Swedish financial technology provider Cinnober has bought Markit’s OTC trade reporting service BOAT that had been due to close down later this year.
BOAT, which provided a third-party trade reporting service for off-exchange activity, was scheduled to wind down in September due to insufficient demand for its data.
Shortly before the plan to close was announced, BATS Chi-X Europe launched its own off-exchange reporting service, BXTR, with support from several major brokers, including Citigroup, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS.
Cinnober took control of BOAT on 1 July and the firm said it believes there is significant client demand for a reporting service that is independent of the major exchange groups.
“The BOAT platform has huge potential for further development and the demand for a continued services and a broader offering is very high according to discussions we’ve had with customers,” said Veronica Augustsson, CEO of Cinnober.
Despite its scheduled closure, 40 investment firms and multilateral trading facilities continue to report trades and quotes to BOAT, she added.
Jamie Khurshid will serve as CEO of BOAT under Cinnober.
Existing customers will be unaffected by the deal and will continue to receive the same services. Cinnober plans to leverage its existing product portfolio by adding new services to the BOAT platform to provide increased value to users.
BOAT’s technology is already based on Cinnober’s TRADExpress platform since it began operating in 2007.
Meanwhile, BATS Chi-X Europe announced today that it has acquired four new clients for BXTR, adding Deutsche Bank, Instinet, KCG and Liquidnet.
Mark Hemsley, CEO of BATS Chi-X Europe, said: “The support of our customers for BXTR, and the strength of our pipeline, is a clear indication of the quality of the service provided.
“With over €308 billion reported to BXTR in June, the service provides an invaluable insight into the way the modern European marketplace moves and we will be further refining the picture of what constitutes truly addressable liquidity through the FIX Trading Community Market Model Typology standard.”