Speech by Mr Chris Salmon, Executive Director for Markets of the Bank of England, at the 13th Annual Central Bank Conference on the Microstructure of Financial Markets, London, 6 October 2017.
Good morning and welcome to the second day of our conference. Yesterday we heard from Richard Payne's session on the subject of algorithmic trading - a key development in market structure, enabled by the greater prevalence of electronic trading. This morning I want to step back a little further and look at the broader implications of the moves toward more electronic and automated trading.
One phenomenon this has given rise to - and perhaps the element which has most captured the public imagination - is the series of 'flash' events which have occurred over recent years (Chart 1).