Retro APT website
And yes, the APT has a website too. As a sparring partner of all kinds of governmental bodies, it’s important to have a professional look. Well, here it is. Apart from the general my-first-website look and feel, the content is even worse. And that’s a serious matter for an association trying to sell their story to other organizations and institutions.
First of all, everything is in Dutch and outdated. Under the link of “actueel” there’s a messy text with topics ranging from 2004 till 2009 – but that’s hard to say because most text contains no reference to any given year. There’s a link to a scan of a letter from the Dutch tax authorities which reveals a year of 2004. There have been two meetings in 2007, a few in 2009 and apparently none in 2008.
Worse than the website
Investigating the date of certain topics, I spotted a letter from the APT to the financial watchdog the AFM. They are against something unclear, but it has been way too much effort to write a decent letter. If you write this kind of lousy formal letters, maybe you shouldn’t be representing other companies at all. Mister Kruisinga and Kaemingk may have great capabilities, but writing letters isn’t one of them.
Optiver/Binck
There’s no reference to the joint-venture of Optiver and Binck, where all Dutch retail orderflow is about to be channelled to he books of Optiver ; cornering the market and threatening the future of all other market participants with “TOM“. After some questions, the APT decided to have no view on “innovative” developments with the sector. They couldn’t reach a consensus. That’s hardly a surprise with an APT member like Optiver. Any market maker association or representation ignoring this threat can’t be taken serious and should be relieved from their duty.