Portfolio trading ranks well up on the list of financial services that owe their success - and their genesis - to gains in information technology. The speed and efficiency with which clients can bundle their portfolios and brokers can repackage, execute and report those transactions are a product of the connectivity between banks, their clients and a multitude of execution and settlement venues.

Jennifer Berg, head of portfolio trading at UBS Warburg, says: 'Technology has always been a critical component of the portfolio trading industry. Technology allows us to screen, interpret and react to the ever-increasing speed and quantity of information available in today's global marketplace.'