Lee Porter

Liquidnet, the global institutional investment network, has announced a new half year record with volume traded in the Asia Pacific region increasing by 12% compared to the same first half period of the previous year.

Strong results were especially evident with Hong Kong – 25% increase in the first half of 2019 against the corresponding 2018 half – and Australia – 29% for the same period – the standout APAC performers.

Regional markets were impacted by a range of external events including the ongoing Brexit impasse, new US-Sino trade tariffs and softer global market sentiment.

Liquidnet Managing Director Asia Pacific, Lee Porter, said: “We’re seeing that the continual investment into our business is directly benefiting our Members. This year we’ve introduced Enhanced POV to our Liquidnet Ecosystem, and supported the further growth of our algo business through dedicated hires.

“This has all been against the backdrop of what could be described as fairly benign market conditions. We recognise that we need to continue providing our Members with the best in market trading solutions and technology, and our two recent acquisitions of RSRCHXchange and Prattle will assist that,” Porter continued.

Liquidnet has recently leased an additional floor at their current office location in Hong Kong to accommodate further business growth.

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Brian Conroy

Liquidnet, the global institutional investment network, continues its expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) investment analytics platform with the acquisition of Prattle, a leading provider of automated investment research solutions for portfolio managers, research analysts, and other financial professionals.

Prattle developed a proprietary Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) system to produce analytics that measure sentiment and predict the market impact of publicly available content including central bank and corporate communications (such as company earnings calls and press releases). Asset managers can use these analytics to: understand and anticipate relevant market movement, strengthen investment theses, and inform trading strategies.

The announcement follows Liquidnet’s recent acquisition of RSRCHXchange, a marketplace and aggregator for asset managers to consume, discover, and purchase investment research, and the 2017 acquisition of OTAS Technologies.

With Prattle’s NLP and data science technology, OTAS’s AI-driven analytics, and RSRCHXchange’s technology enhanced distribution platform, Liquidnet’s global network of asset managers will have access to a set of powerful investment analytics leveraging AI methodologies across both structured and unstructured data. These tools can revolutionize the way fund managers source, access, evaluate, and act on market information and insight to strengthen investment decisions and help generate alpha.

“Prattle is yet another powerful tool for asset managers to discover actionable insight from the enormous amounts of unstructured data that is produced throughout the capital markets,” said Brian Conroy, President of Liquidnet. “This acquisition further supports our goal to help our Members generate better performance by providing them with the data they need to create greater conviction in their investment ideas, and then execute those ideas with speed and efficiency.”

Launched in 2014 by former academics Evan Schnidman and Bill MacMillan, Prattle currently provides predictive analytics on approximately 3,000 publicly traded companies listed in the U.S. and 15 central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia, among others. Prattle has the ability to build and maintain a unique lexicon for any publicly traded company and central bank, allowing for a searchable repository of corporate and central bank communications.

“Our proprietary NLP and data science technology are an ideal complement to Liquidnet’s AI-driven analytics platform, and we’re eager to be part of its growing Global Investment Network,” said Evan Schnidman, CEO of Prattle. “We’re looking forward to working closely with Liquidnet to develop an integrated solution.”

Schnidman and MacMillan will continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of Prattle, reporting directly to Liquidnet President, Brian Conroy.

Polsinelli PC served as legal advisor for Prattle, SenaHill Partners served as financial advisor.

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David joins Liquidnet after six years in equity sales and trading with ITG, and a similar stretch at CMC Markets.  He has forged strong Australian buyside relationships and built a deep technical knowledge of algorithmic trading.  In his senior position within Liquidnet’s EQS team, David will further support the expansion of the firm’s execution services into Australia.

Andrew brings strong financial services and global markets experience through roles held at Deutsche Bank and ANZ (Australia, London and New York).  He will work closely with the firm’s existing client relationship team, ensuring Australian members can effectively leverage Liquidnet’s entire Execution Ecosystem (including block trading, algorithmic modeling and execution, and market intelligence capabilities).

Commenting on the appointments, Liquidnet’s Head of Australia, Kate Weidenhofer, said: “We remain focused on helping buy-side traders achieve optimal results that can positively impact fund performance.

“Bringing these two experienced hires on board will further strengthen and deepen our relationships with members as we continue to enhance the Liquidnet Ecosystem. We welcome David and Andrew and look forward to drawing on their expertise to support our growing Australian team.”

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Chris Gardener

Liquidnet, the global institutional investment network, today announced the appointment of experienced stockbroker Chris Gardener as Relationship Manager, further expanding the firm’s Australian-based presence.

