Markets Platforms & Data
OMS, EMS, PMS, market data, pricing and trading architecture.
Capital Markets
Trading & Execution
Execution performance is made in workflow, routing and controls — and it can be measured desk by desk.
Overview
Execution is largely electronic and spreads are thin. The difference between desks shows up in venue selection, order routing, algo behaviour and the workflow between sales, trading and the client. Most desks know their headline volumes; fewer can see where execution performance is made and lost.
We work on the execution chain from workflow to venue: electronic trading capability, order and execution workflow, algo governance, trading controls at the desk and the measurement that shows what changed. The team has built and run electronic trading change inside banks, and works with the desk at the desk's pace.
The scope is the front office and the controls immediately around it — routing and venue arrangements, desk workflow, execution measurement and the governance of algorithms. Platform selection and delivery sit with our Markets Platforms & Data work, and the post-trade chain has its own page.
What we do
We build and improve electronic trading capability: market connectivity, order handling and the workflow that moves flow from client to venue. The work runs through our Electronic & Algorithmic Trading practice and is delivered alongside the desk, against live flow.
An algo estate needs an inventory, a testing and approval path, and monitoring that catches drift in behaviour. We set these up as working routines the desk operates, with documentation that reflects how each algorithm actually behaves in production.
We measure execution outcomes at the level where they are decided — venue, order type, time of day, algorithm — and use the results to improve routing logic, venue selection and broker arrangements. Measurement continues after the change, so the improvement stays visible.
Pre-trade limits, price and fat-finger checks, kill functionality and error handling, designed with the desk so they protect the business without slowing it. Delivered with our Best Execution & Trading Controls practice, with calibration the desk and compliance both trust.
The path from client enquiry to filled order crosses sales, trading and support systems. We map it, remove the manual steps and re-keying, and rebuild the workflow so the desk handles more flow with the same people.
What to expect
The work is done at the desk, with the people who trade and support the flow. Analysis is grounded in your own execution data, and changes are made in increments the desk can absorb during trading — connectivity, workflow and controls are adjusted and measured step by step rather than switched over at once. The team that scopes the work delivers it.
Engagements range from a focused execution-quality review to the build-out of a full electronic trading capability.
01
Assess
Establish the current state, the constraints, the risks and the value at stake.
02
Define
Shape the target model and the business case with the executives who own the outcome.
03
Mobilise
Stand up the team, the plan and the governance around the outcome.
04
Implement
Design, build and test the change, with the business alongside.
05
Sustain
Cutover, hypercare and handover, so the business runs it under its own control.
The same five stages on every engagement, led by senior practitioners end to end. How we work
Insights
Related thinking.
Get in touch
Talk to a Partner about Trading & Execution.
Tell us what needs to change and where the pressure or risk is showing.