âTodayâs announcement means the Australian market is now able to access pure agency-only transition management services,â said Cook. âAs an agency-only broker, Instinet is free from the inherent conflicts of interest that may encumber other brokers with investment banking, research, proprietary trading and facilitation operations. This is different from âagencyâ transition managers that claim an absence of conflict by not executing the trades themselves, but in reality are merely separating themselves from the conflict, which then lies with the executing broker and is outside the direct control of the fiduciary employed to manage the transition process.â
The dedicated Portfolio Implementation and Restructuring team will utilise Instinetâs full suite of high-touch to high-frequency trading services â including agency-only sales trading, algorithmic trading, global DMA and a comprehensive trade analytics platform â allowing clients to track every executed trade along with the prevailing market price, in both real time and the final report.
âWe believe that this level of transparency is the standard that clients should expect from their fiduciaries if they are to be able to properly judge the quality of the trading and conflict management for which the Transition Manager is responsible,â Cook said.
He continued: âThe need to focus on trading costs by investors and service providers alike has been accentuated in the current challenging market environment, with recent evidence suggesting that trading costs around the world have risen. Every basis point saved has a direct impact on the return to super fund members, and the ability to reduce these costs is one of the qualities on which Instinet has built its reputation over its 40-year history.â
Mr. Cook, who joins Instinet from Morgan Stanley, has nearly 20 yearsâ experience in the financial services industry in the United Kingdom and Australia.
âIâm very excited about the opportunity to develop a unique offering that leverages Instinetâs outstanding capacity to deliver a high-quality trade execution and be fully aligned with our clientsâ interests,â he concluded.