Record Financial Group is focusing on making its FX trading operation faster, more efficient and easier to control, with current priorities centred on pre-trade workflows, automation and forward-market data.
The firm operates a single centralised execution desk across asset classes, with FX accounting for most of its trading activity. The five-person team handles execution while also covering specialist areas such as Transaction Cost Analysis and specific investment strategies.
Record uses one internal order management system and two external execution management systems. This allows the desk to choose between different venues, workflows and execution methods depending on market conditions and liquidity.
The firm takes a broad approach to best execution. It does not judge execution quality only by looking at the price achieved on an individual trade. It also considers the cost of execution over time, the effect of trading on portfolios and the quality of liquidity available in different market conditions. This approach starts before the trade reaches the execution desk. Record sets expectations around trading behaviour, liquidity use and operational processes during onboarding. The aim is to maintain reliable access to liquidity and reduce the risk of becoming too dependent on a limited number of counterparties, venues or execution methods.
That becomes particularly important during volatile markets. When liquidity is fragmented, Record’s objective is still to execute meaningful volumes while keeping costs and market impact under control. The execution method may change, but the target remains the same.
Electronic trading now accounts for a larger share of Record’s FX activity, although the firm does not automatically favour electronic execution over voice trading. It chooses the method that best fits the market conditions, available liquidity and information at the time.
Automation is also becoming more important across the trading process. Record has focused on software that improves risk oversight and moves orders more efficiently to and through the execution desk. The firm sees this as an execution issue rather than simply a productivity issue. Better automation can help traders spend more time on trades where judgement matters most, while reducing delays and operational risks in the rest of the workflow.
Record is currently placing particular emphasis on pre-trade processes. The firm believes execution quality can be affected before a trader even receives an order. Slow or inefficient order routing can increase risk, reduce flexibility and make it harder to respond to changing market conditions.
Improving these processes is therefore a key technology priority. The goal is to get orders to the desk more efficiently, improve oversight and give traders better information before execution begins.
Record plc (LON:REC) develops bespoke, high-quality, sophisticated solutions for institutional investors, a unique offering stemming from Record’s knowledge and expertise gained from its core currency hedging markets.
