Fixed Income Connectivity Working Group targets cash bonds
The Fixed Income Connectivity Working Group (FICWG), which is composed of sell-side banks, has committed to further increase transparency and efficiency in the cash bond markets by the promotion of open, standardised protocols for the electronic trading of cash fixed income products.
This year, the FICWG initiative will extend the benefits of open standards to the trading of cash bonds. The scope of the initiative includes standardisation of protocols for pricing and trading government bonds and credit instruments.
The initiative aims to generate increased transparency through faster and easier integration between market participants, as well as increased efficiency through lower cost of ownership of the technology required for trading and connectivity.
“At Commerzbank we are delighted to support this group to establish increased transparency and efficiency in fixed income trading,” said Inga Johal, acting head of bond trading and financing at Commerzbank. “Following the successful agreement of the latest protocol for IRS and CDS products, we believe the next logical step is the addition for cash bonds and we look forward to further developments in 2012.”
The FICWG initiative was launched by the global investment banking community in June 2011 and is supported by technology provider Etrading Software and financial consultancy Expand Research.
RTS offers connectivity to Thailand Futures Exchange
International market participants can now gain easier access to the Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX), a subsidiary of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, using direct market access provided by trading technology company RTS Realtime Systems Group.
TFEX lists equity index futures, single stock futures and interest rate futures. It also lists oil futures and precious metal futures including gold and silver.
The new RTS offering is designed to help international investors capitalise on interest in gold and arbitrage opportunities. Trading volume in TFEX gold futures grew four-fold in the last two years, according to TFEX statistics.
The link has been assisted by the liberalisation of brokerage licencing by the Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission, which prompted TFEX to start accepting new members and market makers.
“Asia’s markets – including TFEX – are creating real opportunities for investors: new arbitrage opportunities across markets and easier access to the growing economies such as Thailand are all contributing to the rise in volumes in Asia,” said Andy Woodhouse, RTS managing director, Asia-Pacific. “Our algorithmic trading solutions, including the RTD Tango algorithmic trading engine and the hybrid RTD Tango Trader solution, are ideally suited to detect and capture such opportunities.”
Orange Business Services –Trading Solutions appoints Iberia/LatAm head
Orange Business Services – Trading Solutions, a provider of voice and electronic trading infrastructure and services, has appointed Vicente Linares as vice president of Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
Reporting to CEO Lionel Grosclaude, Vicente is responsible for developing the Trading Solutions business operations across Latin America and Iberia including sales, finance, engineering and operations.
Vicente’s career spans over 20 years in business technology across Spain, Germany, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. His roles have varied from leading start-up companies to senior level positions in global corporations. Most recently he was an executive director at software firm Serban in Madrid. Vicente has also been country manager for e-commerce business Clickandbuy International and sales director for IT services provider Fractalia Remote Systems.
Fidessa sets out derivatives vision for Chicago office
Trading technology provider Fidessa plans to expand its US presence with an office in Chicago, which it plans to use as a regional base for global futures and options trading.
The new office, located in the city’s Willis Tower, will support clients using Fidessa’s trading solutions for derivatives and other asset classes. The office will be staffed by new and existing personnel chosen for their expertise in equities and derivatives.
“Opening an office in Chicago supports our derivatives strategy and will allow us to leverage our infrastructure to deliver greater value to both large and small customers in this space,” said Dan Smalley, head of F&O business development at Fidessa US. “The 25 largest global futures commission merchants have significant operations in the region and our solutions put us in a great place to take advantage of the opportunities they present both within the region and in the global derivatives market.”
CameronTec prepares for Catalys 2.0
Trading technology provider CameronTec is preparing to launch Catalys 2.0, the latest version of its FIX ecosystem, which it pioneered in 2010.
Catalys 2.0 aims to draw insight from FIX flows, using data streaming to a central repository, to unify FIX data. It also focuses on reducing latency, by building a new adapter for embedding Catalys into Java platforms.
In addition, Catalys 2.0 allows users to edit the configuration of all FIX nodes in the ecosystem from the Catalys dashboard, configure events based on pre-set criteria and receive notification of their occurrence in multiple channels, as well as trade the history of FIX orders and messages for faster investigation of issues.
Unlike previous releases, Catalys 2.0 provides support for non-Catalys data, including data from CameronFIX engines as well as other Java-based engines. It also welcomes external and client-built services which have been designed to boost Catalys’ abilities.