Machine earning: how tech is shaking up bank market-making

As banks get serious about e-trading, humans are being asked to give up their secrets to the machines that could replace them

Mark Long, nbillustration.co.uk

This is the fourth in a series of articles on the digital overhaul of the front office. The previous stories cover the marriage of humans and machines, Symphony’s bot army, and banks’ attempts to spot toxic clients.

Until recently, banks’ electronic trading efforts in fixed income were valiant-but-doomed attempts to change deep-rooted practices and culture. The teams were fragmented, working on the high-volume, low-margin end of each product set. They took little risk, made little money and wer