Multi-asset market operator Tradeweb is collaborating with S&P Global Market Intelligence to introduce electronic connectivity between primary and secondary markets. The product scope currently includes European credit, covered, sovereign, supranational and agency (SSA) bonds. Tradeweb’s integration of InvestorAccess, S&P Global Market Intelligence’s digital primary market platform, enables Tradeweb clients to electronically access new deals and manage orders in the primary market via the Tradeweb platform.
“Launching a single consolidated workflow for primary and secondary markets is a natural evolution for our European fixed income offering,” said Enrico Bruni, head of Europe and Asia business at Tradeweb. “Our collaboration with S&P Global Market Intelligence will accelerate the automation of manual steps across primary workflows for our mutual clients, resulting in a more immediate and seamless transition from primary issuance through to secondary trading.”
“This game-changing initiative from Tradeweb and S&P Global Market Intelligence allows us to electronically process our primary allocations in SSA and covered bonds, as soon as these are released from the syndicate banks, and route them downstream to our OMS,” said Eric Heleine, head of trading desk & overlay management at Groupama Asset Management. “The extension of digital workflows from secondary fixed income markets will bring much-needed automation and efficiency into the primary space.”
“S&P Global Market Intelligence brings greater efficiency to the primary market by connecting InvestorAccess electronically with Tradeweb. Buy-side traders using Tradeweb are now able to send orders electronically into the orderbook being managed by the syndicate banks and, importantly, receive allocations electronically back into Tradeweb for onward processing in their order management system (OMS), significantly streamlining the transition from primary to secondary,” said Chris Sztam, head of global markets group at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
InvestorAccess is a longstanding service in primary bond markets, originally part of Ipreo’s service offering, before Ipreo was acquired by IHS Markit in 2018. IHS Markit was subsequently acquired by S&P Global Market Intelligence in 2020.
InvestorAccess is designed to address a number of challenges inherent to the issuance of new deals by automating what traditionally were manual processes for accessing deal terms, as well as communicating orders and allocations. By integrating InvestorAccess into Tradeweb’s European fixed income marketplace, it is expected that Tradeweb clients can leverage a full suite of electronic trading tools — both during and immediately after issuance. The faster set up process of newly-issued bonds should mean that clients can now service their early secondary execution needs much more quickly and efficiently.
“From the point of view of a trading desk committed to investing in highly innovative trading solutions, we strongly support the launch of initiatives aiming to connect primary and secondary markets electronically,” said Vincenzo Barbagallo, head of trading desk at Generali Insurance Asset Management. “Preventing manual errors and expediting the execution lifecycle for new issues are two goals closely aligned with our focus on constantly improving efficiency across the entire trading process.”
Tradeweb will also be able – via the S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Deal Services API – to process all the structured deal terms communicated by the syndicate desk, leading to faster set up of securities and facilitating quicker access to electronic secondary liquidity via Tradeweb.
InvestorAccess faces stiff competition in the primary market space, with Bloomberg, Liquidnet and sell-side consortium DirectBooks all vying to become the platform of choice for automating parts of the bond issuance chain.
