MarketAxess Holdings Inc.
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| MarketAxess Holdings Inc. | |
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| Founded | 2000 |
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| Headquarters | New York |
| Key People | Richard M. McVey, Chairman & CEO |
| Products | Client-to-multidealer electronic credit trading platform |
| Corporate Website | www.marketaxess.com |
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. operates an electronic trading platform that enables the trade of corporate bonds and other types of fixed-income instruments. MarketAxess' trading technology allows institutional investor clients to request executable bids or offers from multiple broker-dealers simultaneously, and to execute trades with the broker-dealer of their choice.
Over 800 institutional investors are active users of the MarketAxess trading platform. MarketAxess has 78 broker-dealer clients in U.S. high-grade corporate bonds, European bonds, high-yield and emerging markets bonds, agency bonds, asset-backed and preferred securities and credit default swaps. MarketAxess also offers a number of trading-related products and services, including market data, connectivity solutions that facilitate straight-through processing, technology services, and execution services for exchange-traded fund managers and other clients.[1]
In March 2008, MarketAxess (Nasdaq: MKTX) acquired Greenline Financial Technologies, a Chicago-based provider of integration, testing and management solutions for proprietary and FIX Protocol related products and services designed to optimize the electronic trading of fixed income, equity, derivatives and other exchange-based products. The acquisition totaled $42 million in cash and stock consisting of $35 million in cash and MarketAxess shares valued at $7 million, with additional cash consideration of up to $3 million contingent on attainment of certain earn-out targets.[2]
Trade West Systems is a data automation provider division of MarketAxess Technologies Inc. In November 2011, it was announced that a partnership with Trade West Systems would enable BondDesk clients to source liquidity from third party platforms that compete with the BondDesk ATS.[3]
History
Credit Trading
MarketAxess was formed in April 2000 with the aim of creating a single trading platform with easy access to multi-dealer competitive pricing in a wide range of credit products.[4] MarketAxess has since expanded and expanded its trading network with North American institutional investors, including investment advisers, mutual funds, insurance companies, public and private pension funds, bank portfolios and hedge funds, and leading broker-dealers, both primary dealers and regional firms. MarketAxess offers dealers presence in secondary markets.
The U.S. trading system supports fully-disclosed electronic trading in high-grade corporate bonds, high yield/crossover bonds, emerging markets bonds, U.S. agency securities and credit default swaps (CDS).
MarketAxess Europe Limited, the wholly-owned U.K. subsidiary of MarketAxess Holdings Inc., operates in London and first launched European secondary trading in U.S. dollar and Euro-denominated Eurobonds in 2001. Since then, the platform has added trading in other European credit products including bonds issued in Pounds, Sterling, and floating rate notes (FRNs) and has since expanded into sovereigns, supras, agency and covered bonds. MarketAxess Europe Limited was the first platform in Europe to offer this capability for corporate bonds. As of 2006, European institutional clients can access U.S. credit liquidity, provided they have established trading relationships with U.S. dealers.
Market Data
MarketAxess offers the industry-standard Corporate BondTicker, which provides market participants with real-time FINRA TRACE data enhanced with MarketAxess trade data and analytical tools. Corporate BondTicker is offered as a Web-based service and is also integrated directly into the trading system. The source for corporate bond information for the Wall Street Journal beginning in September 2005, Corporate BondTicker has since added compliance monitoring tools and CDS analytics. In 2008, MarketAxess launched European BondTicker, which displays market standard pricing data with MarketAxess enrichments. MarketAxess also provides market data as a data feed that can be published externally to third-party subscribers or integrated directly into internal systems via MarketAxess Technologies.
Technologies
In order to leverage its trading technology expertise and offer cutting-edge technology solutions for clients, MarketAxess formed a wholly-owned affiliate, MarketAxess Technologies Inc., in November 2007. MarketAxess Technologies acquired Trade West Systems, LLC, a Salt Lake City-based financial software and technology services provider of gateway adapters for connecting order management systems and trading systems to fixed-income trading venues. In March 2008, MarketAxess Technologies acquired Greenline Financial Technologies, Inc., a Chicago-based provider of integration, testing and management solutions for proprietary and FIX Protocol related products and services designed to optimize the electronic trading of fixed income, equity, derivatives and other exchange-based products.
In May 2011, MarketAxess announced that the launch of their electronic trading platform for preferred stocks and consumer-based asset-backed securities (ABS). According to the firm, they are the first electronic fixed income marketplace to offer trading of preferred stocks for institutional investors.[5] Later in the month, they announced that RBS was the first dealer to provide streaming, executable markets to MarketAxess for CDS indices. [6]
In July 2011, MarketAxess announced the launch of an institutional credit trading system that it says includes significant additional functionality for credit default swap trading. With this release, MarketAxess contended it had much of the core technology needed to meet the anticipated regulatory requirements for registration as a swap execution facility (SEF) and security-based swap execution facility (SB SEF) under the Dodd-Frank Act in the U.S.[7][8]
In February 2012, MarketAxess announced that fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2011. Total revenues were up nearly 24 percent to a record $181.1 million. Total revenue for 2010 was $146.2 million. CEO and chairman Richard McVey attributed the strong performance to regulatory reform motivating more participants to favor e-trading in the cash and derivatives credit markets.[9]
Key People
- Richard M. McVey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- Antonio L. DeLise, Chief Financial Officer
- Nicholas Themelis, Chief Information Officer
- Kevin McPherson, Head of U.S. Sales
- W. Paul Ellis, Head of MarketAxess Europe
- James N.B. Rucker, Credit and Risk Officer
- Cordelia M. Boise, Head of Human Resources
- Florencia Panizza, Head of Marketing and Communications
- Charles R. Hood, General Counsel
References
- ↑ About MarketAxess. MarketAxess.
- ↑ "MarketAxess Announces The Acquisition of Greenline Financial Technologies, Inc.”. Greenline Financial Technologies.
- ↑ BondDesk Announces Partnership with Trade West Systems to Extend Liquidity Aggregation to Include Rival Platforms (Press Release). Reuters.
- ↑ CDS Reform. MarketAxess.
- ↑ MarketAxess Launches Electronic Trading of Preferred Stocks and Asset-Backed Securities. MarketAxess website.
- ↑ MarketAxess and RBS Announce Launch of Streaming Executable Markets for Credit Default Swaps. MarketAxess.
- ↑ MarketAxess Announces CDS Trading System Enhancements. CreditFlux.
- ↑ MarketAxess Submits Comments to CFTC on Core Principles and Other Requirements for Swap Execution Facilities. MarketAxess.
- ↑ MarketAxess Reports Fourth Quarter 2011 Revenues of $45.1 Million, Pre-Tax Income of $18.9 Million and Diluted EPS of $0.29 (Press Release). MarketWatch.
