Chris, you’ve spent much of your career working at the intersection of electronic trading, analytics and execution technology. Today you’re responsible for GlobalLINK’s FX and TCA platforms at a time when markets are becoming increasingly data driven. What are the priorities that you and your team are focused on today, and how do you see your role evolving as execution becomes more intelligent and interconnected?
Our priority is to make execution intelligence useful at the moment a decision is made, not just after a trade is complete. Clients already have access to liquidity, execution tools and large amounts of data. The harder challenge is bringing those elements together in a way that helps a trader make a timely, well-informed decision and understand the outcome afterwards.
That is where the combination of BestX®, FX Connect and BestXecutor is particularly powerful. BestX provides independent analytics and a framework shaped by each client’s execution priorities. BestXecutor brings that intelligence into the FX Connect workflow, so traders can assess the options for a specific order while retaining control of the final decision. We are also focused on connecting that pre-trade assessment with execution and post-trade evaluation, rather than treating them as separate activities.
As execution becomes more interconnected, I see our role evolving from providing individual platforms to helping clients bring their workflows together. LINK is important to that vision because it gives clients a way to connect capabilities while preserving choice over the tools, counterparties and controls they use. The goal is not to automate judgment away. It is to give traders better context, make routine processes more consistent and leave a clearer evidence trail for every decision.
Turning data into execution intelligence
Trading desks now have more liquidity sources, execution venues and analytical tools than ever before. Where does that leave the actual execution decision – and what is BestXecutor really designed to solve?
The problem is not a lack of information. It is that the volume and speed of that information have outrun the capacity to evaluate it during the seconds in which a trade is placed. At the same time, many trading desks are operating with leaner teams and fewer resources, despite being expected to manage a growing number of liquidity providers, execution venues and analytical inputs. A trader may be navigating streaming prices from multiple counterparties, algos from every major bank, several approaches to constructing a request-for-stream panel, and post-trade analytics that arrive only after value has already been gained or lost. Choice has increased, but the execution decision has become harder.
BestXecutor was built to close that gap. Transaction cost analysis (TCA) has traditionally explained execution quality after the event. BestXecutor brings the same independent, evidence-based view of counterparties, venues, protocols and strategies into FX Connect and LINK before the order is submitted. The trader begins with an evidence-based shortlist rather than a blank panel, reducing manual judgement while retaining authority over the final decision. In doing so, BestXecutor helps traders scale decision-making and maintain execution quality, even as teams are asked to do more with fewer resources.
That evolution is grounded in straightforward proposition: Turn choice into confidence. BestXecutor combines the market intelligence and analytical capabilities of BestX with the execution capabilities of FX Connect, creating a connected workflow that spans pre-trade assessment, execution and post-trade analysis. By delivering order-specific execution intelligence directly within the trader’s workflow, BestXecutor helps transform data into actionable insight, supporting faster, more consistent and more defensible execution decisions while maintaining full trader control.
Ritesh Marwah Head of Sales at BestX, shares that the evolution of BestXecutor reflects a broader shift in how firms think about best execution. “We’ve spent years helping clients understand execution performance after the event. What’s exciting about BestXecutor is the ability to bring that same independent intelligence into the execution process itself, helping traders make more informed decisions before they trade.”
BestXecutor is described as a decision-augmentation tool. What does that mean in practice, and how does it differ from simply presenting traders with more pre-trade data?
There is a clear difference between displaying data and improving a decision. Pre-trade data has existed on platforms for years. What desks often lack is a specific, evidence-based assessment of the order in front of them, calibrated to their own priorities. BestXecutor provides that translation layer: For this size, currency pair and time of day, and against the client’s defined BestX Factors, it identifies the counterparties statistically most likely to deliver the preferred outcome.
BestXecutor combines the client’s trading history with independent peer benchmarks from the BestX Opt-In Pool and the market data BestX consumes. It then ranks counterparties for RFS or algorithms for algorithmic execution. Traders can compare RFS with an algorithm for the same order and, where available, include competitive sessions as a third execution protocol.
The trader remains responsible for submission. BestXecutor can pre-populate a shortlist of counterparties or algo strategies, but the client controls the factors, rules, and permitted options. That makes the choice faster and more consistent while leaving a clear record of why it was made.
How does BestXecutor turn historical execution data and client-specific BestX Factors into guidance that is relevant to an individual order?
No two clients define best execution in the same way. A passive index manager, an active asset manager, hedge fund and corporate treasuries may optimize for different outcomes; priorities can also vary by desk or portfolio. BestX Factors captures those preferences by allowing clients to select and weight measures such as spread, market impact, fill probability, signaling risk, benchmark performance and arrival price. BestXecutor then evaluates each order through that client-defined lens.
That configuration is supported by a broad data foundation. BestX processes more than one billion market data updates each day. The Opt-In Peer Pool contains around US$210 trillion of cumulative notional across 23 million anonymized parent trades and has grown by roughly 24 percent year on year. This gives the model greater depth where a client’s internal history is limited, while allowing richer client data to carry more weight where it is available.
