Predictions of the future should always be treated with a degree of cynicism, particularly in the rapidly evolving world of electronic trading, but the forecast that up to 40% of European equity flow will come from firms not holding trading licences is not going unnoticed by regulators.

Through an activity known as sponsored access, high-frequency trading firms and hedge funds are able to connect directly to a trading venue using the membership of a broker. These trades may either be filtered, whereby they go via the internal systems of a broker, or be unfiltered or "naked", bypassing the intermediary entirely.