One-on-one conversation has and will always be at the centre of the financial markets. From its origins at the foot of the buttonwood tree in New York and in Jonathan’s Coffee House in London, buyers and sellers would meet and verbally communicate their interest to buy and sell and negotiate on price and quantity.
Of course, trading has evolved significantly since those early days – to exchange floors and, in the past two decades, to trading desks all over the world.
Even as trading has become more electronic and geographically diverse, the role of voice communication remains as important a part of the trading process today as it was all those centuries ago. While the transmission of order details such as symbol, side, quantity, and price are communicated electronically, additional instructions, market colour and unique insights on current market conditions are often best delivered via a phone call.
Nine out of 10 respondents said voice communication is very or extremely critical to their trading workflow.
But how people communicate and the technology that supports them is changing. Unified communications and software solutions are gaining popularity and importance on the trading desk.
Research.
Traders are becoming more fluid in how they work, seeking to use a variety of communication tools to conduct business and to have a more seamless experience switching between them.
In the summer of 2016, BT commissioned Greenwich Associates to conduct an independent survey to explore the changing landscape of trading communications.
They interviewed 108 trading professionals including heads of desk and CIOs globally in Asia, Continental Europe, the UK, and the United States, to learn about their use of voice communication tools.
Nine out of 10 (88 per cent of respondents) said voice communication is very or extremely critical to their trading workflow. Voice communication helps traders convey nuance, build trust and develop stronger relationships with their clients.
Unifying communications.
Clearly firms have to balance new ways of communicating with increasingly demanding regulatory compliance obligations and are looking to use proactive surveillance solutions to improve insight and controls.
Unified communications and software solutions are gaining popularity and importance on the trading desk. Traders are becoming more fluid in how they work, seeking to use a variety of communication tools to conduct business and to have a more seamless experience switching between them.
BT’s strategy to help customers meet this changing landscape is to unify trading communications, enabling our customers to collaborate across complex, global trading communities more effectively; meet those demanding regulatory compliance obligations and reduce costs and complexity. Our strategy is underpinned by BT’s Cloud of Clouds portfolio strategy and underlines BT’s continued investment in voice trading and turret solutions.
Read more about our approach to unifying trader communications
Download the Greenwich Research report
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