The result is a focused ranking tailored to the currency pair, tenor, trade size, time of day, protocol and client-selected factors. It is designed to help a specific trader make a specific decision in the next few seconds — not to describe an average market outcome.
Beyond what BestXecutor does today, what is your longer-term vision – and how do you see it moving from decision support toward a more predictive and embedded execution experience?
BestXecutor currently provides the trader with an evidence-based ranking to support the execution decision The roadmap is to make that support more predictive through richer estimates of cost and outcome, more responsive counterparty and algorithm scoring, and faster feedback from each executed trade. Planned work includes a redesigned pre-trade experience, deeper peer analytics, forward-point integration, exception-driven learning and carefully governed uses of artificial intelligence to help clients interrogate their own data.
Automated Order Routing (AOR) is a planned step on that path. Subject to client choice and governance, the intention is to automate routine routing to the highest-ranked counterparties for competitive execution. Initially available through the My Orders workflow, it will extend over time directly from an order management system (OMS) via Connect Select enabling clients to define their own routing logic, workflows and decision rules, creating a framework that can automate the flow of orders while remaining fully aligned with the firm’s execution policies and governance requirements. The client would continue to define the rules and constraints; the value is in shortening the routine steps between analysis and action.
The second question is where that intelligence sits. Today, BestXecutor is available inside FX Connect through LINK. The same design principle can extend to OMS-driven flow through Connect Select, while a separate cash-management model is already in client beta on Fund Connect. The objective is for the intelligence to feel like part of the workflow, not another destination the trader must visit.
As Jim Norcott, GlobalLINK FX Commercial Lead, notes: “Our vision is to help our clients progress from automated workflows to intelligent workflows, where independent analytics, execution and post-trade evaluation are connected in a continuous feedback loop. BestXecutor is the intelligence layer that helps turn execution choice into execution confidence.”
Which parts of the execution decision – venue, counterparty, algo, timing – do you think will become the most sophisticated over time, and how do you preserve appropriate trader control alongside that?
Counterparty and protocol selection are the areas in which independent intelligence is already having the clearest effect. Client history, peer analysis, streaming quote analytics and algorithm performance under different conditions can directly inform panel size, provider selection and the choice between RFS, algorithms and competitive sessions.
Timing and market impact are harder problems, but they are the next logical step. A sufficiently rich view of intraday liquidity by currency pair and trade size can inform not only with whom to trade, but when. The forward-curve work, the expansion of Market Insights inside LINK and the BestX Liquidity Score are intended to support that progression. Algorithm selection should also become more granular as providers add functionality and clients gain access to more consistent, comparable performance measurement through Sell Side Insights.
Greater sophistication should strengthen the trader’s judgement, not remove it. BestXecutor is a decision engine rather than an execution engine: The client defines the factors, weightings, permitted protocols, panel construction and any automated-routing permissions. That framework allows routine decisions to become faster and more consistent while preserving human intervention when market conditions fall outside the expected pattern.
As BestXecutor becomes more predictive, how important is explainability? What will clients need to understand about why a particular execution route or counterparty is being surfaced?
Explainability is fundamental to adoption, particularly when the output is used to support best-execution governance. A trader and compliance team need to understand why a counterparty, venue or protocol was surfaced. BestXecutor is therefore designed as an evidence-driven model rather than a black box.
Each ranked assessment can be traced to the client’s BestX Factors, the data window, the peer set and the metrics applied. That link between the pre-trade rationale, the executed trade and the post-trade outcome allows the decision to be reviewed later and supports a defensible governance process.
The same standard applies as AI-enabled capabilities are explored. AI can help clients interrogate their data, identify patterns and translate analytics into clearer decision-support outputs, but it should not lower the bar on transparency
Connecting intelligence across the workflow
Turning to the wider environment, how does embedding BestXecutor into LINK change its value compared with offering it as a standalone pre-trade tool?
LINK turns BestXecutor from a separate analytical destination into part of the trading day. The BestXecutor output is available alongside the order, execution venue, post-trade workflow, custodian view, payments, and relevant third-party tools. The practical benefit is not simply single sign-on; it is the reduction of time and context lost as a trader moves between applications.
LINK connects the GlobalLINK suite — including FX Connect, BestX, BestXecutor, TradeNeXus, Currenex, Fund Connect and GlobalLINK Payments — with State Street and third-party applications through an open, interoperable architecture. The environment supports more than 700 buy-side and sell-side entities and draws on more than 25 years of investment in electronic trading technology. For BestXecutor, that provides workflow reach that would be difficult to reproduce as a standalone product.
A client can act on the BestXecutor intelligence in FX Connect, carry the executed trade into allocation, settlement and reporting through TradeNeXus, and return the outcome to BestX for post-trade analysis and peer benchmarking. Maintaining that order context across the cycle reduces re-keying, limits operational risk and allows each completed trade to inform the next decision.
What does contextual data sharing across BestXecutor, BestX, FX Connect and the rest of LINK make possible – and how does that shape the workflow from insight to post-trade?
Contextual data sharing allows LINK to preserve the same order information — client, portfolio, currency pair, size, tenor and benchmark — as the trade moves between integrated tools. The trader does not need to re-key or remap the same fields at each stage. That consistency supports more streamlined pre- and post-trade processing and reduces the operational friction that typically appears between systems.
