Fidessa Publishes Paper on Changing Face of High and Low Touch Execution

Fidessa Group, a provider of software and services to clients in the financial services sector, has published a new paper which examines ways in which high and low touch trading are adapting to meet the realities of trading in capital markets today.

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According to the paper entitled “Key to the Highway”, new regulations such as unbundling are challenging the traditional relationship-based approach to sales trading. At the same time, the Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term spectrum across high and low touch activities is diverging and becoming more granular.

This means that the 'either/or' approach of low and high touch is too crude a reflection of the requirements of the Buy-Side Buy-Side The buy-side is comprised of firms in the financial industry that purchase securities and are accompanied by account investment managers, pension funds, and hedge funds.The buy-side is composed of those that buy and invest large sums of securities with the intention of generating a lucrative return or have their funds managed. The Buy-Side ExplainedIn terms of Wall Street, the buy-side includes investment institutions that purchase securities, stocks, or other financial instruments with the aim The buy-side is comprised of firms in the financial industry that purchase securities and are accompanied by account investment managers, pension funds, and hedge funds.The buy-side is composed of those that buy and invest large sums of securities with the intention of generating a lucrative return or have their funds managed. The Buy-Side ExplainedIn terms of Wall Street, the buy-side includes investment institutions that purchase securities, stocks, or other financial instruments with the aim Read this Term. Worse still, the duplication of infrastructure adds unnecessary operating cost at a time when the industry is already struggling to deliver acceptable rates of return to shareholders.

In this paper, Fidessa's Director of Group Strategy, Steve Grob, discusses how the best approach is to abandon these blunt concepts and instead replace them with a more nuanced, converged approach that leverages technology where it is common to both and yet still empowers the different activities required.

This approach not only saves money, but offers a better approach for clients as orders can take advantage of both low and high touch liquidity simultaneously.