Albert Menkveld, alumnus of Erasmus School of Economics, on the usefulness of flash traders, the growing mistrust of citizens and the need for transparency in the financial market.
Albert Menkveld never would have thought that his car would be pelted with red paint bombs because of squirrels. Because of 440 North American striped ground squirrels to be precise. At the end of the last century KLM, where Menkveld was press officer at that time, decided to throw the animals in the shredder because they did not have the correct papers. It resulted in a fine of 80,000 guilders and a revenue loss of 25 million guilders for KLM.
Nowadays Menkveld is no longer concerned with squirrels, neither with airplanes. He is professor in Finance at the Amsterdam Free University and is seen worldwide as an authority in the field of price formation on stock exchanges and high frequency trading, or flash trading. Flash traders use sophisticated computers and algorithms to make money at the speed of light on minute price differences. As with KLM, it applies to them: their image could use some extra shine.
In an interview with Financieel Dagblad, Menkveld talks about flash trading, its image, transparency and the financial system. For the full interview in Dutch, click here.
- More information
Albert Menkveld studied Econometrics at Erasmus School of Economics and graduated in 1996.
To read the full article, a subscription to Financieel Dagblad is required.
