AXA IM's Thomas: 'Dark pools' are changing how we buy and sell

The growing number of off-exchange trading platforms is changing the way fund managers buy and sell shares, according to Nigel Thomas, manager of the £3.3bn AXA Framlington UK Select Opportunities fund.

Speaking to an audience of advisers this month, Thomas said dealing in markets was conforming to his longstanding investment philosophy that things "will not necessarily get better or worse: they will become different". Trades conducted via ‘dark pools' - off-market exchanges that enable institutional investors to anonymously buy and sell shares - have become increasingly prevalent in recent years. The nature of such trades mean they are largely hidden from public view, but dark pools now account for one third of all equity volume in the US alone, according to consultancy firm Tabb Gr...