Renowned economic activist and CEO of The Investors Exchange (IEX), Brad Katsuyama, is scheduled to speak at Lehigh University on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. The talk, which will take place in Lehigh’s Baker Hall, is free and open to the general public. The speech will be presented by the Center for Financial Services at the Lehigh College of Business and Economics, the Visiting Lecturers Committee and the Zoellner Arts Center.
Katsuyama is lauded as a pioneer in efforts to build a reformed market that protects investors. It was not always his mission to earn this reputation. Working as the Global Head of Electronic Sales and Trading at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Katsuyama noticed suspicious trading anomalies. Investigations into these anomalies revealed that certain High-Frequency Trading (HFT) practices were harming the market and disadvantaging many investors. Katsuyama responded to this discovery by helping to implement a trading platform (THOR) that would protect RBC against stock scalpers looking to capitalize on these harmful HFT practices.
After leaving RBC, Katsuyama built IEX, whose mission, according to its website, is to act as a “…fair, simple, and transparent stock exchange dedicated to investor protection.”
Michael Lewis features Katsuyama’s discoveries and commitment to encouraging ethical practices on Wall Street in his book, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. Shortly after the book was published, the FBI issued an investigation into HFT practices. In an interview with Business Insider, Katsuyama indicated that his top priority was to protect investors: “It was never about eliminating high-speed trading; it was about eliminating unfair advantages that are in the market.”
Katsuyama gives speeches across the country on ethical trading practices. This talk will be beneficial to anyone interested in learning about the ills of HFT practices, or simply hearing the inspiring story of the underdog who took on Wall Street and won.