Fundamentals
Fundamentals magazine attends a media roundtable given by Frederic Ponzo, Managing Partner, GreySpark Partners, delivering the results of GreySpark’s most recent research paper, “Trends in E-commerce and Electronic Trading”.
This event revealed the strong growth rate at which e-commerce is developing, following a history that stretches back 15 years. The research has revealed that strategies behind e-commerce products will need to change from being designed from a product or asset class perspective to being developed around the way users work. In particular, the sell-side needs to evolve most rapidly, with leaders in this practice already taking the lead.
Following the event, Ponzo reflected on some of the issues surrounding high frequency trading. He maintains that too much restriction is bad and it can actually cut off the system. A minimum standard for the exchanges is needed, to force systems to be resilient enough so that nothing can break. However, a level playing field is required, which is currently lacking in the market. MiFID can create this; however the European Commission has gone ahead with the proposals without any guidance from the industry.
