Quality not quantity is the goal of this year’s Security Traders Association Annual Market Structure Conference in Washington, D.C.
The Sept. 19-22 conference should have about the same number of attendees as last year’s, but more regulators, lawmakers, broker-dealer and buyside trading executives are expected, STA officials predict.
"And at the end of the day, if firms like J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs– firms that we all know–attend and have a very good experience," says Jim Toes, president and chief executive officer of the STA, "then that would be a huge accomplishment."
The conference will include representatives from 39 sellside broker-dealers, 33 buyside asset managers and 10 exchanges, according to the agenda. Knight’s CEO, Thomas Joyce, and Brian Conroy, Fidelity Investments’ president of Capital Markets, are among the scheduled speakers.
How can one measure the conference’s success or failure?
Toes believes that if senior executives attend and "walk away with a very good opinion of STA, then the conference will be a success."
One way to get the attention of the trading industry is through strong connections to regulators and lawmakers, who pass laws and rules that can dramatically affect their lives.
Toes also says many more regulators and lawmakers will be attending this year than last year. That’s one difference from last year’s event in Palm Beach, Fla., he adds.
"Last year we didn’t have one Congressman. We didn’t have one regulator besides Rick Ketchum," he says. "Last year it was all about the business, but this year we have all three things that you’d like to see: SEC, Congressmen and business."
Toes expects the STA will be in contact with some 25 to 30 members of Congress during the three-day event.
Why the big jump over last year?
He says the conference’s closeness to the Capitol combined with the desire of lawmakers to make public comments in an election year have increased the lawmakers’ presence.
STA officials also believe that this year’s conference will be improved by the presence of an influential member on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services subcommittee, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas).
He is a member of the key House Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises. This is a committee of importance to the trading industry.
Rep. Hensarling, an industry source says, will possibly be the next chairman of the Capital Markets subcommittee should the republicans retain control of the House of Representatives in 2013.
