The combined broking operation formed from the merger of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch is allowing US clients to choose which firm’s direct market access (DMA) platform they wish to use.
Customers can choose between Merrill Lynch’s X Trade or Bank of America’s Instaquote platform to access the combined entity’s electronic execution tools, such as smart order routing, algorithms and global market connections.
Bank of America’s stronger market share in the US, however, may mean Instaquote is used more widely than X Trade.
In Europe, Bank of America Merrill Lynch will continue to offer clients access to its electronic trading tools through its existing connections with broker-neutral order and execution management systems such as those provided by trading technology firms Charles River, Portware and Trading Screen.
Bank of America announced its acquisition of Merrill Lynch on 15 September 2008 in an all-stock transaction deal worth $50 billion. The deal closed in January 2009.