2025 Outsourced Trading Survey

The survey has become the most downloaded digital report on The Trade website and is published annually by Ergo Consultancy, The Trade and Global Custodian . 

The 2025 narrative was shaped as much by who was not offering outsourced trading as by who was. UBS Execution Hub stepped back first, followed by BNP Paribas with both firms ceasing to provide outsourced execution services to external clients. Contrary to some reports at the time, neither organisation actually closed its outsourced trading capability, instead refocusing on servicing internal clients.

Despite these developments, the survey continued to grow for a third consecutive year. Participant numbers increased by 5 percent and a larger number of providers reached the response threshold required for publication, reinforcing the breadth and resilience of the sector.

Contributors also highlighted how far outsourced trading has evolved over the past decade. What were once predominantly equity-focused offerings have developed into genuinely multi-asset services, albeit with meaningful differences in asset mix and specialisation across providers.

T+1 settlement was increasingly cited as a catalyst for outsourcing, while Ergo Consultancy’s TempTrader was discussed as an alternative for managers for whom fully outsourcing their trading function remained undesirable, but who nevertheless required greater resilience and specialist execution support.