The world of trading is under attack on several fronts, as a slew of new rules from Dodd-Frank in the US and the international Basel III capital rules, to the European market infrastructure regulation and the review of the markets in financial instruments directive. For the most part, the rules attempt to make trading activity more electronic and transparent, while at the same time limiting the extent to which banks put their own capital to work and take on proprietary risk.

They also aim to improve the way over-the-counter trading is risk-managed, by centralising that risk in clearing houses once the trade has been executed - and by ensuring, more generally, that all booked trades are cushioned by an adequate capital buffer.