
Cathy Gibson -
Global Head of Trading,
Ninety One
Do you have a burning question for your boss that you’re too afraid to ask? Join this panel and submit your questions anonymously, either before the event in a survey that will be emailed to you, or during the session using our online platform, Slido.
Two of our Rising Star speakers from TradeTech 2024 will be joining us again to quiz heads of trading on how they are nurturing and keeping talent on their desk.
In addition to questions submitted by the audience, the rising star moderators will also pose ‘rapid-fire’ hiring dilemmas- how will the heads of desk respond?
- What’s the secret to maintaining a high-performance desk under increasing cost pressures and volatile market conditions?
- What’s your most successful and effective training method/ idea?
- What advice would you give your younger self starting out on the trading desk?
- Has your firm reversed hybrid working, if so, what have been the implications on retention of staff?
- In your opinion, should traders be single asset specialists or multi-asset generalists?
- During the hiring process, if you had to pick one critical skill, what would it be?
