STAC (Securities Technology Analysis Center) arrived in London after stops in Chicago and New York and as always with these events, there was as a local focus. The impending MiFID 2 directive, in particular the trade timestamping requirements inevitably played a prominent part in proceedings. In fact timing, sync and latency papers dominated the first half of the event.

The packet capture community talked about advantages of picoseconds to sell their gear. The traders and the banks deliberated over how much, to what extent, when, how and what.

This is a community that has always respected accuracy and compliance. That should never be in doubt. But the challenge remains that the regulators and the players are still not certain about what constitutes ‘good enough’.

There was once the opinion that the implementation of the directive would mean everything would be determined and decided upon in advance. However it is clear that it is the period following implementation that will allow the exact rules of implementation to be determined and decided upon.

As the directive says 'relevant and proportionate'. Anything new doesn't have a benchmark and a benchmark is first needed before we can decide what exactly constitutes 'relevant and proportionate'.

Anand Ram, VP Sales & Marketing, Calnex Solutions