Having entered the trading world 14 years ago, Zo毛 Balkwell now leads Trading and Pre-Trade at Pirum, which includes Pirum TradeConnect. Before holding a number of senior roles within JPMorgan Chase, State Street, EquiLend, and Merrill Lynch, Balkwell began her career as a securities finance software engineer at Goldman Sachs.
Her journey onto the trading desk was unconventional. While most naturally progress via operations through the middle office, or claim their seat at the desk straight from education, Balkwell migrated as a 鈥渄ata nerd鈥 and 鈥渢echie鈥.
鈥淔rom the relationship management and tech side, I would absolutely idolise the desks because I thought what they were doing was totally different. Many people on the desk at that point were involved in corporate actions, were technical traders, and were more focused on the relationship side of things,鈥 she explains.
However, the role of the trader has since evolved. Now completely different to when Balkwell first joined, the makeup of the desk today is more technical and operational. 鈥淲hen you look at the new talent coming through the market, there's people doing Python and coding in their spare time, they are very analytical, data-focused people.鈥
With a heavy influence from automation and data pushing this technical shift, the use of manual processes has declined while automation has become an ingrained process.
Balkwell continues: 鈥淪o much of your flow is in automation that you need traders that understand that flow. Having that trader mindset and having a dynamic desk allows the desk to become a lot more diverse, which is always a good thing.鈥
An inflection point
With the incorporation of new technology and automation, trading is at an inflection point 鈥 this statement rings true for Balkwell, who highlights that there is now more convergence of adaptation, where market participants are doing 鈥渁 bit of everything鈥.
She explains: 鈥淲e are getting towards that inflection point with data and AI and towards the real turning curve of taking onboard all of the new products that come into market, as well as the different ways of doing things.
鈥淗owever, there's a few aspects that we need to iron out first as an industry, and we need to ensure that we have the processes and security in place to be able to drive this effort forward in a resilient and scalable way.鈥
Putting her techie hat on, Balkwell understands how some can get very carried away and excited with new technology, but she feels its key to focus on how to adapt and overlay this technology with the current infrastructure in place. Rather than jumping onto new trends, Balkwell advises that the industry must first understand the current infrastructure and why it has been put in place to ensure that existing frameworks and new tech can work in harmony.
As she looks forward, Balkwell states that there is no room for fragmented data. 鈥淚t has to be harmonised, it has to be together, because otherwise you're going to spend all your time trying to standardise that data in different ways, and so to gel them all together is going to take a whole other process.鈥
That inflection point is going to be an interesting one to watch, says Balkwell, 鈥渂ecause everyone's very keen for it鈥. The data that can be unlocked with AI 鈥 and all of the other possibilities that are coming through at the moment 鈥 is going to be 鈥渁bsolutely amazing鈥.
For instance, if firms can link post-trade lifecycle data to inform trading decisions, Balkwell says that 鈥渁t the click of your fingers鈥 decision making at the point of trade completely changes and becomes much faster.
She continues: 鈥淭his also applies to troubleshooting. When you realise something has gone wrong in the system but it isn鈥檛 immediately evident, you can harness AI to be able to locate the issue so that you can get to the crux of the problem faster and be more efficient with your time.鈥
On the flip side, challenges remain. The new digital era will require a shift in mentality for some traders and the ability to adapt with technology. To tackle this, Balkwell advocates for more support for traders to be able to upskill, and to create an environment where 鈥渋t鈥檚 good to learn鈥. She adds: 鈥淚t can be daunting to keep up with the change and to be aware of all of the new updates that are coming through from new technology.鈥
As an example, Balkwell refers to ChatGPT which, once viewed as a gimmick, is part of the new technology that is changing the industry altogether. While previously stunted by its inability to access up-to-date information, the generative AI tool is now more incorporated.
鈥淭he trading role itself will be helped with automation, and there will still be a strong demand for specialists and for key information hubs like SMEs. It鈥檚 about looking at the bigger picture of trading rather than just a small section that we have focused on in the past.鈥
Progress in post-trade
As the market adjusts to an ever-evolving industry, and the constant need for increased efficiency in a fast-paced and demanding environment, Balkwell observes that 鈥渢he distinction between pre-trade and post-trade is dissolving鈥. She says this follows the digitalisation and the symbiotic nature of all of the groups that are working together to be more dynamic.
