Immediately after lunch, Shireen Muhiudeen, Principal Fund Manager / MD, of Corton-Smith Asset Management and Azura Azman Head of Equities Broking Division, RHB Investment Bank focused on the importance of electronic trading to the local sell and buy-side. Azman, speaking from the sell-side perspective, said that while Best Execution could be described as “when clients don’t complain”, the onus was on the industry to constantly exceed client expectations. This she argued could only be achieved using electronic trading. Muhiudeen agreed, adding that electronic trading was now standard and that, as well as assisting with best execution, it provided a safeguard for all sides of the trade.
Azman highlighted that the implementation of FIX was not without challenges, saying that with a glut of suppliers it was difficult to gauge which best suited your requirements and that there were considerable cost factors. At RHB, she said, they had taken a step by step approach that matched their needs and preferred a system that was both flexible and scalable.
Muhiudeen said they continued to have a long and happy relationship with Bloomberg, but agreed that they were always open to competing solutions providers that offered value to clients in a cost-effective way.
Turning to DMA, Muhiudeen said it would bring greater cost and risk to the buyside, but conceded that ultimately the client would determine whether execution was performed in-house or not. Azman believed that DMA would attract different players, but that there would still be clients that needed sales traders who could add more value through information flows.
The session concluded with a plea from Muhiudeen to local exchanges to fasttrack the ability to trade across multiple exchanges in Asia.
The highlight of the day was the demonstration of a live DMA trade by Stephan Kwong, Executive Director, Head, DMA Connectivity at AMFutures, AM Bank Group and Andrew Tiang, MD of N2N Connect.
While offering assurances that there was “no guarantee for success”, within no time, the connection was up and running, demonstrating to the delegates the efficiency of trades using DMA. Adding to the display, Tiang executed the DMA trade using an algo. Delegates later commented that the trade had been so successful that Tiang should be buying the first round later that evening!
Wrapping up the day, Kwong was joined by Lim Jong Hau, Head of Equity Derivatives Group, CIMB Investment Bank and James Rae, Advanced Execution Service, Head of AES Sales, Credit Sussie and Gerald Blondel, Head, Infrastructure Planning, Global Market Strategy, DMA Project Director of Bursa Malyasia.
Together the panelists spoke about the effect of global market developments on the trading community in Malaysia. Lim said he felt that the introduction of DMA would stimulate the Malaysian market significantly. Kwong agreed, saying reactions from his clients had been positive and he hoped that Bursa Malaysia would meet its third quarter timeline for live DMA trading on the exchange.
The ease with which algorithms could be fitted into DMA was also applauded by the panelists, with Lim and Kwong saying it allowed greater automation and security for trades, and would free up traders to focus on increased orders and strategic investment decisions.
Blondel wrapped up the day asking the delegates for their wish list for Bursa Malaysia. The overwhelming preference was for DMA to be fully operational as quickly as possible.
For details on the next Face2Face event, please visit www.fixglobal.com
DMA tops the bill – Delegates at the Face2Face event in Malaysia urged greater intra-exchange and DMA trades
