GIX CEO quoted in Traders Magazine article on ESG Panel

GIX CEO Dan Labovitz participated in a panel discussion at the Trading Evolved Best Execution Conference on June 14. The panel, "ESG Considerations in Trading and Best Execution," asked the question of how environmental, social, and governance considerations intersect with broker-dealers' trading function. Check out this write-up of the event in Traders Magazine.

The consensus of the panel was that, broadly speaking, ESG is the province of asset managers who are selecting what to buy or sell, not the traders who are responsible for executing the trade. This is because trading desks are generally measured by how well they were able to execute the trades, not their ESG impact. That's starting to change, though: when it comes to trading, ESG "is like a freight train just starting to move: it hasn’t gone far yet, but the wheels are turning, and at some point the locomotive will be hard to stop."

Dan noted that exchanges have a role to play in ESG, but broadly speaking, “there is a lack of leadership that the industry needs to confront." The panelists agreed that the trading industry should get in front of ESG and develop its own framework.