It has become so much of a fluid lifecycle that Balkwell asks at what point does a post-trade event trigger a new trading event? She explains: 鈥淥ur market is not as linear as it's been drawn out to be in the past. The interoperability of everything, that combined nature, makes it the complexity that I love. Pirum coming into the trading space from post-trade is a natural progression, because it does reflect what's happening in the market.鈥
Balkwell is set on driving the Pirum TradeConnect platform towards creating trading and pre-trade solutions and linking it to the post-trade suite to drive better decisions. This does not simply stop at connectivity, Balkwell highlights, it is about supporting pre-trade and trading at the same time as linking and connecting with post-trade.
鈥淥nce we break down those barriers of having the different parts of the trade, we're going to get to a much better place,鈥 she adds.
Pirum TradeConnect is designed to be scalable, robust, and in the words of Balkwell, 鈥渋s exactly what the industry and our design partners are wanting鈥. The solution works to simplify and 鈥渟trip the industry back to what people actually need鈥.
Balkwell notes that while her perfect dream is a better securities finance industry where frictionless automation is at the core, she believes that the industry is getting further down that path, noting that interoperability between vendors is 鈥渟uper important鈥.
Leading the development of trading solutions, Balkwell has taken on a three-pronged approach: solve these problems, listen to the market, and ensure Pirum is completely connected to industry movements to understand client needs.
鈥淔or me, I just love solving problems 鈥 as Marie Kondo's method goes, it sparks joy.鈥
A connector
鈥淧irum is a connector, we are the pipes. Clients will build out to us because it saves on their tech resources, for instance. They can build out one connection to us, and then we are able to facilitate multiple connections to venues or bilateral counterparts,鈥 Balkwell states.
In the spirit of making connections, Pirum has officially become a member of the FIX Trading Community, an industry-driven standards body. FIX aims to address business and regulatory issues impacting multi-asset trading in global markets through standardisation, operational efficiency, increased transparency, and reduced costs and risks for all market participants.
鈥淏eing a connector, it's natural for us to support a way of connecting,鈥 says Balkwell. 鈥淲e've been talking about the standardisation of the messaging, and we offer that standardisation from the Pirum TradeConnect side of things. We just want to be able to support all clients within the ecosystem.鈥
As such, Balkwell looks forward to the firm鈥檚 core strategic priorities over the coming 12 months, in which Pirum will be working to support preparation for upcoming regulation, emerging markets, and retail aggregators 鈥 a particular area which is close to her heart.
In terms of regulation, T+1 will continue to be a key focus point for the industry as the UK, Europe, and Switzerland work in unison to implement the shorter settlement cycle on 11 October 2027. One of the largest challenges from a Pirum perspective relates to standard settlement instructions (SSIs). To assist with SSIs, the firm is building out SSIConnect 鈥 a holistic, across Pirum benefit, which will first focus on the Pirum TradeConnect space.
鈥淲e are purely providing that mapping within the middle, because our clients want that mapping to make things more streamlined,鈥 Balkwell adds.
Moving onto the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Pirum is keen to continue the industry鈥檚 work to open up emerging markets such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The growth in the MENA region is unprecedented, says Balkwell, who indicates that the industry should be very proud to have gotten to this point. Saudi was the first market to venture forward and, undoubtedly, other neighbouring markets will be very close behind.
Balkwell states: 鈥淗aving that leadership from the Saudi markets has really shown the light and the way things can be done. Our Pirum TradeConnect platform is agnostic to market or asset class, so we're prepared, and we want to support the different regions.鈥
Finally, retail aggregators are a core space to watch for Balkwell. 鈥淲e're at that turning point where we've got new assets from different regions that we've never really seen before, we've got retail aggregators coming to the market, which is a very different trading style; it's very interactive.鈥
The types of assets that are coming into the market have had no market data and have had to be set up in custody systems. Balkwell believes there are many assets and a lot of value in the different sizes of retail aggregators.
Concluding the discussion, Balkwell says: 鈥淥n the innovation side, we look forward to adapting to the market environment to be perfectly honest, because that's ultimately how you keep talent engaged. It is key to ensure that that innovation out there is in line with what the market needs.鈥
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Image: Zo毛 Balkwell 