Mr Gardener brings over 30 years’ experience working in capital markets servicing institutional clients in Australia. He spent the last 20 years at UBS’ institutional trading desk, covering equity sales, trading, execution and client relationship management with a focus on global sales trading for REITs.

At Liquidnet, Mr Gardener will be responsible for client relationship management, ensuring members effectively leverage Liquidnet’s entire Execution Ecosystem, that includes block trading, algo modeling and execution, and market intelligence capabilities.

Commenting on Mr Gardener’s appointment Liquidnet’s Head of Australia, Kate Weidenhofer, said: “Chris’ strong understanding of Australian financial markets, and of the regional compliance and regulatory frameworks, will be highly beneficial as we continue to grow our Australian operations.

“We welcome Chris to the Liquidnet team and look forward to drawing on his proven expertise to further deepen and strengthen our relationships with members,” she said.

Yesterday’s announcement comes at a time of record trading volumes for Liquidnet in Australia. In 2018, local and international investment managers exchanged a total of A$11.8 billion in Australian Equities via Liquidnet, up 20 per cent from the previous year.

The increase was largely triggered by an uptick in the use of algo trading solutions by local asset management firms who are members of Liquidnet’s institutional trading network.

“Our members are increasingly using our suite of different technology solutions to improve the execution quality of their block-trades,” said Ms Weidenhofer.

“Chris’ appointment enhances our ability to help buy-side traders achieve optimal results that can positively impact fund performance,” she added.

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Kate Weidenhofer

Liquidnet, the global institutional investment network, reached a new record for volume traded in the Australian market in 2018. Local and international asset managers exchanged via Liquidnet a total of A$11.8 billion in Australian Equities, up 20 per cent from the volume traded the previous year.

The strong block-trading activity on Liquidnet was pushed by an uptick in the use of algo trading solutions by Australian members, with an increased focus on improving execution quality following the introduction of MiFID II in January 2018.

Liquidnet Head of Australia, Kate Weidenhofer, said: “We’ve had great success in helping asset managers to find liquidity in the Australian market, in what’s clearly become a more competitive environment given the global regulatory pressures on the buy-side.

“Thanks to our diversification beyond the dark pool and into algo trading, our members have been able to enjoy an even greater diversity in seeking institutional liquidity.”

Liquidnet first launched its Next Gen Algos in the Australian market in mid-2016.

Attribution of trades attracts more liquidity

In addition to the uptick in the use of algos, Liquidnet benefited in 2018 from appearing on the trade report screens of institutional traders in Australia, following approval from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in late 2017 as a full market participant.

Buy-side traders closely monitor brokerage firms and what they trade each day on specific securities, as this information suggests there may be more liquidity from where these trades came from.

In 2018, Liquidnet ranked first among all investors in the ‘Quality of Crossing Networks’ category from the annual ‘Australian Shares’ survey to wholesale investors by Peter Lee Associates. The position in the ranking was achieved in the ‘All Investors’ category.

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Kate Weidenhofer

Liquidnet, the global institutional trading network, has announced the appointment of Kate Weidenhofer as the new Head of Australia to drive the strategic direction and the next phase of growth for the company.

Ms Weidenhofer has over 20 years’ experience in financial markets and has worked in a variety of roles at Liquidnet for the past ten years, most recently as head of product for Asia Pacific. Prior to working at Liquidnet Ms Weidenhofer also held senior roles at Citigroup and Schroders, where she worked in the middle office and settlements team.”

Lee Porter, Head of Liquidnet APAC, said Ms Weidenhofer’s existing knowledge of the firm combined with her drive for product innovation will underpin the future success and vision of the Australian business.

“As a financial technology company, our role is to intelligently connect investors, wherever they may sit in the world of investment opportunities. Kate’s in-depth industry knowledge and long-standing client relationships means she truly understands what the trader needs – not only today – but well into the future.”

In 2016 Ms Weidenhofer was selected to join a group of Liquidnet colleagues as part of the company’s ‘Liquidnet for Good’ volunteer project at The Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) in eastern Rwanda. The village takes in orphaned and vulnerable children, giving them access to a high-quality education, a safe living environment and health care facilities.

“Kate really embodies every aspect of Liquidnet’s values and how we strive to make a real impact, not only on the capital markets, but also on the world at large. Kate has already shown great dedication and commitment to clients and to Liquidnet and I’m looking forward to her leading the Australian business,” Mr Porter said.

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