Liquidnet is ready to move away from its equities-centric business model and engage the fixed-income markets – by launching a dark pool targeting institutional traders.
And as the pool gets ready for its official Q3 opening, the block trading broker has already integrated seven order management system providers to help orders find their way to the pool.
Liquidnet’s goal is simple – make it as easy for corporate bond traders to find liquidity in a central location. And if possible, help these traders find in it size.
“Our clients have asked us for a dark pool that enables them to match based on passive blotter-level dark liquidity. By connecting to their existing order management systems, asset managers will have direct access to a protected venue that allows them to exchange natural liquidity with minimum effort and minimum information leakage,” said Constantinos Antoniades, head of Liquidnet Fixed Income. “The functionality, protocols and connectivity of our dark pool will create significant new liquidity in the broader corporate bond universe – not just in the most liquid segment of the market.”
The OMS providers that Liquidnet is currently working with include Charles River Development, Eze Software Group, Fidessa, LineData and Thinkfolio, along with two other major vendors. Liquidnet is also integrating with a number of custom OMS used by their clients. These partnerships will accelerate the growth of electronic corporate bond trading by integrating technology that will help to build a critical mass of liquidity and ultimately, make fixed income trading more efficient.
“There is a growing trend among the buyside community to find new and more efficient ways to access additional liquidity in order to get their trades done,” said Jeffrey Shoreman, president, Eze Software Group. “This type of integration is essential in bringing the buyside together and enhancing the fixed income trading process.”
According to a report by The Desk, the buyside said it preferred Liquidnet as a trade detinatrion for their orders. Fifty-eight percent of buyside respondents that participated in the report said they were planning to move their corporate bond trading to Liquidnet.
