Tradeweb and London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) subsidiary, FTSE Russell, have partnered to develop a range of fixed income pricing and index trading products that leverage FTSE Russell’s fixed income index solutions and Tradeweb’s fixed income trading platform and data capabilities.
The firms aim to provide expanded benchmark pricing across a broader range of fixed income securities, which will be administered by FTSE Russell as benchmarks. In the coming months, Tradeweb and FTSE Russell will continue to collaborate on fixed income pricing sets to extend coverage across multiple regions and fixed income asset classes. Tradeweb also intends to expand and enhance electronic trading functionality for FTSE Russell fixed income indices and customised baskets through tools and protocols such as RFQ (request-for-quote), AiEX (Automated Intelligent Execution tool) and portfolio trading.
Lisa Schirf, global head of data and analytics at Tradeweb, said, “Tradeweb’s collaboration with FTSE Russell will provide clients with verified benchmarks they can use as reliable closing prices for their end-of-day trading strategies and other purposes. The Tradeweb FTSE closing prices will create a foundation across global Fixed Income markets for consistent end-of-day and intraday prices and is another way we are investing in the electronification of the markets.”
Scott Harman, head of fixed income indices at FTSE Russell, said, “With our comprehensive suite of sophisticated Fixed Income Indices and a growing need for innovative pricing solutions from our clients, our deeper collaboration with Tradeweb will enable us to bring to market greater tractability and tradability of our indices. We are very excited by the opportunity this relationship will bring and how it has the potential to fundamentally change the Fixed Income ecosystem.”
Expanding their existing collaboration on benchmark pricing for UK gilt and European government bonds, the pair’s objective is to deliver “robust, algorithmic, and reliable” pricing. The closing prices will amalgamate trading activity from Tradeweb’s electronic platform, enabling closer alignment with actual trading levels and intraday pricing. These prices are administered in accordance with the EU and UK Benchmark Regulation and the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks and can be used as reference rates for a broad range of use cases including trade-at-close transactions and derivatives contracts.
Tradeweb and FTSE Russell will continue to collaborate on fixed income pricing sets to extend coverage across multiple regions and fixed income asset classes. Over time, FTSE Russell will explore incorporating Tradeweb pricing into FTSE fixed income indices, starting with FTSE World Government Bond Index (WGBI), a flagship index comprised of sovereign debt from more than 20 countries and denominated in a variety of currencies.
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