2019 Viewpoints: Cécile Nagel, CEO, EuroCCP

By: The WFE Focus Team Jan 2019

Please outline the three most important macro trends that you believe will impact the market infrastructure industry in 2019.

No matter what decisions are made in the short-term, Brexit will continue to dominate the industry agenda post 29th March. While market participants have already invested significant resources to prepare for the UK’s departure from the EU, significant unknowns remain. To date the industry has focused on the official exit date. However, the 29th of March will only mark the beginning of the fundamental changes that will affect financial services firms in Europe throughout 2019 and beyond.

Irrespective of Brexit, competition in European equities clearing will continue to increase and we might see additional changes to the current fragmented CCP landscape. We could see consolidation of activity in a smaller number of clearing houses, which would deliver efficiency and improved risk management to market participants.

Finally, regulatory change will continue to drive the evolution of market infrastructure in Europe and beyond, especially as firms look to build out their technology and broaden their product and service offerings.

In your view, what’s the technology most likely to disrupt global capital markets in the next 12 months?

I expect to see artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) based analytics gain ground. Data has long been at the centre of all technology innovation in the financial services space, with AI and ML making some of the great advances this year. As we move into 2019, these technologies will likely be the driving force behind increasingly intelligent trading decisions and increased operational efficiency in post-trade.

What are the key strategic initiatives you’re working on at the moment? 

As exchanges in Europe continue to open up to competitive clearing, we expect to be able to deliver more benefits to the market and to develop our position as Europe’s leading equities CCP. At the same time we are looking at opportunities to diversify our business, including exploring how technology can help us to deliver existing and new services to clients more efficiently.