Until last summer, the fixed income markets were ploughing a lone, if lucrative, furrow. While the equities, foreign exchange and exchange-traded derivatives markets were driving down an increasingly commoditised ‘stack’em high, sell’em cheap’ route, fixed income brokers were piling on the bells and whistles at the high-margin, luxury end of the financial markets. The more complex the structure, the harder to understand the risk, the more appealing the product.

While other markets employed the latest technology – including automated and algorithmic trading ...