About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Intelligent Trading Summit Discusses the Potential of High Performance Technologies and the Drag of Regulation

Subscribe to our newsletter

A-Team Group’s Intelligent Trading Summit got off to a great start last week with A-Team chief content officer Andrew Delaney enjoying a fireside chat with BNP Paribas head of electronic execution strategy Kee-Meng Tan. Delaney and Tan discussed the need for speed in electronic trading, the adoption of new technologies and opportunities to look beyond the financial services industry for inspiration. They also highlighted the drag on electronic trading caused by increasing regulation, particularly Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II).

On the need for speed, Tan noted the ongoing requirement to be among the fastest to get to market and execute trades, but also the need for better algos and trading models. He explained: “The industry is working on better technology and models, but speed is still important. Firms are squeezing the last microseconds out of connectivity and supporting speed with technologies such as field programmable gate arrays and microwave networks.”

Tan encouraged delegates to look at technologies used by industries that are technologically ahead of financial services, such as the mobile phone industry, and promoted the value of working with academia to incorporate academic research into electronic trading technology. He also recommended outsourcing areas of regulatory compliance that are expensive to support, but don’t make money for the firm.

Regulation was, perhaps, the hottest topic in Delaney and Tan’s fireside chat, and an issue that came up frequently throughout the conference. Tan talked about the huge complexity faced by banks that must comply with regulations including MiFID II, Dodd-Frank and European Market Infrastructure Regulation, and the difficulty in balancing investment between technology to build business and regtech.

Focussing on MiFID II, he noted the extent of the regulation, yet uncertainty around final technical standards, and raised concerns about a lack of market understanding among politicians intent on shoehorning non-equity products such as fixed income into initial MiFID regulation designed to cover only equity products. While politicians lay down the law with good intentions, Tan noted that it is then the responsibility of regulators to interpret the law, which in some cases proves illogical and often leaves questions unanswered.

Taking a step away from specific issues such as MiFID II, the complexity of compliance, budgetary constraints and new technologies, Tan provided advice to conference delegates, saying: “Consider what business you are really in and outsource commoditised functions as much as possible. Then concentrate your intelligence on technologies and models that will benefit your firm and your clients.”

The A-Team Intelligent Trading Summit in London – which will be followed by a similar summit event in New York City in May – went on to present a number of panels and keynotes covering everything from the challenges of regulatory compliance to best practice for optimal electronic execution, high performance technologies for fast analytics, the convergence of no-touch and low-touch trading technology stacks, machine learning and fintech firms emerging in the intelligent trading technologies market.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Hearing from the Experts: AI Governance Best Practices

9 September 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes The rapid spread of artificial intelligence in the financial industry presents data teams with novel challenges. AI’s ability to harvest and utilize vast amounts of data has raised concerns about the privacy and security of sensitive proprietary data and the ethical...

BLOG

LSEG Strengthens AWS Partnership to Accelerate Cloud Transformation Across Key Divisions

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has extended its strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), naming AWS as its preferred cloud provider for the Markets, Risk Intelligence, and FTSE Russell divisions. The move deepens an existing relationship that forms a central part of LSEG’s broader digital transformation strategy. The latest agreement will see LSEG...

EVENT

AI in Capital Markets Summit London

The AI in Capital Markets Summit will explore current and emerging trends in AI, the potential of Generative AI and LLMs and how AI can be applied for efficiencies and business value across a number of use cases, in the front and back office of financial institutions. The agenda will explore the risks and challenges of adopting AI and the foundational technologies and data management capabilities that underpin successful deployment.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...