Bastiaan Berendsen has been promoted to head trader at Robeco, based in Rotterdam.
He has been with the firm for almost 19 years, having most recently served as a senior equity trader.
The appointment comes as the firm seeks to increase team efficacy. Robeco tells The TRADE: “To be more efficient as a team, share the daily responsibilities and better align on running the daily operations, Bastiaan has been appointed as head trader.”
Current head of equity trading and operational portfolio management, Robbert Wijgerse, continues in his role and existing reporting lines remain the same.
Berendsen joined Robeco – which leverages a low touch and high touch trading model across three continents – in 2006 as a data and application manager.
As a senior trader he was part of the Rotterdam-based low touch duo for Robeco, alongside equity trader Tomaz Mota, prior to his promotion.
Read more – Chasing innovation on Robeco’s global equity trading desk: ‘In order to stay good, we need to become better’
Speaking to The TRADE earlier this year, Berendsen delved into Robeco’s approach to trading, explaining that the innovation opted for by Robeco’s low touch trading team is largely focused on its in-house trading researchers which works with the trading desk to enhance execution, minimise costs and reduce market impact.
He added that this approach has had tangible results on the way the institution executes, in particular around its level of passive trading, asserting: “We have large quant strategies in developed and emerging markets. For trading many different stocks, it makes sense to trade relatively passively.
“In general, the quant strategies do not expect to have a lot of short-term alpha, so then you don’t need to be trading extremely aggressively in the market.”