MarketAxess quarterly revenue jumps 25%

Electronic fixed income trading platform MarketAxess earned US$60.4 million in Q4 2013, up 24.4% on Q4 2012, driven by gains in commission revenue as the platform operator extended market share.

Electronic fixed income trading platform MarketAxess earned US$60.4 million in Q4 2013, up 24.4% on Q4 2012, driven by gains in commission revenue as the platform operator extended market share.

The quarter-on-quarter boost mirrors overall 2013 revenue growth, which increased 25.1% to US$238.7 million compared to US$190.8 million in 2012.

For Q4 last year, MarketAxess’ gains were driven by a 14.9% increase in total trading volumes to US$171.3 billion on Q4 2012. This increase was reflected in higher commission revenue, which reached US$50.5 million, compared to US$44.2 million in the same quarter in 2012.

In a statement, MarketAxess said trading volume in US high-grade instruments across its platform increased to 13.9% of volume included in the TRACE system, run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority – up from 13.6% in Q4 2012.

“Our record revenues and earnings were driven by market share growth and record volumes in all three of our core products - high-grade, high-yield and emerging markets," said Rick McVey, chairman and CEO of MarketAxess, who cited growth in the Open Trading system as key to the firm’s future strategy.

"Last year was also an inflection point for Open Trading, with increased engagement from investors and dealers in our all-to-all trading protocols," McVey said. Earlier this month, McVey stated asset managers had begun to actively make prices in liquidity fixed income products on the Open Trading system.

Revenue from the firm’s non-trading activities, from post-trade services, technology products and information solutions, also grew to US$10 million from US$4.3 million in Q4 2012, linked in part to the acquisition of post-trade provider Xtrakter, which MarketAxess finalised in February last year.

«