Can you tell me about your journey into the securities finance industry?
I joined Nasdaq as a summer intern in 2018 when I was working under our Global Market Operations division. My team was responsible for the day-to-day activities related to trading cash equity, equity derivatives, fixed income, and commodities in Nasdaq’s Nordic and US markets. In addition, we conducted analysis, calculations, and distribution of our settlement and margin prices towards our exchange and clearing members.
This department gave me valuable insights from all aspects of exchange trading, spanning from the placement of an order, executed and fully settled. Once I graduated from Uppsala University, I was asked if I would like to come back to work full-time under the trading and price management team, and I immediately said yes with gratitude.
Later on, I joined our high-touch desk for equity derivatives. The team comprises the voice trading system and specialises in liquidity and price discovery in complex structures, including exchange of delta, and is serving as a crucial hub for the European ecosystem.
Since last year, I have been working under our European equities and derivatives team, being responsible for the exchange’s relationships, strategy, sales, and cooperation with our members on the trading side of Nasdaq’s business. The common theme across my various roles has been the interaction with our clients and how we can assist them to achieve their goals and objectives in the best way possible.
What attracted me to pursue a career in finance was the complexity of financial markets, all factors affecting it (regulations, macro, geopolitical etc), and also the importance of being a trusted exchange operator. By assisting firms to raise capital, I strongly believe we can make a difference out there. The green transition and increasing Europe’s competitiveness globally are two examples where we play an important role.
As a young professional, what aspects of your role or the industry do you find most exciting?
What fuels me, is the interactions we have with our clients daily and how we solve real-life challenges for them. Nasdaq is a strong customer-oriented firm where listening to clients has always been a key pillar of our business. This gives us a tonne of valuable input, but it also allows us to deliver something our clients really request and is in need of.
The Nordics, and particularly Sweden, are known for having a sophisticated, developed, and advanced economy with a high degree of participation in our financial markets. We have a strong equity culture with low barriers to entry for private investors, public confidence in capital markets, various tax incentives supporting equity investments, an entrepreneurial culture, and an innovation-focused society.
Add on top of that institutional investors and pension funds, a strong initial public offering (IPO) market, and stable, affluent, and transparent economies, and you get an ecosystem hard to find anywhere else in the world. I could not ask for a more interesting and exciting workplace, and I feel proud of the work we do at Nasdaq.
Many companies offer various training and development opportunities for their employees. How has your company supported your growth?
Nasdaq is a strong supporter of its employees and wants everyone to be the best version possible every day. We offer several mentor programmes, internal educational courses, and various knowledge sessions, but also work shadowing and rotation programmes. What really fosters a healthy corporate culture is the diversity in our workforce. This, in conjunction with the various backgrounds where colleagues happily share experiences with each other, creates a dare-to-ask environment and ensures everyone’s abilities end up in the right place.
I can have meetings with team members located in Sydney, the next day in Hong Kong, a couple of hours later in Iceland, and lastly with colleagues in France and the US. Participants can be vice presidents, engineers, sales, or anyone in the company. Engaging across varios teams and functions gives you the possibility to learn, listen, and grow as an individual at an early stage in your career.
Another educational initiative is our Nasdaq Derivatives Academy, which has been a major success since its launch. Through this platform, we have educated, both physically and digitally, more than 4,000 investors on the benefits and possibilities of using derivatives in your portfolio. The audience has been broad, and we see participation all the way from professional traders and risk personnel to retail clients and back office. As an exchange, we are passionate about education, and this is a great example of how we lead the way in our industry.
What misconceptions about working in the financial industry have you encountered, and how do you address these challenges?
A common misconception about the financial industry is that the jargon is hard and that the days are too stressful. My experience is that it strongly depends on what is happening in the market and on your role. We are both a market operator and also deliver trading and clearing systems to other exchanges and clearing houses worldwide, so there are a lot of transactions to be processed, and a minor issue or incident can unfortunately cause large damage. Such anomalies can, of course, trigger stressed situations, but it rarely happens.
For us, it is of the highest importance to deliver robust systems and processes that our clients can trust. By being professional, structured, using available tools, and staying close to our clients, we ensure that the risk is low, and at the same time, the performance of our business is high.
At Nasdaq, we have a lot of different touching surfaces towards society, spanning from public to private companies in all different sectors, and I must say it is very rare that you meet someone being rude and unprofessional. Everyone is working towards their goals and interests, and they know that the best way to get there is by being professional, clear, and concise.
Looking ahead, where do you see yourself in the next five years in terms of your career goals and aspirations?
Our industry is under constant development and right now, there is a lot of focus on how to make the EU more competitive, shortening the settlement cycle, and digitalisation, to mention a few. At Nasdaq, we are currently migrating much of our technology into the cloud, launching several new initiatives, and increasing our efforts around carbon removal markets through our investments.
From a more personal perspective, I always strive to increase my expertise, and I want to focus on AI, data, competitiveness, and how we best can meet our clients’ demands. We are nothing without our customers, and that is why I believe their input and insights are more valuable than anything else. Lastly, developing my leadership skills has been high up on my agenda for a long time and is something I would really like to strengthen further.
What advice do you have for other young professionals aspiring to pursue a career in your industry?
Be curious, dare to ask, listen to more senior people, and be humble. You never know where a question will take you and which doors it may open. Apart from this, I am a strong believer in working hard and trying to say yes to all opportunities that may arise. Say yes to that meeting, say yes to an event, a course, or even that visit.
I have been fortunate to have great leaders surrounding and supporting me to always step outside my comfort zone. From my point of view, there is no better way of expanding your expertise and also growing as an individual. There are a lot of possibilities out there, so make sure you welcome them and be open-minded. Do not close doors before you have even opened them!
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Alec Bien
Image: David Gerby 