Next up in our Leaders in Trading 2023 Editors’ Choice Awards write up series, we bring you the shortlisted candidates for Outstanding Trading Technology Provider, showcasing exceptional performance in the technological sphere.
Over the last year, these providers have continued to facilitate progress and innovation in the marketplace, focused on enhancing workflows and aiding the market in its ever-present pursuit of increased efficiency. The range of updates to their respective product suites and expansions into new markets makes for a strong cross-section of award nominees.
Among the key players in this competitive landscape, The TRADE has selected BlackRock’s Aladdin, Bloomberg, Broadridge Trading and Connectivity Solutions, and Trading Technologies for the 2023 shortlist, following various individual achievements over the last 12 months.
BlackRock, Aladdin
Throughout the last year, buy-side heavyweight BlackRock’s flagship order and execution management system (OEMS), Aladdin, has undergone a series of developments, enhancing the risk management-focused electronic system. The tech platform manages whole portfolios across both public and private markets investments. Aladdin technology addresses analytics, trading, risk management, operations, and accounting and performance, and at its core is focused on a data processing pipeline, understanding what differentiates a client and therefore providing efficient solutions.
Last December, BlackRock expanded Aladdin’s bonds trading capabilities with the integration of Tradeweb. The multi-year partnership was focused on delivering a “unique trading experience” between BlackRock and Tradeweb, focused on corporate, municipal, and emerging markets bonds. Over the course of a number of years the roadmap will deliver innovations provided by Tradeweb to Aladdin users, beginning with Tradeweb’s AiPrice. In the first phase of the project, Aladdin users will gain access to real-time prices for around 25,000 corporate bonds using the service.
In July, Broadridge’s LTX entered the next phase of its BlackRock partnership through an integration with Aladdin, which allows Aladdin users to now leverage data-driven capabilities to improve liquidity discovery and trading efficiency. The pair’s multi-year partnership incorporates LTX’s Liquidity Cloud and actionable pre-trade cloud match scores directly in the Aladdin platform. Most recently, in September, BlackRock expanded Aladdin’s team with the appointment of a new expert in a solutions engineering role. The former FlexTrade buy-side order management system (OMS) specialist, Federico Grasso, is now vice president in engineering solutions.
Bloomberg
Bloomberg has made significant strides over the last 12 months, updating its offering in various areas. In Q2 this year, Bloomberg and S&P Global Market Intelligence launched a new solution to streamline syndicated primary bond market workflows, set to minimise the need for proprietary mapping and manual tracking of security information. Following this, Bloomberg completed its acquisition of Broadway Technology, aimed at providing a low latency execution management offering, optimised for rates trading, and deliver improved innovations in multi-asset software. In February, Bloomberg enhanced automated trading solutions to strengthen client execution, introducing a range of enhancements to its Rule Builder (RBLD) solution.
Bloomberg’s order management system (OMS) AIM and its risk and reporting PORT Enterprise solutions are key offerings. In May, Swedish independent fund management company Lannebo Fonder became the latest buy-side to adopt both Bloomberg’s AIM and PORT solutions. Bloomberg’s PORT Enterprise is the expanded version of its PORT solution, which delivers reporting capabilities powered by risk models alongside centrally administered batch reporting services. The AIM solution has seen increased popularity with the sell-side, with BNP Paribas’ securities services business integrating with Bloomberg the same month to bring together its multi-asset servicing capabilities with the order management system. Also in May, BNP Paribas’ securities services business was integrated with Bloomberg to bring together its multi-asset servicing capabilities with Bloomberg AIM. The integration was aimed at providing mutual clients with front-to-back workflows and standardised data connectivity to support efficient trade management.
More recently, in September, Bloomberg launched the new MVP index and pricing power index, adding to Bloomberg Index Services (BISL) suite of thematic equities indices. The offering tracks the performance of US large-cap companies that showcase fundamental qualities across momentum, value, volatility and profitability based on a factor model developed by Bloomberg Intelligence. In October, Bloomberg launched a new portfolio manager workspace in a bid to enhance its buy-side decision support solution. The interactive offering is focused on supporting decision-making processes through streamlining the link between analysis and portfolio implementation, combining real-time portfolio exposures with market data, portfolio construction, sophisticated risk analytics, and real-time liquidity insights.
Broadridge Trading and Connectivity Solutions
Broadridge Trading and Connectivity Solutions has had a stellar year with notable developments across its business. Its middle-office solution is a front-and-back-office agnostic SaaS solution that provides firms with the ability to achieve operational efficiency and cost effectiveness.
In February, Broadridge Financial Solutions partnered with analytics solution provider Point Focal to offer clients improved access to portfolio analytics and alternative data driven quantitative insights. The move allows for Point Focal’s insights to be incorporated into Broadridge’s order-routing network platform, NYFIX, providing automated reports which combine data, visual analytics and natural language processing to expose signals to improve single stock and portfolio performance while de-risking exposure. The post-trade solution facilitates intraday allocations and improves post-trade processing, while mitigating end-of-day risk. In October, Broadridge Financial Solutions launched a new solution designed to meet the needs of asset managers with high volume and/or high-touch orders named NYFIX Fill Matching. The FIX based real-time reconciliation product compliments the NYFIX Matching solution.
The same month, Broadridge entered into a strategic partnership with Iress UK, incorporating its OMS and market-making platform, Tbricks directly into the Iress Retail Service Provider (RSP) network. Through the partnership, liquidity providers benefit from more streamlined order management, increased market connectivity, real time data and analytics, and robust compliance. Most recently, Broadridge Financial Solutions and Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) launched a new direct connection, between TSE’s ETF trading platform, CONNEQTOR, and Broadridge’s EMS, Xilix.
Trading Technologies
Trading Technologies (TT) has gone from strength to strength over the last year, enhancing its global capital markets technology platform offering. The provider’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) TT platform connects to the world’s major international exchanges and liquidity venues in listed derivatives–alongside a growing number of asset classes, including fixed income, foreign exchange and cryptocurrencies. The platform delivers advanced tools for trade execution and order management, market data solutions, analytics, trade surveillance, risk management and infrastructure services to the world’s leading sell-side institutions, buy-side firms and exchanges. In 2022, the ultra-low latency TT platform handled two billion transactions.
In February, TT and Eurex entered into a partnership to offer EnLight through TT platform, set to help reduce the time-to-market of price discovery from various participants, making use of TT’s large distribution network. In March this year, it acquired London-based fixed income trading solutions provider, AxeTrading, providing TT with an immediate fixed income offering. The acquisition supported its multi-asset expansion, in particular into fixed income, giving the business access to much of the fixed income markets for the first time including coverage of corporate, government, municipal and emerging market bonds as well as over the counter (OTC) interest rate swaps.
In June, it established TT FX, a new foreign exchange business unit named TT FX, the initial implementation phase is scheduled for late this year. Following this, in September, TT acquired Abel Noser Solutions–the industry-leading provider of transaction cost analysis (TCA) for investment managers, brokers, asset owners and consultants. Analytics from Abel Noser Solutions are expected to be integrated into TT’s platform at a later stage.