Europe’s buy-side fixed income traders and portfolio managers will gather at the Four Seasons Milan on 2-3 March for Institutional Investor’s second annual European Fixed Income Trading.
The Desk caught up with Scott Anderson, Institutional Investor’s EMEA managing director and head of its Global Fixed Income Institute, to find out more about how II is helping European buy-side traders to network with their peers.
The DESK: What is the 2023 European Fixed Income Trading Summit?
Scott Anderson: The 2023 European Fixed Income Trading Summit (EFITS) is a one-day conference focused on trading and market structure for European rates and credit organised by Institutional Investor. This is the second edition of the event; II’s EFITS debuted in June 2022 in Amsterdam, and we’re building on last year’s success.
TD: Who comes to EFITS?
SA: EFITS is designed for buy-side fixed income traders in EMEA, but fixed income portfolio managers and buy-side technology specialists focused on trading desk automation also attend. Attendance is complimentary for the buy side, and they can register to attend here. All registrations are subject to II’s approval.
TD: What are some of the agenda items for EFITS?
SA: We build our agendas based on input from buy-side traders, and they’re all trying to use data and analytics to find liquidity and achieve best execution, so we’re kicking off our program focused on that topic. But buy-side traders always tell us that maintaining face-to-face relationships with peers and counterparties is still at the heart of a successful trading strategy, and that’s why they find such value in connecting at EFITS. You can view the agenda here.
TD: What makes EFITS different from other conferences?
SA: Anyone who has attended II’s European equity trading conference, International TraderForum, knows that we put the buy-side first when we program our meetings. Buy-side delegates are always in the majority at our events, we don’t sell individual tickets to vendors and we keep the group to a manageable size so that participants can find each other have small group discussions easily. No one would confuse EFITS with a trade show.
TD: What are some other topics you expect the delegates to focus on?
SA: Given the centrality of data and analytics to fixed income trading, it’s not surprising that most of the topics focus on leveraging technology and data to trade efficiently and manage execution costs. Among the topics we’ll be tackling during the day are:
• Integrating data from disparate trading platforms and tools to create a seamless automated workflow
• Streamlining the new issue process
• The role of outsourced buy-side trading desks
• Futures and ETFs as exposure management tools
• The development of a fixed income consolidated tape in Europe
TD: Who are some of the speakers that delegates can expect to hear at EFITS?
SA: We’re looking forward to hearing from panellists at Blackrock, Nordea Investment Management and Norges Bank Investment Management, among others, and we’ll hear from representatives of the organisations sponsoring EFITS, including CBOE, Cowen & Co., Jane Street, Liquidnet and Overbond.
Just as important as the panels are the small group discussions, in which buy-side traders gather in a boardroom to share best practices and discuss issues of common concern. We’ll be discussing emerging markets trading and tokenisation and digital securities during breakout discussions on 3 March.
The DESK
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