The same context links the decision intelligence directly to the executable order, carries the trade into reconciliation, settlement and reporting, and then returns the outcome to BestX. If the client opts into the Peer Pool, the anonymized result can also strengthen the community benchmark. The value is a continuous feedback loop between decision, execution and evaluation.
Opening LINK to third-party innovation
Single-Dealer Platforms are a growing part of institutional FX. What role do SDPs play in the future of LINK, and how does that complement the multi-dealer workflows clients already use?
Multi-dealer platforms (MDPs) and single-dealer platforms (SDPs) solve different problems. An MDP supports competitive price formation, consistent workflow and post-trade automation across a chosen panel.
An SDP can bring dealer-specific tools, analytics and content into that broader working environment. The important question for us is how clients use both without having to navigate disconnected screens and processes.
LINK is designed to bring those channels into the same workspace. State Street’s FX SDP, VectorFX®, is already integrated, and the architecture can support other SDPs alongside FX Connect, BestX and BestXecutor. A trader can move seamlessly between multi-dealer and single-dealer workflows, leverage independent analytics at the point of decision, and compare outcomes through a consistent analytics framework. The same contextual information follows the trade throughout the workflow, reducing operational friction and preserving a single, connected user experience across execution, allocation and post-trade analysis. This open architecture also creates the foundation for future innovation, including broader SDP participation, axes integration and differentiated dealer content delivered through a unified workflow.
The important point is that additional optionality should not weaken governance. Clients retain their approved counterparties, routing rules and execution policies, while BestX provides a consistent basis for evaluating performance across channels. MDPs and SDPs are, therefore, complementary components of the same client-controlled workflow. Our aim is not to steer clients toward one execution model. It is to give them the flexibility to use the tools that suit each order, with less workflow friction and a clearer connection between the decision, the trade and the post-trade assessment.
How do you preserve client choice and an open ecosystem as more proprietary, third-party and single-dealer capabilities are brought together within LINK?
An ecosystem only remains open if client’s control what they use and how they route. LINK is designed as an interoperable environment in which GlobalLINK products, State Street capabilities, SDPs and third-party services can coexist. Single sign-on, configurable workspaces and modular integration support that choice, but they do not prescribe the client’s operating model.
Independence is central to that proposition. Clients are not required to route through State Street liquidity to use BestXecutor, and BestX remains independent of liquidity providers and venues. That separation allows clients to compare counterparties and channels through a consistent governance framework while retaining their approved providers and existing controls.
Our role is to provide the connectivity and independent intelligence that help the ecosystem work, not to act as a gatekeeper. Where a client wants to retain a legacy tool, add a bank SDP, adopt third-party analytics or integrate a proprietary component, LINK is intended to support that choice. Openness is valuable only when it is reflected in the client’s practical ability to select, compare and govern the services they use.
A multi-asset destination
Looking further ahead, which elements of the BestXecutor and LINK model are transferable across asset classes – and what would a genuinely connected multi-asset execution workflow look like for clients?
FX has been the proving ground because its protocol diversity and data depth make it a demanding environment for decision support. The underlying principles are transferable: independent analytics, client-defined factors, peer benchmarking, an interoperable workspace and a connected pre- to post-trade record. BestX already provides multi-asset TCA across FX, fixed income and equities; extending decision support across those markets is the next strategic step.
The 2026 roadmap applies that model first to fixed income through planned and developing capabilities including Neptune Networks integration for post-trade analysis, a fixed-income Peer Pool, broker scorecards, credit-spread standardization and pre-trade request-for-quote insights. In equities, the direction includes richer peer analytics, a liquidity score and broker scorecards. In cash management, a dedicated BestXecutor model is already in client beta on Fund Connect.
In practical terms, a multi-asset desk could apply one governance framework to an FX hedge, a bond request for quote, an equity order and a cash allocation, while allowing the relevant liquidity, benchmarks and execution protocols to differ by asset class. The objective is not to prescribe one route, venue or provider. It is to give clients a consistent intelligence and governance layer across markets while preserving choice at every point of execution. That is the next-generation ecosystem LINK and BestXecutor are being built to support.
Throughout this conversation Chris we’ve discussed technology, analytics and workflow innovation. As a leader, what are you most excited about as you and your team continue building the next generation of execution intelligence?
What excites me most is the opportunity to make sophisticated execution intelligence genuinely practical. The industry has spent years building better data, analytics and electronic workflows. The next step is connecting them so that insight is available when a trader needs it in the context of the order they are working on. BestXecutor is an example of that direction. It brings BestX’s independent analytics into the FX Connect workflow, helping clients move from understanding execution after the fact to making more informed choices before they trade. As we develop that model further, our focus is on making the connection between the decision, the execution and the outcome more useful and more transparent, while keeping clients in control of their rules and counterparties.
For me, the opportunity is bigger than any single tool. It is to help clients manage complexity without adding another layer of it: To make their workflows more connected, their decisions easier to explain and their execution processes more consistent. That is what I believe the next generation of execution intelligence should deliver.
