Keith Todd is CEO of Trading Technologies.
What were the key theme(s) for your business in 2023?
Our primary themes in 2023 at TT were multi-asset and growth, and we’re coming off another pivotal year. We set out to transform our business, leveraging our longstanding strength in exchange-traded derivatives into a growing multi-asset offering. Several developments in 2023 were key to setting us on the course for this expansion:
First was our acquisition in March of AxeTrading, a leading global provider of fixed income trading solutions. That has provided us with tremendous in-house expertise, technology and connectivity to enable us to provide full coverage of corporate, government, municipal and emerging market bonds as well as OTC interest rate swaps, substantially strengthening our leading position in fixed income derivatives and U.S. Treasuries.
Second, in June, we announced the creation of a new foreign exchange business unit, TT FX, with preliminary plans to offer connectivity to major ECNs and liquidity providers, the delivery of advanced FX trading capabilities through TT’s EMS. The first phase of implementation is enabling TT buy-side clients to trade spot FX through a choice of curated ECNs, and I’m proud to say that as of early December, TT FX is now live with OTC cash and precious metals trading. Beginning in 2024, we intend to extend the offering to include liquidity from major banks and an expansion of products offered. We undertook this endeavor after months of painstaking research and outreach to our clients, and feedback about our strategy amongst liquidity providers and clients has been overwhelmingly positive.
Third, in late August we acquired Abel Noser Solutions, the industry-leading provider of transaction cost analysis (TCA) for investment managers, brokers, asset owners and consultants. This in-house expertise and technology puts us firmly in the multi-asset data and analytics space, and you’ll be hearing more about what we’re able to offer in the coming months.
Finally, in December, we announced a number of key hires for our leadership team, along with a restructuring of the company into six business run by what I consider to be a “premier league” of some of the most experienced leaders in the industry. They will be working closely with me, Justin Llewellyn-Jones as our new Chief Operating Officer effective Jan. 1 and Nick Garrow, who has been leading our Multi-Asset and Buy-Side initiatives and assumes the role of Chief Revenue Officer on Jan. 1.
All of these moves are in support of the growth of the firm and our ability to support clients’ trading-related needs across asset classes.
What are your expectations for 2024?
This year has only been the beginning. There’s much more to come in 2024 and beyond. We’ve just established this new structure. Now it’s the job of each business unit leader and their teams not only to build and nurture those businesses but ensure that we are all working together.
We’re continuing to broaden our appeal to the buy side to meet clients’ varied needs. It’s incumbent on our team across the organization to ensure that as we continue to grow, we are ever responsive to the evolving demands our clients face and mindful that service excellence is an imperative. In fact, we intend to take TT service to clients to another level in 2024. We expect that throughout the year, we will see significant growth across asset classes and a material move into equities.
What trends are getting underway that people may not know about but will be important?
While TCA has been well utilized in equities for some time, it’s going to be a must-have across all asset classes, including exchange-traded derivatives. Data and analytics are at the core of good trading practices. Abel Noser’s solutions have been essential to the success of buy-side market participants globally. Because TT’s transaction volume is equivalent to that of many of the world’s largest derivatives exchanges, we have an extraordinary amount of data we can harness to help clients analyze transaction costs not only at post-trade but also in the pre-trade and at-trade stages. We are excited to build on Abel Noser’s expertise and technology with new offerings that address this trend.
